March 2026  
By Laura-Jade Eley, Grow Leader Participant

I love broad beans. I have many a happy memory of popping them out of their pods with my Grandad when I was little, and singing ‘broad beans are sleeping in their blankety beds’ extra loud in school assemblies. They even somehow make their way into the family Christmas dinner each year ... 

Week 5 of the Grow Leader course at Grow Wilder, suncream is on in March and we’re out planting broad beans from seed. Rosa’s got a pot of multi coloured beans called Mendip Rainbow from Two Acre Farm. These beans are a genetically diverse ‘flock’ (a fourth generation population of hybrid plants sharing the same parents) a variety of shape, colour and size with the plants being equally as diverse, creating a resilience to changing weather and climate within the wider crop that monocultures cannot have with the smaller gene pool.  

Our first job is to prepare the ground. First we have to tackle the dreaded Couch Grass, a perennial grass with a network of rhizomes running underneath the ground. It was a highlight and a lowlight, removing the Couch Grass. As impossible as it is to remove it all, it was quite satisfying when you dug down far enough to prise out a hefty web of roots. We then used a few different hand rotavators to ’till’ the top 10cm of land, preparing it for planting. This, we learned, aerates and loosens the soil to allow water and light to permeate and create the best conditions for germination. We then dug shovel-deep holes, 45cm apart lengthways and 15cm apart widthways to allow for enough space for roots to grow, but close enough that the plants can prop each other up as they grow. One bean per hole and our job was done! We covered all the beans right at the end and pressed the soil firmly down. A good watering, allowing the soil to saturate means that the moisture will reach the beans, and not just the top layer of soil. A highlight of the day was pushing the final wheelbarrow of woodchip onto the path which skirts the bed and standing back to admire our work!  

After a lunch break spent soaking up the sunshine, enjoying some ginger cake and a lengthy conversation about everyone’s favourite nuts, we were back to work - this time sowing lettuce and rocket seeds! We took it in turns to encourage 2 tiny seeds per plug out of the packet into the seed compost. We learnt that seed compost is actually very low in nutrients, so as not to harm or burn the little seed, and it’s so fine in texture to allow for tiny roots to be able to permeate and grow. We soaked the seeds from the bottom for about 10 minutes, rather than watering them from the top, so as not to move the seeds or wash them away! 

I learnt loads in this section which will be really useful for my own growing, including if you don’t have too much space for large individual plug trays, you can sprinkle these tiny salad seeds in one tray and then as they grow, prick out the plants that are doing the best and pot them on.  

I love these practical days on the Grow Leader course; there’s something very satisfying about learning facts and tips whilst practising the manual work yourself, really allowing the knowledge to soak in. That, alongside feeling like you’ve done a good day’s graft, makes the long shower and cuppa at home feel even more well deserved :)