In the Garden with The Little Veggie Patch Co - Broad Beans and a Golf Club Trellis

Mat and Fabian of The Little Veggie Patch Co. continue to share their extensive knowledge, today tips on planting everyone's favourite- broad beans! There is also a genius instructional on making a trellis using old golf clubs, so smart and easy it's one of those 'why didn't I think of that?!' creations! -Jenny x

With the change over of the seasons imminent, it's time to gather our late harvest spring crop and prepare for winter by sowing broad beans. You have probably removed your tomato plants by now, so in their place sow the broad beans. These will help reinvigorate, or fix, your soil with nitrogen. Broad beans always have a habit of making things right.

Broad beans are easy to grow, and although they are more suited to cooler climates. It's best to plant these between March - June but check out The Little Veggie Patch Co. book for what works best in your climate. Seeds will benefit from being soaked overnight prior to planting. Water in thoroughly after planting, then resist further watering until germination.

The pods are sweetest and tastiest when young, so pick to your taste requirements. Pick by hand, bracing the plant as you do so. Harvesting encourages other fruit to mature.

Once pods start to develop, you may need to support the plants, as they tend to fall over under the weight. And we have just the trick for that....

How to make a Golf Club Trellis

• recycled golf clubs (as many as you like, but 3–6 is ideal)
• cable ties
• binding cord

1. Sourcing the clubs will involve a trip to the salvage shop at your local tip or exploring the dustiest, dirtiest corner of your garage where your Grandad’s 1950s golf clubs reside. Try to keep wooden drivers and iron clubs in groups, as they keep the look consistent and will be similar lengths.

2. Start forming the tee-pee, ensuring the clubs are pretty evenly spaced.

3. Bind the top of the tee-pee together with cable ties.

4. Cover the cable ties with binding cord.

5. Take your pea or bean seedlings (that we leant how to propogate yesterday)

6. Plant your seedlings and watch them grow!