Monday, May 24, 2010

Peas, Beans & Bishops

Here are the peas. Can you spot 'em?


Mangetout. Securely fenced in to keep they pigeons off. So securely fenced in I doubt I'll be able to get at them when they're ready. And the next batch were sown yesterday; successional sowings 'r us! Traditionally, I'm rubbish at successional sowings so I'm trying harder this year. I sow them in a half-round gutter, then just slide 'em in.

Beans are a different story altogether, although still legumes. Obviously. My runner beans have been very lethargic this year. sown three weeks ago & only just germinating. Very poor, chaps. Come on; arse in gear please. But even that is better than the Climbing French, who have without exception turned into Caving French. Well, they ain't come up so they musta gone down? So I've had to start again from scratch, very late, with those. Perfidious French, huh?

And as for the Bishops? Well, here's the Bishop of Llandaff.
He's a dahlia but He never showed at all last year, or the year before, when I planted the beggar outdoors in the True Sod. So this year I gave him comfy quarters in the One True Greenhouse and at least this year he's shown his face. I have two more of him lurking around and waiting to see what will happen. Lurking Bishops? Isn't there a Monty Python sketch somewhere there? Spanish Inquisition?

Oh, and I've cut the hedge.

Neat or what. Chuffing hard work though. I have a petrol hedgecutter, which is dead good but ye gods it's heavy. Like carrying a small motorbike around with you.

5 comments:

Sue Garrett said...

We tried growing beans in guttering but just got into a mess sliding them out.

Gordon Mason said...

Ah, the trick is to slide them out in shortish sections, not the whole gutterload at once

Nutty Gnome said...

I did my beans and peas in 3" cardboard pots then bunged 'em in. It worked well except for some getting frost nipped and some getting heat stroke!

I put brash round my runners this year for the first time - worked a treat to keep t'pigeons off!

My Bishop of Llandaff has gone caving with your french beans!

RobD said...

I plant my beans in root trainers - aka toilet rolls. Works a treat, just planted out 120 French bean this week, 5 different varieties.

Nome said...

I've had big trouble with my beans this year too - only 5 out of my 25+ runner beans came up and all the rest rotted! I have resown today. The dwarf french beans are doing a little better but are still waaaay behind.