Dig deep for bumper beans

Which is why now, weather permitting, is the ideal time to prepare the trench(es) from which to harvest a bumper crop later in the year.

The better you prepare the trench(es) now, the better the crop come August and September. So, prepare the soil for planting by digging over and adding plenty of organic material, such as well-rotted manure or leafmould, which will not only boost the fertility, but also improve water-retention without encouraging water-logging. And as runner beans are greedy feeders and drinkers, the more muck the better.

Some gardeners even dig out the contents of their compost bins and dump the stuff at the bottom of the trench(es) which they’ve lined with old newspapers – another way to keep the soil nice and moist for the runner bean roots.

The trench(es) don’t have to be straight. Where there’s not a lot of room, dig a circular trench and then grow the beans up a wigwam of eight-foot-tall bamboo canes tied together at the top.

Or cultivate them in containers – big pots, or, better still, redundant plastic dustbins which can be filled with a mixture of equal parts loam-based compost and loam-free compost or just your own garden-produced compost perhaps enriched with old manure.

Sowing seeds indoors is now considered better than planting them directly into the soil outside – germination is visible, young plants aren’t attacked by slugs and snails, and by the time the threat of frost has passed, you should have healthy, sturdy plants to go out into the prepared trench(es) or containers.

So, come the end of April, pop a single bean seed into a three-inch plantpot filled with multi-purpose compost. Water well and place on a sunny windowsill to germinate. Harden off in a cold frame or cool greenhouse.

You can always sow seed directly in the soil in mid-May, but you’ll have to keep an eye on the weather – and on pests.

The biggest chore with runner beans is making sure they get enough water because they are big, big drinkers. So water regularly, perhaps even daily in dry weather, and apply a hearty mulch around the plants’ roots to help seal in the valuable moisture.

But before all that begins, get out and start digging.