Spring Sprung Sprang

Spring has finally sprung. Finally.
In my head, it's truly spring when it's warm enough to leave the back door open all day.

As a part of biology homework, we were all given a broad bean to grow. There's no point beating about the bush but my first one died, in fact I'm pretty sure it fermented after sprouting as when I finally tipped it out, it smelt sweet.

So as my family are into growing veggies, we have a seed box and so I was determined to get a bean to grow. With a large jam jar filled with slightly damp kitchen roll, I put two varieties of broad bean on opposite sides next to the glass, a pea between them on one side, and a runner bean on the other. Watching them grow and change each day is surprisingly amusing, the pea is the most reactive and now has an extensive root system, stem and leaves and is out the top of the jar. The runner bean seems to have forgotten the laws of plant hormones that say roots grow downwards and instead has grown sideways, in fact now over the broad beans to either side. Last night, it too reached the top of the jar. One broad bean seems dead, the root end is black and yet each day it is definitely longer. the other has managed to lift itself upwards on its root, and seems to be about to join the race to the top of the jar. As peas and runner beans are climbers, I thought of a way to get round the issue of them having nothing to climb. Chop sticks. I have celotaped chop sticks to the rim of the jar next to each of the two climbers. A cocktail stick of guidance needed to be used to encourage the runner to not in fact grow into the celotape but there we go.

Why not grow a bean or a plant, it's quite amusing, and you don't even have to take it for walks!

All the best,

Bea x