Runner Beans – A must grow vegetable

Not many years ago, the only bean seeds you could purchase were broad beans, runner beans (climbing beans with red flowers) and French beans which were bush beans.  The choice is much wider now. You can still buy broad bean seed although there are more varieties, they are basically the same. However, Runner Beans are now to be found in red and white flowered varieties and even bi-coloured flowers which makes them much more versatile.

I have, for a number of years, used runner beans at the back of flower beds as a useful screen and backdrop. Indeed, in the early years of my married life my garden was too small for a separate vegetable patch and I grew a number of vegetables among my flowers. With the recent additions to the varieties, runner beans are certainly attractive enough for this use.

Sometimes runner beans can have pollination problems. To improve the chances of their beingvisited by pollinating insects, I grow sweet peas close by. If you are growing them in a line at the back of a flower bed, then you could alternate runner beans with sweet peas. Remember to leave easy access though, because you will want to be visiting them often.

Like all beans, runner beans are best harvested whilst they are still young. They are much more succulent then and are stringless. If you find you have more runner beans than you can eat, they freeze very easily and retain their texture and taste very well. Simply prepare them as you would for coking and pop in a freezer bag and freeze. No par-boiling, or water involved.

Runner beamns are gross feeders so you should prepare the site befor you sow them. You do this by digging a trench one spade deep and at least 2 ft wide and break up at the bottom, half fill it withcompost, manure or even old newspapers screwed up and soaked in water ot liquid manure, then replace the soil and allow to settle.

As already mentioned the biggest problem you have growing runner beans is setting of flowers. This is aided by ensuring the roots are kept moist during the season.

Runner beans are also liable to be affected by slugs, blackfly and halo blight. To start with Halo blight. I have never suffered from this, since I buy in fresh seed every year. Halo blight is seed-borne, so be wary of saving your own seed from year to year. It shows itself as angular spots on the leaves surrounded by a lighter coloured halo. Later they turn reddish brown and can ooze white.

Blackfly is a very common probklem in a wide range of plants. If, like me, you are trying to garden without resorting to pesticides or other chemicals, there are two main things you can do. The first is grow plants which will attrect hover-flies, since their larvae eat aphids.  If the attack persists, then you can spray the plants with insecticidal soap. (watered down washing up liquid does well.) The problem with blackfly is not only the fly inself, it produces a sticky honeydew which attracts the growth of soty mould.

Slugs like the young shoots of runner beans, so you can avoid this by sowing the seeds in pots and transplanting into the soil when they are six inches high. (This also means that you can start the beans earlier and get an earlier crop) or you can mulch around the area where you sow your beans to prevent slugs.

Don’t be put off by the number of pests and diseases you MIGHT get. Most gardeners do not sufer from most of them and if you do find you have a problem, then you deal with it then.