Runner Beans

Went to the local working mens club last night where a lot of gardeners gather, last night the topic was runner beans the best for taste,length,some differed on this subject one old codger he said scarlet emperor was unbeatable another said enorma then came liberty/stenner/wisely magic/polestar.It was quite a pleasant night all told but i have grown liberty for the last two years and i think they are quite good,would appreciate members opinion on the forum what they think.
Cheers

 

Our lot don't like Runners overly. Partly its the extra preparation when we are working during the week, and partly its just preference. We like the flat climbing French beans (Sutton's Limka for example).

The Runners are useful for "extra beans" when we have people staying - we can send them out to pick their own beans of course!

However, the Climbing French finish earlier (we've had the last of ours in the last few days) whereas the Runners go on for longer (ours were planted on the same day).

So we have 1/3rd, or less, of the Runners that we used to have, and the same about of French beans. (Climbing French bean Blue Lake is the favour "Round" type, but we quite like the dwarf ones too, although the little plants sometimes come to naught)

Different strokes for different folks of course .... be blinking boring otherwise!

 

I have tried some of the others, but find Red Rum the best for taste, yield, and it is even drought resistant. It also seems to crop earlier than some that my friends are growing.

 

I planted scarlet emperor and enorma this year found scarlet emperor was much better than enorma.

 

I'm growing Best of All (which were sown 04May and are still going strong). Perhaps I should try a Scarlet emperor for flavour next year?

 

I have never grown SE but i have heard of some cracking results for flavour.