Wet soil – rotting garlic and broad beans?

[David Clarke]

Hi Charles,

after a very wet summer and autumn I am concerned that the garlic I planted a few weeks ago and the broad beans I am planning to plant next weekend will simply rot in the ground. I live in Woolston a few miles from you and am on clay based soil but have been manuring for a couple of years now, so the quality is pretty good but it retains a lot of moisture. Am I better off to hedge my bets and plant some garlic and broad beans in pots in the polytunnel as well as in the vegetable garden?

Regards

Dave

[charles]

 Hi Dave

Yes a difficult, wet autumn. I would expect your garlic and beans to be alright unless you are in a low lying area where water cannot run away? I was harvesting carrots last week (a rare use of my spade) and was impressed how wet the clay was about six inches down, with a few carrots rotting but most are good and other crops look fine. A lot of winter veg can survive with quite shallow roots so most soils with sufficient organic matter and a bit of slope should be alright for autumn plantings. You could grow a few plants in pots to compare.

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