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Runner beans
Have a go Nick
Posts: 352
in Fruit & veg
Hi folks
ive just brought my runner beans for this year, does anyone on here plant there runner beans in pots before thyey go into the ground?
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Posts
I always start mine indoors at the beginning of May, to plant out at the end of May.
I sow one bean in a 3 inch pot of MPC. I then put two plants to each 8 ft cane in well prepared soil.
Hi nick I'm keV dale yeah I always start them off in pots in the greenhouse when they are about six inches tall harden them of outside then take them to the allotment feed them with my own home made compost then water them in
Yes I always start mine in pots in the greenhouse, sometime around mid May
I've done both, depending on the weather - if it's a late spring I start the beans off indoors and move to the coldframe before planting out. If it's an early spring like this year, I may well sow direct in early to mid May - I'll just see what the weather's like.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have had terrible trouble getting runner bean seeds to take in the last two years, having always found them easy in the past, and last year got into a discussion with others who had the same problem. Normally I would say don't start them too early as they are difficult to deal with if they get big before it is safe to plant them out, but the last two years it has taken me three goes to get any seedlings up, so I might begin a bit earlier, but probably not March. If they do need to go out early, I cut up plastic water bottles and place them over the plants as mini cloches. My garden in late April to early May is always a 'bottle garden'.
Mine say plant from April does that mean in pots?
You'd get away with planting in April in Cornwall. Oop north, we get frosts until late May, and that will kill them.
Always best to start them under cover IMO: they are tropical, after all.
A couple of years ago I took someone's advice and sowed a seed next to each plant I planted in May. That way you get two plants at each cane without having to raise them all. Whether it increased the yield, I can't say!
Germinate mine in pots in GH and harden off and then plant about same time scale as Fidgetbones. Last year it was so cold I had to germinate them in the house, first lot in GH rotted.
I always sew extra in case some fail.