Broad bean harvest - tiddly beans

Some of my first batch of broad beans, big juicy pods, disappointing insides

Look at my haul of lovely big juicy broad bean pods.  I am thrilled with their size and quantity.  I have bean pod growing completely figured out, I can grow exceptional bean pods.  I just need to figure out how to grow the beans themselves.  Unfortunately the beans within were on the whole a little underwhelming in size, if there were any snuggled in the furry lining at all.  Maybe I picked them a bit quick or didn't give them enough water.  But although few and far between, the beans I did get were tasty, no complaints there, but just not enough.

I have no complaints on the look of these beans, they are picture perfect.  As long as there are no expectations of a big meal afterwards

Although I grew more plants last year, I think I actually picked less beans because I was unaware of the bean's never ending desire for water and so the beans formed but never really got anywhere.  This was disappointing.  This year far more have come to fruition, if only underwhelmingly so, but the main thing I would change is to sow more plants.  I went for successive batches to try and stretch out the season but it meant that not enough were ready at the one time.  It would have been nice to have enough for more than just one meal, gathered over quite a while. Yes just the one, although it was for four people.  And a few that we just ate like an aperitif.  Hopefully if I do dig up some of the lawn next year this will be possible.  I only had about 12-15 plants in each of my batches, with at least one taken out by the father's excessively wild strimming, the man is wild with that thing.

One of the real changes I made to my growing technique this year, other than giving them a huge can-full of water every day, was to nip out the top of each plant.  I did this when the first bean had set at the bottom.  This is supposed to help a restricted amount of beans reach a decent size, rather than a lot be small. Or non-existent.  I think this worked up to a certain level, but like I said, beans were small and far from plentiful.  It is also meant to cut down on black fly due to the fact that they sort of begin out in the growing tip and spread to the rest of the plant.  I don't know why this is the case but it definitely is, I kept checking and sure enough after a while there the little devils were.  The technique kept them mainly at bay, except for one plant in my second crop that became infested overnight and despite picking a fair few off by hand, the plant was lost to their little clutches.

I made a little rice and bean salad with my first crop, there are obviously some sugar snap peas in there as well 

I was hanging on and giving daily drenches with the hosepipe in the hope I could encourage the last few beans to greatness, but this week I finally gave up.  Turns out it was a fruitless wait, most of the pods didn't even have beans forming inside.  The plants were being overtaken with rust and were looking shocking tatty, so I have pulled the whole lot out.  Its time to move on and get something else planted in there.

One hell of a mess.  A vegetable patch is always a strange kind of beauty
but this is well past visually appealing.  The whole lot just needed ripping
out

Considering the effort it takes to get out there and plant the seeds when its cold, manure the ground, dig it over, and continually water, Im not sure the results are really worth it.  Considering the vegetables you can grow, and the slightly more bountiful crops that can be achieved, I feel inclined not to bother with broad beans again. But I have already bought seeds for next year so for next season at least they will be back.

My second and vastly more disappointing of my two crops.  This is literally it.  Just one bean made it into a skin, not that you want them too because skins are tough.  Definitely next year I will just sow more plants at once.