Topic: sowing runner beans late

[adrianhumph]

Hi all,  :D,
                I am going to try an experiment this year with my runner bean planting. In the past i have sown as early as is practicable here in the south east, that is mid May. The problem with this is two fold, firstly there is still the danger of frost right into early June, & i find that the runners are ready when i do not want them, right in the middle of summer, I like beans as a veg with roasts etc. So the cogs have been whirring :o  & i am going to sow them much later, question is how much later can I get away with ??? late June? late July?. Any ideas /comments gratefully received.

                                                               Adrian.

[supersprout]

Hi adrian, I got my plot in May 2005 and didn't get beans sown til July (see pic below) - runners at back (I pinched them and treated them as bush cos I had no beanpoles at the time) and borlotti at the front. They grew fine and cropped well until November :o. The only downside was a) the borlottis could have done a little longer to ripen for dried beans, and b) sighing and head-scratching from lottie neighbours.

Here (Peterborough) we have a very long late season, so I am going to try sowing courgettes in succession to see how they crop too.

[Roy Bham UK]

Sown all my beans indoors around mid April it gets very cold here in Brum and planted out end of May with fleece protection and had a bumper crop. ;D
I would have thought you could get away with it earlier down south :-\ ;D

[MikeB]

Thanks for the picture Roy, I was wondering how the fleece potection was fitted from the other thread on plastic clamps

[tim]

Roy just stretches his? V neat, Roy.
I find that that acts as a sail & tries to carry everything off!!

Hence my wish for clamps.

[supersprout]

That's serious crop protection Roy, lucky beans! If I can remember in July, I'd like to ask for photographs of Heath Robinson/Duchy of Cornwall gadgetry for bean protection and support, should be fun to compare notes.

Tim, do you have an action shot of your clamps please? :)

[Roy Bham UK]

 ;) Mine was attached with supple wire at intervals and stood up well until the yobs came in to play :( It blows quite cold and gusty on our lottie as a neighbour found out when he lost his crop to a quick freeze. :o

Tim you are looking younger every day, nice pic ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

My climbing French beans (I've given up on runners, nobody in the family likes them much) are planted in April in a cold frame, and planted out in June. They do fine.

[RSJK]

Adrian to answer your question you can plant beans well into June and early July and still get crops of them up until the first hard frosts.

[tim]

Sprout - no, but all I do is as Roy does, but use clamps instear of wire. And I go even higher than he does.

Mike - as you'll now see, it wasn't an egg. But topical?

Roy - trying to feell it is more difficult!

[carloso]

Talking to one of the old boys on the allotment today he reckoned that he would be planting his beans out later and miss the bean fly thiingy.
Any truth in the matter ??


carl

[supersprout]

If he's talking about broadies, the blackfly season is very long. People plant late and pinch out the tops (yum) to avoid the blackfly. Not guaranteed, but traditional!

If he's talking about French/runner beans I never heard of fly on those - yet  :-\

[powerspade]

I live on top of a 1000ft mountain here in the s wales valleys, we have frosts up to late May, I usually sow my runners in pots mid May in a hand made cold frame and plant outside the 3rd week of june to avoid frosts I always have good crops. I cut the bottoms off pop bottle and sink them alongside the runners bean plants so that when they need water them water reaches the root ball this ensures that the plants never dry out

[pakaba]

Hi
I don't grow runner beans either because we Love french climing beans, too much and I don't want to waste the space on runners, but  i guess the same applies to both (but am probably wrong). 

Last year mine got planted out far later than i had planned and were still cropping late October, i was so shocked to still be picking them..   We had them loads with roasts.  YUMMY

This year i have every intention of planting one packet early and another a month or so later.   

MMMM can't wait. ;D

Pakaba

[Mrs Ava]

Due to Mr & Mrs Vole and all the little Voles tucking into my main earlier sowing of runners, I did a later sowing elsewhere on the plot - July time.  The old boys chuckled and told me I wouldn't get anything worth picking, but during September, October and into November we were happily harvesting beans.  We didn't get a glut, but we did get a good, steady, late supply of beans, just as you started to want hot dindins again!

[LesH]

Hi Adrian,     with runner beans it normally takes 12 weeks from planting to picking. So workout when you want to pick them, then count back 12 weeks and you know when to plant.

[grawrc]

I had the same experience as EJ minus the vole family. I just planted late and got a good crop until autumn winds (early Nov) destroyed the wigwams.

[Columbus]

Hi Adrian, Hi all,  :D

Last year my first two plantings of runner beans were severely slugged after they got too big for pop bottle protection. Eventually a planting of taller plants got me a crop well into autumn so it was worth the effort.

This year I`ve moved my bean fence somewhere less slug friendly and I already have beer for my traps.

Best of luck, Col

[supersprout]

It could be worse, I just had a note from a friend complaining that badgers partied all night on her broadie sprouts, dug them up and weed on them  :'(