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Runner beans ugh!!!

debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
in The potting shed
Hi all anyone else spent time and effort growing something this year only to realise they hate it? Constant watering of runner beans staking and tying in yesterday harvested a huge crop. I don't like the taste! Decided to try chutney, lots of expensive ingredients an hour chopping and 2 cooking. Yuk!!! Like a jar of sweet green string! We live and learn! 
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    They shouldn't be stringy :/ ... are you leaving them too late to pick (little and often is the way) or did you not grow up learning how to 'de-string' runner beans while sitting on the back step with Ma's old colander  ;) 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Dovefromabove said:
    They shouldn't be stringy :/ ... are you leaving them too late to pick (little and often is the way) or did you not grow up learning how to 'de-string' runner beans while sitting on the back step with Ma's old colander  ;) 
    Oh yes! I still sit down to do them, very sharp knife down the sides then very thinly sliced. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    That's it @Lyn  :)  although this back doorstep is a little too low so I use the sofa ... a colander, a tea towel on my lap and a bowl for the bits and something good on the radio and that's a quiet few minutes spent before cooking supper  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Or hours if your freezing them. dove. 😀. I don’t why I freeze them, I really don’t like them once frozen, it’s just a thing you have to do with the glut. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    We've reduced the number of plants this year so hopefully won't have a huge glut.  We absolutely love them and would happily just eat a plateful with loads of butter.  Heaven! :)
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I loathe beans - runner types and actual beans too [sorry!] but I love mange tout. Considering growing them next year again for stir fries etc. 
    Perhaps they might suit you better Debs. I used to have them in among flowering plants in a previous garden. They were pretty straighforward from what I remember :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I did reduce the amount of plants I grew this year, it’s just been an exceptionally good year for them with the hot sun. I buy the drought resistant ones so only watered twice, they are just going on an on.
    Its certainly proof that there’s no need to dig a trench and fill with compost, I’ve not done that for 2 years since reading it in the Gardening Myths Book. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Suggestion if you don't like your runners! Leave them let them go to full size and leathery then pick and use the beans inside as dried beans, they are really good that way and do not taste at all like runner beans.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I love runner beans. It's beans with every meal until they run dry on us. Next year I want to grow varieties to harvest the actual bean to use in soups and stews as well though. Any recommendations for that?
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @wild edges  I like these "...For drying, try 'Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco'; its red striped pods can be eaten fresh or left to mature and shelled to reveal delicately speckled seeds...."  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/7740811/Gardening-week-ahead-How-to-grow-climbing-beans.html

     If I had the space I'd grow them every year ... as it is I grow them every few years, change and change about with some other veg. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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