nettie
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Native ladybirds in runner beans alert!!Hi all
Just thought I'd post this as it's the time of year for ripping up bean plants - I was picking the last of the runners and found LOADS of our native ladybirds (as opposed to the current rampaging harlequin ones) nestling down in among the leaves.
It's not the best place obviously as the leaves are going to drop off!! I think I'm going to gently cut my runners down, and rather than burn or compost the plants as i normally would, I'm going to lay them in a corner of the garden, with the canes still entwined, and chuck some prunings and fallen leaves over in the hope they'll make it through winter. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea please let me know as I would hate to lose them.
Please check your plants before you hack them down 
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sunnybankvines
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or leave the canes and plants until spring to tidy up .... unless you need the space to plant other stuff now.... you might even find that beans will sprout up from the roots of the beans left in over winter.
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gz
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Has anyone else noticed that the bean roots are smaller than they used to be? We are going to use the bean haulms over the dahlias, (plus straw)
so that should be ok for the ladybirds 
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Millymollymandy
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Funnily enough yes I kept picking ladybirds out of my bucket of chopped up bean stalks and kept putting them onto other plants in the garden! Where were they when we needed them in the summer? 
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Tavascarow
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Whilst clearing bracken & brambles for a run of fencing wire this morning I disturbed a grass snake that I assume was preparing for hibernation.
Beautiful thing though it gave me quite a start when I first saw it!
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