Recently, on the radio, I heard a new tip about the pollination of bean flowers early in the season.
Apparently, if you flip down the bottom, jaw part of the bean flower and let it spring back, it is sufficient to transfer the pollen and set the bean.
Now that is very handy in the early part of the season when your broad beans are nicely in flower and there are no bees around to pollinate them.
Every time you pass by the beans, flip a few flowers. You won't get all the flowers to set unless you spend a lot of time flipping but the more you do, the more beans to eat.
- Wally Richards
