Peas and beans
A wigwam of canes, red flowers and more beans than one household can eat.
Put up 2.4m canes in a double row or a wigwam before you sow. Sow two seeds at the foot of each cane once the soil is warm, or start them in pots in April. They are killed by frost, so wait until the end of May to plant out. Water well when the flowers appear.
Pick every two or three days while the pods are still slim and snap cleanly. If you let them go stringy the plant stops flowering.
What goes wrong
Usually dry roots or hot nights. Water generously and mulch.
They eat seedlings overnight. Start plants in pots and put them out when they are 15cm tall.
Squash them or wash them off with a jet of water.
Good neighbours: Sweetcorn, Sweet peas, Nasturtiums.