Bank Holiday update - beans a plenty?

Around about the late May bank holiday is usually the earliest I would consider to plant out my tender crops. This year we had typical bank holiday weather - three days of grey, cold, cloudy weather with a strong easterly wind more reminiscent of March than late May. Not the ideal weather to plant out beans, courgettes and pumpkins, which were basking in the relative shelter of my plastic greenhouse, but something had to give. Being incredibly busy with work, my visits to the allotment are currently of the fleeting variety, so when a free hour or so became available yesterday afternoon, I had to make use of the time. It was the beans - Polestar, Borlotti, Cobra & Purple Teepee - which went in, probably much to their annoyance, but they were far too large for the greenhouse anyway and some had started to wrap around each other, as climbing beans without anything to climb up tend to do.

I choose to grow mine up wigwams of 5 canes, basically because it makes best use of the space available and also because, unlike many fellow plot holders, I see no need for a 10m double row of runner beans. 5 plants of each type are more than sufficient for us and a few friends and neighbours - after all, there's only so many runner beans you can eat! Also, as I don't have a permanent, dedicated bean trench, I can move my five canes to a space in any bed to fit around my other crop rotations. It is flexible and works for me.

So in they went, with some chicken manure pellets for company and some soft twine to encourage them to climb the canes in the face of a force 8 gale. They were well watered in, although I needn't have bothered as it has rained here ever since! I'll check on them at the weekend, when if it's mild and benign, I might consider putting in a few tomatoes and courgettes. The cucumbers will have to wait at least another couple of weeks as they still look too fragile.