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allotment runners and dwarf beans

Alan4711Alan4711 Posts: 1,657
Hi everyone,we have just managed to get an allotment  in the Notts area, we aim to grow runner and french dwarf beans and perhaps french climber beans,(we eat a lorra beans,)
would anyone be able to advise which beans to start with please, any tips would be most helpful as well, iv been on the net but have found advise from here more possative, I have a cold greenhouse if they need a kick start, many of em Alan B

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  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Most varieties available at local GC are good to start with. I have moved onto French beans as they tend to take up less room for me, and I like the taste better. With a cold greenhouse you could start them off in pots and then plant out, hopefully getting them out of reach of slugs that tend to eat them as they break the surface. 😡
    This will also give you time in spring to get the bed ready, weed, feed, and supports.😁
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    you can sow broad beans now, but french and runner beans are not frost hardy so sow them in late spring (about April time)
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    The answer to your query might be 'allotment' as this is the time when last year's crop will have been taken down by your fellow holders.  A casual question as to what they find grows best could produce some of their spare seed.  Everyone who grows them ends up with far more than they need for the following season - I've got about 400 when all I'll need is less than 50 - and they'll be glad to be helpful to a newbie.  Even if they only tell you the variety, at least you'll know what to buy.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Here on the Notts /Derby border, I start all my climbing french (cobra) and runners(usually a white seeded variety) in individual pots at the start of May inside. Then they get planted out at the end of May. We can get frosts up till then. So basically plant inside four weeks before the last frost is due.  I don't plant directly into the soil because the mice get them.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I do the same as @fidgetbones ... not because of the mice here, but because it avoids the seeds rotting before germination in soil that can be cold and very wet even here in Sunny Norfolk in May. 


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





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    This year we grew ‘Moonlight’ ... a white flowered and seeded runner bean that has been crossed with French beans so it is self-pollinating and sets beans even in difficult  weather conditions. It had been amazing ... we started picking in July and they’ve only just come to an end. Lovely long smooth pods, not stringy at all, and with the traditional runner bean flavour. A dozen plants up a wigwam have given the two of us a meal every other day and filled half the small freezer ... they’ve been phenomenal and we’ll be growing them again next year ... and probably buying another freezer. 🧊 

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





  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I know what you mean about having a stuffed freezer @Dovefromabove . I have the house one and a chest one I bought when I started producing food, its also why I moved to French beens, as they crop well but don't over run us.😁
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Dovefromabove  Is there a fool proof method of freezing them.  I've made a note to self to try them next year but my 24 plants are SO prolific every year, I'm pretty much fed up with them by half way through their cropping.  If I could spread their usage over a wider time frame, it'd be great.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I just top and tail them ,wash, and blanch for two minutes, then freeze on a tray before bagging up @nick615
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I don’t even blanch them ... i prep them, bag them
    in two portion bags, extract as much air as possible and seal. If I’m going to keep some past Christmas I do blanch them. 



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





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