How to guarantee you have an endless supply of fresh runner beans this summer

We love growing runner beans. And the great thing is they are so easy to grow, which makes them an ideal vegetable plant to grow for the beginner gardener.
The runner bean was originally a perennial plant from South America, but in the UK they are grown as a half-hardy annual, that’s because they are killed by frosts at the end of their growing season.
If you decide to start growing runner beans their preferred growing position is full sun. Though they can tolerate some shade as well. Also, it’s best to grow runner beans in a sheltered position that’s because runner beans grow very tall and will blow over very easily in exposed areas.

Runner beans have beautiful flowers they can be either red or white.

Growing Runner Beans – Soil Preparation

Prepare the soil in February or March. You need to prepare the soil well by digging deeply and dig in lots of compost or well-rotted manure. This will help the soil in holding lots of water, which is very important in growing runner beans. About 2 weeks before planting out the runner beans rake a general-purpose fertilizer or chicken manure pellets into the soil.


Sowing & Planting

Runner Beans are easily damaged by any amount of frost. So you need to sow runner beans at the right time. You can start your runner beans inside in April. Fill a seed tray – one with individual sections – with multi-purpose compost. Water the seed trays and make a hole with a dipper for each runner beans seed. Cover with compost and don’t forget to label.
You can also sow directly into the soil – once the danger of frost has passed. Sow the runner bean seedlings directly into the soil at the end of May for southern regions and the beginning of June for northern areas. It’s a good idea to sow some extra beans at the end of the row – you can use these to fill in gaps if needed.
If you start your runner beans indoors you will need to ‘harden’ the plants off – this means that after your runner bean plants have grown to about 3 to 4″ tall – you will need to put the runner bean plants outside in the day time and bring them in at night. This is so the plant will get acclimatised to the weather – before planting them outside. The runner beans need to be planted about 6” apart.

General
Runner bean foliage is very thick and this will result in the plants casting a deep shade over a wide area in your garden. So keep this in mind when choosing where you are going to be growing runner beans.

Supporting Runner Beans
Many runner bean varieties grow to about 6” tall and will need some kind of support. Most gardeners use canes to make some kind of wigwag to support the runner beans. There are newer runner bean varieties that are dwarf and these don’t need any kind of support which makes them pretty popular and easy to grow.
Some gardeners put o twist some gardening twine around the bamboo canes, this will give the growing plants more to grab hold of.
Some gardeners put some gardening twine around each bamboo stick as this will give the growing runner beans more to grab hold of.
Another popular way to growing runner beans is to erect a criss-cross of canes, each pair of bamboo is tied together at the top, or simply a line of canes connected together with mesh netting. You can also grow runner beans up an existing fence that has been covered with some mesh netting.

Growing Runner Beans – Looking after your crop

As I said before growing runner beans is very simple – they need watering and weeding. The runner beans will also greatly benefit from having some mulch around the roots, place some grass clippings around the area it helps retain moisture in the soil, keeps the weeds down and will also feed the plants.

You will also need to pinch out the growing tips when the runner bean plants reach the top of the bamboo supports.


Harvesting Runner Beans

Runner beans should be ready to pick in July, and they should continue to grow for around two months. Pick the beans when they are young and tender – if you leave them too grow to big and long you will get very stringy beans.

To make the most of the crop you need to pick the runner beans frequently to encourage new beans to grow. Runner beans are best eaten as soon after picking as possible, you can keep them for a week in the fridge, runner beans also freeze well.


Pests and Diseases of Runner Beans

Halo Blight – Brownish spots on the leaves which are surrounded by a light coloured ‘halo’. This disease can be caused if you have saved your own seed from the previous year; or soaking runner bean seeds before sowing; or seeds that are from a bad source. There is no cure, you need to dig up and destroy the runner bean plants.

Blackfly – Runner beans can get blackfly. It’s helpful to do some companion planting by planting Marigold flowers near the runner beans. These flowers attract beneficial insects such as ladybirds and hoverflies and these will eat blackfly. You can also spray the plant with soapy water – mix a spray bottle with water and squirt some fairy liquid in, shake and spray it on the blackfly.
Alternatively you can buy a chemical spray from your local garden centre to kill the blackfly.

Slugs – Slugs and snails find all parts of a runner bean plant delicious. They can devour plants very easily overnight – especially young plants. Place slug pellets around plants – there are eco friendly pellets, or check as dusk falls and pick-off any slugs and snails.

I hope you find this article informative and it will encourage you to start growing runner beans.

 

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