I planted mine months ago, I think it was early November or something ridiculous and they have FINALLY appeared. I thought the mice had eaten them, but they are now about half an inch high :)

Mine are about a foot high - not sure if thats good or bad though !!

i am going to plant mine early spring, the people on the plot next to mine said they didnt notice much difference when they did both methods.

Its the first time I have planted some before the winter sets in - just thought I would give it a go !!

i am going to plant mine early spring, the people on the plot next to mine said they didnt notice much difference when they did both methods.

I thought the advantage of doing it before the new year was that you avoided black fly attacks? Not done mine yet... but I only got my allotment a month ago!

my crop was quite a bit earlier last year with the winter sowing and yes, it is supposed to help with black fly. I've not had an issue with them yet (must be about the only pest left to invade my lottie LOL).

just got my seed- when can i plant them????? (eager beaver...)

I have broad bean angst. I was so late sowing broad beans this autumn that i did it into pots rather than the rather frozen ground. They're doing well in my porch but roots are showing through the pot bottoms and they really need to go out. I could pot them on into bigger pots (lot of effort) or I could plant them out under fleece. Which is the bst solution and are slugs active at this time of year (it is fairly mild for mid Jan).

Never bothered with winter sowing before so will see if it's worth the effort (blackfly not a problem for me either)

My seed packet says you can plant them in Jan as well as autumn if conditions allow - presumably not frozen or too wet - so I'd have thought they'd be alright. If in doubt and you have some, cover them in the fleece.

Far too wet for me to dare plant them :( I'm itching to get started aswell!

LC, if it was me, I'd get them outside and under fleece. How warm is your porch though ? They might need to be 'hardened off'.

It really is easier to sow directly outside - they pop up when they are ready and then just slowly grow until Spring when they suddenly take off.

LC, if it was me, I'd get them outside and under fleece. How warm is your porch though ? They might need to be 'hardened off'.

It really is easier to sow directly outside - they pop up when they are ready and then just slowly grow until Spring when they suddenly take off.

We can't do this because the mice/rats squirrels and other assorted rodents dig up the whole lot. Even in Spring we plant in pots and transfer. But it would definitely be easier to plant straight out. Sounds like you too have rodent issues; do you just risk it?

yeah, last year the meeces had a good nibble, but over half of the beans survived. This year I've planted some in green manure too, to fool them !

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2038/2187832635_db985271f7_o.jpg

I've noticed that the flowers of my broadbeans have all had tiny holes nibbled in the base. I think that this is probably blackfly, but I have also seen ants on the stalks. Would the ants eat the blackfly? (I know that it is too late to treat for blackfly now as the beans are in bloom so am misting them every evening to try and knock the pests off).

I had blackfly last year, ended up having to spray them which did the job. Don't ants feed off the sticky residue the black/green flys produce? Pretty sure they don't kill them anyway..

Where the hell are all the ladybirds this year??