Runner beans form long, flat pods which have to be eaten when young. Picking every other day is essential to ensure a continual supply. They stop producing flowers if any beans are not picked. They are a highly productive vegetable and the flowers are decorative.

Stick beans is another name for runner beans because they climb up sticks or poles.

The poles should be 80cm x 80cm apart.
Hazel is the preferred pole, but they are hard to get hold of. It is possible to buy plastic poles, or bamboo canes can be used. These must be firmly supported, as the foliage becomes very heavy, and strong winds will blow them over. The usual method is to have a double line of inwardly facing and crossed poles with a horizontal holding bar tied along the ridge. Wigwams are becoming more popular, with a cone of poles tied at the top into a wigwam shape.

Sow 2-3 seeds per pole or cane, when the danger of frost has passed.

Runner beans require a well-dug fertile soil with good drainage.

Varieties

• Painted Lady - long beans, red&white flowers, high yields
• Desiree - long, stringless pods . White flowers, heavy cropper, good flavour
• Enorma - excellent cropper with slender beans
• Scarlet Emperor - very long beans, delicious and tender

Today the covers were taken off the early broad beans & placed over the recently planted seeds.

Honey bees & bumble bees were buzzing about under the polythene, fertilising the bean flowers.

In gardens exposed to winds, the beans will have to be secured, so that they do not blow about.

              

Battered plants will loose too much moisture, bruise leaves and loosen & damage roots.

The beans can be loosely tied to stakes with string.

If the stems are not fastened, all investment in time & effort in bringing the plants to this stage will be wasted. Spending time tieing the beans up will ensure a good harvest.

The soil between the broad bean rows was hoed. Constant hoeing of the soil, is quick and easy, if done when the weeds are tiny.

Another row of broad beans is in the garden.  The beans were planted in long , biodegradable pots, filled with peat, & the pots have been put in the ground.

                  

The soil is still cold and wet, even though it has been covered for a few weeks.  Surrounding the bean seed with peat in the pot will give the seed an easy start. Once it has developed, the bean roots will grow through the fibrous pot into the soil.

A wide plank is spread over the bed to walk on. This avoids compacting the soil. Compacted soil is not easy for vegetables to grow in. A measuring board helps space the pots at the correct distance.

Planting a row of beans every three weeks, will spread harvest and avoid a glut!

Peas & beans produce a very long root as soon as they start growing. Ideally, this root should not be disturbed when the seedlings are transplanted into the veg garden, so that the root will continue to grow down to reach as much water and nutrient as possible.
If the seeds are started off in small pots, the root will curl round. When transplanted, the root will tend to grow in a tight ball. The root will not have access to as much water and food as it would if it were growing straight down. So the plant is compromised.
Therefore, if planting peas & beans in pots, use long pots. Supermarkets sell cream & yoghurt in narrow 250ml plastic pots. These are ideal, with a hole poked in the bottom. Long plastic pots can be found in garden centers or on the web, including special root trainers.

7 Jan 2007

Plan to spread harvest and prevent all the vegetables coming at onceÂ

Small plastic cloches have been spread over the next 2 rows, which will dry the land out for the next batch of broad beans to be planted

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There will then be 3 lots of broad beans: those in the big rigid tunnel, the ones transplanted a couple of days ago, & those to be planted in the plastic cloches

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The first beans to be planted got a bit leggy. The rigid tunnel was rather dirty, and the green algae reduced the light getting to the seedlings. So the plastic sheets had a good wash today.

6 January 2007

Planting broad beans in the autumn and spring will stagger the harvest and provide beans to the kitchen over a longer period.
Broad beans planted in October are now about 2inches high. The variety is The Sutton from Thompson & Morgan. Although sold as a dwarf variety, it grows to about 1 metre on our fertile soil & we did put strings round the row last summer, to stop the plants falling over.
We planted 2 seeds at each planting station, in case one did not germinate Read More »