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Yes I thought I would give you a laugh but the situation is this:
Bean seed used cost less than 50p, plants are growing strongly and likely to get pot-bound soon and I can still plant some more and be amoung the earliest to harvest.



While you Northeners are still shaking your heads let me tell you I am aiming to harvest a proper meal of outdoor-grown runners in June this year. Maybe yes and maybe no but last year it was July. Not good enough!

Hate to burst you bubble but the ones I have in my big pot with the obelisk have flowers on (just) XX Jeannine

Yea, Yea Yea. That's pot culture. I'm talking about no messin, no special treatment, no protection open grown on the plot. If it freezes next week you can laugh at me and my wasted seed but I am talking maincrop, sustainable and I've got photos. :P

I can do photo's tomorrow when it's light,they just went in the pot yesterday. I had no choice either as they were going daft in their little pots in the greenhouse.

It will probably snow tomorrow and we will both look daft. LOL



XX Jeannine

Love to plant now but have 27 year old son in charge of watering when we take a break at the end of May!  Already planning back up for everything!  ;D ;D ;D

I have back ups too, then if my early plantings don't make it we are OK, summer squash is going out tomorrow !! XX Jeannine

then again, you could very well be eating runner beans early and those of us who haven't planted yet will look daft then  ;D

No one is going to look daft. Runners can be sown direct in late july and still produce crops. My seed was sown pretty much the same time as last year but the incredibly hot weather has made them romp away and they would have spoilt if not planted or potted on to 2ltr pots. I do not have room for beans in big pots.

Any readers who are new to gardening should bear in mind that I am gardening on the very edge of possibility and one cold night will kill them all, and I will have lost 50p worth  of seed.

Why not put some fleece or polythene round them?

QuoteWhy not put some fleece or polythene round them?

First. If there is a late frost they might just survive but would be set back so much that a new sowing would overtake them.

Second. I believe they grow better in the open air.

Third. The less clutter for slugs to hide under the better.

As they say you pay your money you take your chances. I have has spuds in since January and pulling courgettes grown in 5" pots.  If you don,t try you don,t succeed.

No slug trap - just clip the fleece to the canes like a sail.

But good thinking about the set back.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that runners are actually perennials. They can certainly over-winter under very mild conditions - happened to me one year in the garden. One or two folk at our plot have put their runners out already, but they've fleeced them. As Tim says, clip it to the canes; I just use clothes-pegs.

But my beans are staying in the packet for a bit. (Mangetout & sugar snaps been in for a couple of weeks, though.)

Quote from: Eristic on April 14, 2007, 21:57:22
I am gardening on the very edge of possibility

thats so radical ;D.
youre right of course, if we dont get another frost you will be laughing. some people on my site have beans in already and my neighbour has sweetcorn in. i only sowed my runners yesterday.  th eyear before last i planted out on may bank holiday and there was frost the following week.
but i salute you for gardening on the edge. go for it

Watching the weather forecast and they say it is going to cool down next week would not be a worry If i had my beans out now i think i would be more concerned about the strong winds we have had in April and May over the past few years, i think they have done more damage than any frost.

DavyW

I don't grow runners, but my French beans will be going in this week, on the windowsill. Everything else on it is going down to the mini-greenhouses this week.

MetCheck -2 degrees next Sunday!

If it's just an air frost, then anything covered should be OK.

This weather is freaky and no doubt we will have a late frost yet.

Mine will be ready to plant out in 10 days or so. The climate in Liverpool is relatively mild so I should be OK.
I have just completed a Runner Bean page on my site. and look forward to documenting the growth of my first 3 foot long bean.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_Beans_Runner.html