Well, apparently, in sunny Essex, May 1st is runner bean planting day! So there we all were today, sticking bamboos in the ground at various angles. My poles are in, and at last my allotment looks, well, official I guess :D Still, probably won't get my bean seeds in for another week or 2, but according to old Jack, plant them on the 1st May, then in about 3 weeks when they are poking through, we should be frost free in Essex. Also, I was informed, those with plots around the edge of the site, like me, don't really suffer to much with frosts as we are nicely sheltered, so he told me to go for it! Maybe I will wait another week........................... :-\
have you gone for rows or wigwams?
i bet it looks great, i'm dead excited about getting my poles in - just have to clear the weeds first!! ;D
Can't say I've had much luck with them in my bit of Essex. They grow all right, and they flower -but that's about it. Other stuff round them, such as lettuce, does ok, but not the runners.
did mine last week....very nice indeed....currently being protected by a man/mushroom hybrid from wilko's
Just pre-germinating mine - Painted Lady, White Lady, a dwarf variety I can't remember the name of for pots in the back garden, and Streamline - also having a go with borlotti this year!
I grow loads of tomatoes and beans on the grounds that the weather should be good for one of them!
AC
Checked mine this morning, Stenna's,and they are coming up in their pots in the unheated g'house! So excited ;D Means summers a coming ;D ;D ;D DP
Mmmm - right on, DP! I hope I manage to get some this year - last year was a dismal failure in the bean department because of a) the heat b) lack of water at the allotment c) lack of energy to walk to and fro from top of plot to water tank to give sufficient water when there was any anyway and d) blackfly!
AC
Mine were a disaster too last year, a pathetic sight to behold!! Some of those that had been growing beans for years we moaning about it! But others had their best crop ever..you just cant win! ;D
how many bean plants do you grow out of interest anyone? we were sort of planning 3 wigwams which would be 18 plants, is this way too many, not enough or about right?
Hi Legless! Depends, of course, on how many in your family like beans! There are only two of us and in a good year I would say this is plenty and you could well be giving them away! I had about thirty plants last year and got enough for one meal for two and that was it ..... :'(
Trying about the same number this year - more in hope than expectation. The dwarf ones are going in the back yard so I can be more vigilant with the watering and feeding and I might just put the Painted Ladies there too! There must be room for a wigwam out there somewhere....
AC
good to know i'm not way off! hope your beans go better this year.
I am going for the row look rather than wigwams. Did wigwams in the garden last year and the beans were really slow to start, but by late summer we were eating them three times a day! :o I won't be plonking my seeds in the ground as apparently the local deer population love them and wander thru eating the emerging buds for brekky, so mine all went into pots about 3 days ago. I will plan to do 2 plants to a cane, but will probably end up with more because of course I have sowed lots and lots and lots of beans and will run out of poles long before I run out of beans! :o
Here in not-so-sunny Fife the beans were fine last year. I gave away carrier bags full.
As for what I grow them on, my veg patch has a path down the middle and last year I invested in ten of those cheap metal arches to put in pairs over the path and grow climbing things on. It looks good and saves space in the beds (probably not such a consideration on a full-sized allotment). They had to be reinforced with canes driven well into the ground and attached to the arches with wire because being cheap they're not exactly robust. Stakes would have been even better.
Grew runner beans, mangetout peas and sweet peas. Too many mangetout and beans for two, so this year it's sweet peas, mangetout, climbing ordinary peas, climbing French beans, and runners again.
The arches won't last for ever so intend to gradually replace them with something stronger (and more expensive).
Sue