The worst year ever for runner beans, the hot weather didn't do them any good at all, they are my beans from the seed beans Brythen Stenner gave me many years ago, normally give an excellent crop, have picked up since the rains came, we do enjoy them, and chutney made in the past.
I bought a special stringing tool but I just don't like the taste. I think peas are the way to go maybe mange tour next year. I only tried runner beans because everyone else on the allotment had them so thought I would try before realising I don't ever buy them. As I say you live and learn!
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?
Definitely borlottis, as Dove says. I also grow Greek Gigantes http://www.realseeds.co.uk/runnerbeans.html which are delicious and very easy to grow. Together with a few cannellini and pea beans, both very productive and store well when they are dry
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Same with us, beans and tomatoes followed by rhubarb or raspberry crumble😀 I dried the runners one year but didn’t like them. I buy butter beans and thought they would be the same, they weren’t.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Never mind hubby enjoyed some of them and the plants were covered in ladybirds so that's positive. Will just grow one or two plants next year at the end of the bed I am devoting to sweet peas and will be sure to pick them early! I have found I made the usual mistake of growing stuff just because I could next year it's definitely more fruit and flowers in the beds plus all the usual suspects in the greenhouse/ poly tunnel. My tomatoes are delicious in there so worth the cost of the tunnel all by themselves!
The over production for what we could eat was the reason I went for French beans last year. Still enough for some to freeze, I don't mind them that way and always save some for Christmas dinner, and in the heat wave they have cropped well. Will have to get new seed next year as used up what I had, so will be looking for a new variety to try.
If you're only growing one or two runners then you could try integrating them into non-veg areas of the garden as an ornamental climber. I grow mine between beds which takes up less space and makes the beans easier to pick as they dangle down in the middle.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
If you leave runner beans on hte plant too long they often become inedible. To some extent if you string them you can get around that but sometimes the actual covering of the bean - all of it, takes a cellophane like texture. To a large extent it's been a funny year for runners, for hte first time ever i have had hardly any crop with my Scarlet Emperor
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
which are delicious and very easy to grow. Together with a few cannellini and pea beans, both very productive and store well when they are dry
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I dried the runners one year but didn’t like them.
I buy butter beans and thought they would be the same, they weren’t.
To a large extent it's been a funny year for runners, for hte first time ever i have had hardly any crop with my Scarlet Emperor