I haven't yet mastered winter gardening, more from lack of motivation than anything. A muddy, icy puddle of a backyard doesn't exactly say 'come hither' and as everything takes so long to grow, gardening in winter can seem futile. Instead I tend to focus on feeding the garden in preparation for spring. Broad Beans are ideal for this. They're a great filler to help supress weeds, the root nodules feed the soil with nitrogen, and come spring the white flowers attract swarms of beneficial bees. Once the Broad Bean plants go into flower they stay in this state for weeks, to the point where you're ready to pull out the plants in frustration that nothing seems to be happening. Persevere - they'll eventually pod, and once shelled the plants can be dug back into the soil for an extra nitrogen fix. As for the beans - my favourite recipe so far is Broad Bean Hummus.
No comments:
Post a Comment