WE REALLY have been full of beans this summer — not just fuelled by my retirement and my partner’s furlough coming together...

My family and I have been wolfing legumes of all types which have been mega-successful on my new veg plot. They really have flourished in the manure-enriched virgin soil that has probably never before produced a crop other than grass.

So much did everyone love the copious quantities of tender and tasty broad beans which have just finished and were, remarkably, aphid-free this year, that I have plumped for the first summer sown variety on the market that will crop this autumn.

Luz de Otono allows you to eat fresh broad beans out of season. It can also be autumn sown for crops the following year.

Dobies tells me that it has good tolerance to soil-borne diseases and is a versatile variety, producing good crops of sweet, succulent beans.

While not massively tall at about a metre it will probably need protection from autumn gales.

Not so the heritage variety Crimson Flowered from Dobies’ Rob Smith range which brought so much pleasure to many dinners.

This dwarf variety did exactly what it said on the packet, producing masses of small pods on diminutive stalks which needed no support.

It also produced two bangs for my bucks. The beans were lovely but the crimson flowers which preceded them were delightful too and proved popular with early bees which are so vital to successful crops.

Of course, we are besieged by the usual August glut of runners and Brighstone beans and this year I have employed a tactic successfully used by old Allotment Jim for many years — planting runner bean seed on July 3 for a late crop in October.

We are also so looking forward to the second crop of Kelvedon Wonder peas. I have planted this variety on and off since my gardening youth.

It’s described as a first early, but it’s a particular favourite for June sowings producing two pods per node with each narrow pod containing up to eight succulent peas, many of which — of course — never reach the pot...

Former fellow Pondwellian, Derek Moore, has a problem with his runners which I’ve not seen before and he wonders if anyone can help...

He says: “I have sown a crop of Scarlet Emperor runner beans this year and they have climbed the canes nicely with a good show of flowers much to the delight of the bees.

“However, after the flowers have set, instead of the beans forming there seems to be something as if biting off the bean and leaving about half an inch of stalk.

“There seems no evidence of birds pecking.

“I have only a few bundles of beans which seem to have survived. Any suggestions..?”