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Should I restrain my runner beans?

josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
in Fruit & veg
My runner beans have succeeded this year like never before.  They have reached the top of their supports and are snaking their way along the washing lines.  They have dozens of beanlets, an inch or two long, and plenty more flowers and buds.  Is it best to leave them to their own devices, or curtail their growth, or thin the beans, or remove the flowers?

Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Leave them to their own devices. Then recruit all family and neighbours to cope with the glut. Just make sure you pick regularly once they are large enough, don't let the beans get old and tough.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Thank you! I'm sure we'll be able to give them away at church, and I have a spare freezer in the garage!
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    I do pinch out any new shoots once the plant gets to a decent size to stop them taking over the garden. And as steephill says, keep picking before the beans get too big to keep them producing.

    Next year I might try growing them over an arch.
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    My daughter gave me an arch for Christmas, stands over 3' wide and about 6'-7' in the middle. I decided to use it for runner beans and its great. They are up the sides and over the top already, one big mistake was planting the squash in the middle.  Tried to grow squash for the last three years with no success, wouldn't you know this would be the year it went bonkers!


    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
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