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Its funny when picking runner beans ~~I think right thats it there are no more to pick. Then I  spy another few biggies hiding !  I am sure some more have escaped me today too!!

Duke

Yes, exactly the same here ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Funny how there is an enormous stringy one that seems to be missed about ten times!

I find the same with courgettes, I think I have managed to get the blighters and a couple of days later I find a gigantic one that seems to have escaped me for weeks.

Typical isnt it last sunday 5 beans, poured down with rain all week now there are dozens of them, still weve got a freezer.

Same with our beans........  the only way I've found is to keep changing the angle I look at them.  Always miss some though ::)

here's an idea for missed beans. i left my runners on to long, there was just so much stuff to harvest :D, when i finally got round to them they were gone past the tender stir fry stage :( . i didn't want to throw away those beautiful fuschia pink beans, so stewed them for approx 40 minutes with my herbs, seasoned to taste and added some chillie paste for extra flavour,  and my goodness they sure tasted great,  so any extra will be left and stewed and frozen this year it will certainly make a nice hot accompaniment this winter.

The solution is an inverted A shaped frame so that the beans hang down away from the foliage not inside the apex of the A. Every year I say I will make some!
::)

Sounds like a fine idea Saddad - evolution dictates that in a year the leaves will be big enough to hide them again.

Yes, I have grown my runners on "wigwams" this year, and find it more difficult to discover the beans.   Will revert back to my normal double row next year.    Notice the Chinese family on a plot nearby slant their bamboo poles, making a lattice, which I suppose will allow the beans to grow away from the poles as well as making a stronger frame.

Next year I am doing the x frame its supposed to be easier to pick the beans!!

Duke

Did the Muntjak method where the beans hang down and my Wife walks underneath and picks the hanging beans, with strawberry beds underneath, so no wasted space.

Used bamboo instead of string, muntjaak method here.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2100&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=165

There are a couple of Muntjac frames on our site, they look good.

T.

Lie on your back and look towards the sky.  But when they have died down and you have saved a few for seed, they have multiplied overnight.

I used an X frame this year for the first time.  Yes, the beans do grow out, so are easier to pick.

As for courgettes - try growing yellow ones!