Have I mentioned that I did a double sowing of broad beans this year? It was an experiment on several levels: I wanted to see if I could successfully extend the broad bean harvest with two sowings, and this second sowing was also a trial of
Marshall's Seeds Red Epicure beans which they kindly sent me.
Just over two months later, I'm very pleased with the results. I have a second crop of beans. The seeds were sown direct in mid-May, every one germinated within a couple of weeks and the plants grew strongly. There were no pests (the benefit of late sowings) and the plants quickly matched the first sowing in height. The flowers were as expected (white/black) and prolific, the promise of many pods to come. Which they did. I picked a few at the finger pod stage; those tiny beans, eaten straight from the pod, were delicious - on a par with, if not surpassing, my favourite Karmazyn beans. The mature pods are beautifully shiny and bright green, the beans inside shiny skinned like little red conkers. The skins allegedly stay red when lightly steamed but I'll be skinning them for a summer salad or a bowl of
Bean and Mint hummus.
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| Above: 5 weeks after sowing. Red Epicure in first rows in front of Karmazyn at back with pods. |
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| 7 weeks after sowing. In flower while Karmazyn beans behind are ready for picking. |
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| 10 to 11 weeks after sowing. Pods looking good but leaves have a tiny touch of rust. Solution is to prune the leaves off. |
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| Red Epicure beans looking pink in the evening sunlight. |
I'll definitely be growing these again next year, especially now I have the allotment space to grow a lot more - who wouldn't love the look of pink beans to brighten a plate of food!
