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Runner beans

MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949
in Fruit & veg
I have just purchased my first ever runner bean and was hoping to grow it in a pot, as I am sure many of you do successfully. It is currently in its 9cm pot, what do I do now please and what steps should I follow in the coming months? When would you normally expect to be eating your runners? many thanks in advance.  :)  
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  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Have you just bought one plant?  Firstly, depending on where you live,they can't go out until after the last frost. They have to be hardened off,(get used to outside temperature) which means leaving them out during the day for about a week then overnight for a week, before planting, you won't get many beans if you have a plant,or is there a pot full? I have grown them in pots. Ideally minimum 18 inches diameter and height,they... are greedy feeders,mix of half compost half manure.3 canes tied at the top to form a wigwam,a couple of beans planted up each stick. Slot of water,don't allow them to dry out. Once you get flowers, feed, tomato feed which is liquid you dilute would be easier for you.in theory you should get beans in 12 to 16 weeks
  • MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949
    Thank you @NannyBeach. Yes I only have one plant for now as I am new to them and I will be the only one eating them. Should I get more?  At what point do I pot on from 9cm pot please?
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    You need lots I would say minimum 10,you don't pot on,are you in the UK,start putting the pots outside during the day for a week,then back inside at might,then leave them out overnight for at least a week. Most of us are thinking of planting them outside,bed or pot beggining of June. Push canes firmly into the bottom of the pot,make sure you put the pot some where sheltered from the wind so the canes can't tip over.keep an eye out for slugs and snails water daily unless you have a huge. amount of rain. Come back to us when you get flowers
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    10 plants would be way too many for one person unless you want to eat them for breakfast as well. If you plan to freeze them then the more the merrier assuming you have the space but if you are going to eat them fresh then 3-5 would be plenty.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I can’t  bear them frozen.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    There’s two of us ... we grow about 20 plants, but we do freeze plenty of them ... OH can never tell the difference. 😃 

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





  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I tried salting them this year, and it really does work, there isn't any taste of salt left when they are cooked, I was very surprised! (it does take a 12hr soak though)
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Meomye you don't say where you are or how much ground you have, both of which could have a bearing.  If, just to say you've done it, you have one feed off it, I'd recommend you leave the rest on the vine to mature so that you can save the seed from the pods ready for next year.  I grow 24 plants in one square yard (3ft x 3ft) which feeds the two of us and provides several hundred seeds for the following year.  Cost per year is nil, i.e. the most economic crop there is.
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Meomy did say they bought just one plant and was going to grow it in a pot,bit optimistic to think you will be able to feed off one plant and keep seed. We hadn't got as far as keeping seed,we need some beans first.presumably if you salt the beans, the salt soaks in them,even if you don't taste it, it's there. I have never added salt to my cooking,and ironically hubby has been put on a low salt diet recently
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Nanny Beach  As always with runners, if they've got enough food and moisture underneath them, and if there are maybe only two mouths to feed, he/she should get a modest feed off it?  Then, if I get 300-400 seed off my 24 plants at the end of the season, as I usually do, there should be enough seed for the next year?  In fact, I've got so many still unused that she can have 50 if she'd like them.
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