Known as perfectly-p on Dooyoo . Real life is unfortunately taking up too much of my time at the m...
Known as perfectly-p on Dooyoo . Real life is unfortunately taking up too much of my time at the moment. Will pop by occasionally, alerts, other than gb, are switched off.
Member since:30.07.2006
Reviews:42
Members who trust:144
Beans have been grown for many years, firstly as ornamental flowers and since the Victorian times as a vegetable. Their proper Latin name is Phaseolus occineus. Runner beans are almost always a climbing plant with only a couple of bush varieties but you may have to hunt around to buy these as they are not so common. The other beans most commonly grown in this group of plants are French bean, broad bean and bean sprouts. You can also grow the soy and lima beans but these are not well suited to out climate, yet.
Runner beans are incredibly easy and quick to grow and for these reasons are great for children. There is a lot written about soil preparation but I just dig over, plant and go, but books recommend the digging in of compost or manure in preparation to sowing.
The actual beans you plant are about 2cm long and a kidney shape and are a brown colour on the inside of the
curve and a pink and brown speckle on the outside of the curve. They can be bought in any garden centre or similar for a couple of pounds for a pack of about 20 beans. Just press each bean about 2” deep and cover with soil and sow them about 6-9” apart depending on how generous you can be with the space. If planting more than one row then the rows should be space about 18” apart.
They can be sown outside when the danger of frost has past. This would probably be mid May in southern areas and possible June if you live further north. It is quite a good Idea to plant a second row a couple of weeks later to give a slightly later crop so you don’t have to eat them all at once. It will take about 7-14 days for the bean to germinate depending on the weather conditions
It is also possible to buy the seedling plants from shops and garden centres. If you have the space, you can sown indoors on a windowsill – but you have to remember to harden them off before planting outside in the garden other wise they will not be happy plants!
Mine this year came from a friend who had too many to plant out. I therefore only have three plants but this will probably produce enough beans for us to eat although, as can been seen in my picture below, the plant on the right hand side has been partially eaten by something. The plants will need some type of support to grow up. This can be bamboo canes either individually or in tripods. I am growing mine up a trellis which is on one edge of my veggie patch. They may need tying although they are great at just winding their own way up so I don’t think they need much help. They can grow to about 10 feet but if you think yours are tall enough just pinch off the growing tip. Dwarf varieties are available which only grow about 18-24” These can be grown about 6” apart and in rows about 18” apart. They can also be grown in pots which are great if you don’t have much space. Also, and I say this with a lot of veg, there is no reason why they can’t be planted in a flower garden, their lovely red flowers are very pretty and look very similar to a sweet pea.
The plants will need regular watering if it doesn’t rain, particularly once the first pods appear. Mulching around the base of the stems will help to conserve moisture.
Once the pods have grown to about 6-8” long they need to be picked. This will be about 4months after sowing. It is far better to pick them when they are much more delicious when they are still fairly small. They are also far less stringy.
To cook, wash and cut off the tops and tails and, if you prefer, also remove the stringy piece running up both sides. In my house we give the tops and tails to the hamsters. Cut in half and boil in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and serve.
Runner beans are a good source of vitamin C, folic acid and fibre. Unfortunately it is very easy to destroy the vitamin C by over boiling so you may prefer to try steaming or stir-frying your beans.
If you find you have too many beans to use at one time they are very easy to freeze. First wash and trim the pods, slice into chunks if you like them like that and blanch for 2 minutes, drain, cool and freeze in portion sizes in polythene bags (Blanching means dipping into boiling water and then removing straight into cold water to stop the cooking).
Pests. Well most gardens have them. Slugs particularly like the young shoots and I said before one of my plants has already been munched and aphids can like the larger plants particularly when the flowers come. It is possible to spray against the aphids but I don’t like to use chemicals so mine just have to take a chance. Ladybirds are very good for controlling aphids so maybe you should encourage them towards your beans.
Happy planting and eating.
Pictures of Runner beans
My runners, the plant on the right has been munched by something.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Concise bu contains all one could ask for in a review. Not something I have grown personally although I do grow the dwarf bean. Reason being, I would have to build something really sturdy so the strong winds I get where I live wouldn't blow the thing down ! LOL. xx
tune57 25.07.2008 22:55
You certainly can't beat home grown. especially as I find they actually smell like what they should . Wehave grown these in the past but I have replaced them these last couple of years with something a liitle more unusual.
Frailfrost 07.09.2007 18:51
Fantastic review, definitely deserves an E! My Mum served our last batch of beans up for dinner yesterday and although we'd all agreed we were sick of eating them for almost every meal, it was sad to think that summer is nearly over. I love runner beans raw, cooked, stir fried, in soup etc. etc. so I know that growing them is a tradition I'll carry on until I'm old. Enjoy the rest of yours! Lucy x
Jun 1st, 2007
(Aug 11th, 2007)
exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (93%):
