Interactive lesson

Beans and pulses, step by step

Interactive lesson: from choosing a variety and root nodules, through sowing beans, chickpeas, lentils and broad beans, to threshing, weevils and cooking beans safely.

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The whole lesson as text

1. How much and which pulses

First work out how much dry seed your family needs, then choose crops and varieties.

How much seed — One adult needs roughly 6 kg of dry seed a year (5–8 kg). That is about 44 m² of ground.
Beans and the rest — Beans take about 30 m² of that per person. Chickpeas need about 6 m², and lentils 7.5 m².
Heritage beans — Cannellini are white beans for stews and baked beans. Borlotti have red-streaked seed and make a creamy soup.
Dwarf or climbing — Before you sow, ask whether the variety is dwarf or climbing. Climbing beans without poles sprawl on the ground and rot.

Why: Dry seed is roughly 20–25 % protein and keeps for years without a fridge. With the help of bacteria on their roots, pulses fix nitrogen from the air and leave the field richer than they found it.

Weigh how many kilograms of dried pulses and tins you buy in a year: that is your target.
The best seed is the seed that has already cropped in your area for ten years or so. Ask older gardeners and allotment holders.

2. Soil and root nodules

Pulses fix nitrogen with the help of nodule bacteria on their roots.

Rotation — Pulses go back in the same place only after 3–4 years, never after beans or field beans. Best after grain, before maize.
Root nodules — Dig up a plant at flowering. Nodules from the size of a pinhead to a pea, pink inside, mean the bacteria are working.
No nitrogen — No nitrogen fertiliser and no fresh manure. 1–2 kg/m² of well-rotted compost is enough.
Inoculant — Where chickpeas, lentils or soya have never grown, coat the seed with inoculant. Ask a seed supplier or farm store for the one for that crop.

Why: Nitrogen fertiliser and fresh manure push the plant into leaf instead of seed, and the bacteria stop working. Beans don't tolerate compacted soil or standing water.

Beans like pH 6–7, while lentils and chickpeas also tolerate chalky soils.
After harvest, cut the plants off at ground level, so the roots with their nodules stay in the soil.