Runner Beans

Welcome to GC, Jessss

some people are having a bad year for beans. They enjoy well dug, well manured soil and plenty of water. They like it warm but not too hot and sunny. Once they have got going OK they survive hot sun quite well but tend to produce thicker and slightly tougher skins.

Having been a veg patch before shouldn't make a differnece. I've been successfully growing my beans on the same spot for 40 years.

 

It has been a bad year for Runner Beans here too. Normally we start harvesting them at the beginning of the school holidays, this year they have only started this last week.

How tall are yours Jess? Maybe they are being eaten by slugs/snails - have the leaves got any holes in them?

 

Oh and the other thing I'm having problems with this year is blackfly, lots and lots of little black dots on the bean growing tips. They suck the energy out of the plant. If you have those you need to get rid of them. Have a close look at your plants for signs of blackfly.

 

Beans here have been about the only thing that has grown well! Very slow start though and as I went away for a couple of weeks and the pods over fattened, the beans have pretty much run to a halt :(

 

Loofah, try to pick all but the young beans, give the plants loads of water (a couple of gallons per plant per day for a week) and feed them (tomato feed is OK). They should get going again.

 

Good question clueless

There are a number of criteria.

The first is, if you fancy them for a meal then pick them when you like - but I suppose you want to know when to pick them before they're past their best

The problem with beans is that you can't just tell from looking at them and expect them to be all the same. They vary, even on the same plant. In theory the beans should be long (6" - 12" depending on variety and conditions but reckon on 9" as a guideline) and have a smooth skin. If the seeds inside seem to be bulging too much then pick them.

A good way to check if they have more they can grow before needing picking is to gently touch the outside of the bean and see if it feels a little tacky/sticky. If it is, then give it a little more time - but if you need enough for a meal and the bean is long enough then pick it. They can keep, well wrapped, in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to a week.

I think the 'tacky test' is a very good way to check. Be aware that they can grow a hell of a lot in one day.

I've just taken a few quick snaps to try and help.

These have gone about a day too long but will still be very good to eat. They're a 'stringless' variety but may need to have the edges stripped off.



These are just about right and won't need de-stringing.



And these are ones where you need to use more judgement. If they start to widen at one end before growing long then they are going to try and produce seed and bulge out - pick them. If they start to twist and the skins feel as though they are getting a bit tough - pick them. Both are perfectly edible but can get stringy pretty quickly.


In the top two pics they are about 9" long and the bottom one they are 4"-5".

I haven't shown you any that are what you should hope for as the top two are what we generally get. I do get quite a number of 12" - 15" beans that are in perfect condition (and are prizewinners) but I'm picking 10lb a day so have plenty to choose from.