Last year wasn’t a great year for runner beans……not for me at any rate. I set the beans late due to the fact that the previous summer had been so warm and my beans were not lasting through the season. However, as we all know last summer was a complete washout and as a result I hardly had any beans setting….presumably because the bumble bees weren’t venturing out into the rain to do their pollinating. I know of one grower who grows beans in a polytunnel and who actually captures bees in a jam jar to release into the tunnel!
This season my beans are a lot more advanced. They were sown in pots in late May and planted out the middle of June against 8’ canes. I angle my canes so that the beans can hang down unobstructed by the foliage. If the small developing bean touches a leaf if can start to bend and be useless for showing. All beans are planted over a backfilled trench that had plenty of scrunched up newspaper and vegetable waste from the kitchen piled into it. This gives the bean roots plenty of moisture retentive material to get into.
I have had a few infestations of blackfly to deal with (sprayed with Bio Provado) and I always scatter some slug pellets to the soil around the plants as soon as they are planted. Remember that in the wild runner beans are a bog plant so they need plenty of water to their roots, and I often leave the hosepipe trickling water into the trench for an hour or so.
Runner beans are one of the crops I wanted to devote more time to this season. A fortnight before the show the beans need to be an inch or so long so you need to pick all those longer than that and any misshapen ones. However, I’m going to have to trust to luck for my first couple of shows as we’re away the fortnight before and I simply won’t be here to tease any tangled beans from the foliage to ensure they grow straight. Usually I start to pick and store my beans up to 4 or 5 days before the show to make sure I get a set all at exactly the same length, storing them in my fridge in a damp cloth against a straight wooden batten. However, once those first two shows are out of the way I have another 2 weeks to the next so I’ll be starting again.
This season my beans are a lot more advanced. They were sown in pots in late May and planted out the middle of June against 8’ canes. I angle my canes so that the beans can hang down unobstructed by the foliage. If the small developing bean touches a leaf if can start to bend and be useless for showing. All beans are planted over a backfilled trench that had plenty of scrunched up newspaper and vegetable waste from the kitchen piled into it. This gives the bean roots plenty of moisture retentive material to get into.
I have had a few infestations of blackfly to deal with (sprayed with Bio Provado) and I always scatter some slug pellets to the soil around the plants as soon as they are planted. Remember that in the wild runner beans are a bog plant so they need plenty of water to their roots, and I often leave the hosepipe trickling water into the trench for an hour or so.
Runner beans are one of the crops I wanted to devote more time to this season. A fortnight before the show the beans need to be an inch or so long so you need to pick all those longer than that and any misshapen ones. However, I’m going to have to trust to luck for my first couple of shows as we’re away the fortnight before and I simply won’t be here to tease any tangled beans from the foliage to ensure they grow straight. Usually I start to pick and store my beans up to 4 or 5 days before the show to make sure I get a set all at exactly the same length, storing them in my fridge in a damp cloth against a straight wooden batten. However, once those first two shows are out of the way I have another 2 weeks to the next so I’ll be starting again.
1 comment:
Dad!! That poll isn't very nice! Has Jen seen it?! lol...I take it the only vote is from you!
xx
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