Update on the broad bean

Back at the start of August, we grew some cress and a broad bean in some yoghurt pots.  The cress is a distant memory, but the broad bean lives on five weeks later.

The small boy is quite keen on taking his broad bean out of the pot for a look every few days.  He's pleased his bean has been growing nicely, although he's hoping for more broad beans to eat soon which I think is optimistic (not to mention that he refused to eat the others in the pod the bean he's growing came from).

I thought it was worth a quick post to document its progress.  The root is about 25cm long, and within the last fortnight has recently sprouted many smaller roots along its length.  The bean has also grown a stem around 15cm tall and sprouted several green leaves.

A long root and stem, with the now brown bean in the middle

The bean has had the benefit of some warm weather and catches the afternoon sun on our windowsill. I've still been pleasantly surprised by just how well it has grown with only a little water every few days when we remember and how well it has withstood being repeatedly picked up and dangled around by a toddler! 

My son doesn't want to plant it out in soil, so I suspect its days of good growth may be numbered.  However, whilst it keeps growing it's provided some nice talking points about how plants grow.  We've discussed how it drinks with its roots (which have grown downwards, towards the water) and how the bean has used sunlight to help it grow.

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