We only have one local newspaper per week, stored faithfully in the shed ready to start the odd bonfire, but otherwise they provide enough for my annual pit. I try to restrict watering to the odd bowlful of kitchen water when absolutely necessary but, with no mains supply, one needs to be aware that the borehole could run dry - never has done yet but...... With a little help, I think nature has most things sussed?
Ours have only just started cropping, OH came home yesterday with an armful. We had three unsuccessful sowings this year - 1st lot the weird spring weather got them, 2nd lot the explosion of pests and the 3rd killed by our children's neglect when we went away earlier!
@Dovefromabove do those moonlights have runner bean texture? The partner's not keen on what she calls "squeeky" beans 🙄
Totally indistinguishable from ordinary runner beans re taste and texture @mikeymustard ... the only difference is that there's a better set so heavier crop, and I suspect they're slightly better at coping with cooler weather in the early season after planting out ... mine certainly get away quickly rather than sulking as runners often do.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Another picking this morning … plenty for us and the freezer.
I would add that we have grown White Lady in earlier years ... again a good set and really good crop of tasty beans. The only reason we grew Moonlight this year was because the White Lady were unobtainable ... I would happily grow either.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have only restarted to grow runners since Covid. Thet were my last vegetable to go and the first to restart.
I used to grow Streamline, sometimes Enorma, but Scarlet Emperor is the go-to standard. And the only one I could get in lockdown.
My trench was originally a "ditch" I dug for candelabra primulas. 20 years ago I filled the ditch with newspaper and waste computer paper (pre-iPads) topped with garden compost. I was unable to get the primulas to self-seed successfully, and found the constant hand-rearing of seed and seedlings too time-consuming. More recently it has been the home to stags horn ferns. Now repurposed for beans, but very water retentive compared to my usuall hungry sand.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I also dig a pit which I use to put kitchen veg. waste in during the winter. Cover it with a good layer of soil before planting the bean plants around the edge of the pit. I put an empty flowerpot in the centre to water into. I still have only 3 beans growing! So disappointing. No pollinators? Not really, my best year ever for squash nearby, loads of tomatoes set so presumably plenty of buzzing things around.
I have grown Enorma for years, tried other varieties but not keen on any others. Enorma is a recommended exhibition variety as it grows very heavy crops of long straight beans. The taste is no different. I just hate slicing curly beans. Last year I made runner bean chutney for the first time, tried a couple of recipes, the most successful was one in which you sliced and cooked the beans then chopped them up before adding the vinegar etc. I wasn't so keen on the recipe which left the beans sliced, a bit too chunky for me.
We have the British Standard runner bean glut at the moment. Eating them almost every evening and freezer filling up rapidly. I meant to stagger sow this year but nature may have done the job for me - snails nipped out the tops of a couple of plants early on which set them back but that means we will be cropping for even longer. Another week and I will leave them to produce beans rather than pods.
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@Dovefromabove do those moonlights have runner bean texture? The partner's not keen on what she calls "squeeky" beans 🙄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I used to grow Streamline, sometimes Enorma, but Scarlet Emperor is the go-to standard. And the only one I could get in lockdown.
My trench was originally a "ditch" I dug for candelabra primulas. 20 years ago I filled the ditch with newspaper and waste computer paper (pre-iPads) topped with garden compost. I was unable to get the primulas to self-seed successfully, and found the constant hand-rearing of seed and seedlings too time-consuming. More recently it has been the home to stags horn ferns. Now repurposed for beans, but very water retentive compared to my usuall hungry sand.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I just hate slicing curly beans.
Last year I made runner bean chutney for the first time, tried a couple of recipes, the most successful was one in which you sliced and cooked the beans then chopped them up before adding the vinegar etc. I wasn't so keen on the recipe which left the beans sliced, a bit too chunky for me.