Robert Brenchley wrote: <Last year one of the few crops I actually got on my allotment (despite successive floods) was broad beans. The crop was appalling; I didn't, unfortunately, think to count how many beans developed, but it must have been around 20-25%, with numerous large pods not having a single bean. This was undoubtedly due to poor pollination, the only visible pollinators being a few bumblebees. This was one of a number of factors which persuaded me to take up beekeeping.> Hi Robert: Are you sure from previous experience that honey bees pollinate broad beans? We have raised both bees and broad beans here for years and I don't believe I have ever seen a honey bee on the beans. In our experience broad beans are wind pollinated and the weather has more influence on production than any other single factor. Have you tried block planting instead of row plantings? Skip Skip & Christy Hensler THE ROCK GARDEN Newport, Wash. http://www.povn.com/rock