Runner Beans

Ahh!! Runner beans :yho:. My favourite veggie.

Over the years I have been involved in trials of new varieties but we are never given the names of them - they haven't been named at that stage and they never seem to tell us which are successful or not. I grow around 500 plants of about half a dozen varieties. I plant about 200 of them in the garden and sell the rest for the charity I support.

I've been involved in attempts to grow them in various countries and the general consensus is that they don't like it too hot or too sunny. Although they are thought to have originated in Central America they were always grown there at higher altitudes where the heat wasn't quite so oppresive and they were usually grown amongst other tall crops in order to give them shade. If possible, in future, grow them in a slightly shady part of the garden.

As ziggy says, trenching is a recommended way to grow them. It also helps to retain moisture by putting compost into the trench - layered with soil. An old traditional way of retaining moisture was to put hair (collected by the bag full from the barbers) in the lower part of the trench.

Runners prefer alkaline soil and definitely don't like badly drained soil. It is also best not to water lightly and frequently. Give them a heavy watering less often. Heavy watering encourages them to put down deeper roots whereas light watering encourages them to keep surface roots to get to the water.

Another problem you get in hotter climates is that the flowers drop before pollination by the bees and the flowers are sometimes knocked off when the bees are taking the pollen. Growing beans that are self-pollinating would help, although even these need some help from bees/insects. Generally, red flowering beans are not self-pollinators but white or pink ones are. Something like 'Painted Lady' (pink and white flowers) and 'White Lady' may be a good one to try. It is not a heavy cropper but is pretty good at self-pollinating. There is a new variety out (Moonlight) that is white flowered and self-pollinating and is said to do well in hot conditions.

Although it is said to be a fallacy to spray the flowers lightly with water to help them set I think it is worth trying and was always recommended for hot climates. This should be done at night time. Make sure you set your hose onto a very light spray.

Good luck with this year's crop. Next year will be better :gnthb:

 

Newspapers are very good to put in the trench for moisture retention. We were never able to recommend it in the past because of the high lead content in newsprint but it doesn't contain lead any more. Mulching around the plants will help as well. I don't mulch because I grow my beans through a porous membrane which does just as well and keeps the weeds down.

The occasional liquid feed wouldn't hurt, either. Weed regularly around the plants and, when you eventually start picking your beans you need to pick every couple of days. If you leave the beans on the plant too long the plant will start to seed and stop giving beans.