I finally get the gardener’s love affair with broad beans.

For the last four years that I have been trying to grow these wierd plants, I have been continuously disapointed with the cropping. They grow up so large and high – get blackfly/make pods and die. I only ever have gotten about three meals off of an entire packet of seeds. Yet I kept going and planting them every season thinking that I am doing something wrong. It seems much hoopla for little produce….

…now I know!

Cut them back after that first crop, and they will grow again! Brilliant! Now we’re sucking diesel…at least until the blackfly try again.

NB – weak mixture pf ecover washingup liquid and water sprayed over tops will kill those blackfly, and it works on roses too