[KT]

Ok so last year i did runner, french and mange tout (ok yeah i know its a pea )

All did well cropping wise.. (i'm changing variety of the runners this year but is null point)

Last year i did just one sowing of each, all cropped at about the same time and the cropping season was quite short so we got alot all at once.  it's april and we are still eating them from the freezer which is a good thing but i'd like chance to eat more fresh and freeze less

This year i'd like to drag it out abit, maybe with successional planting, i don't have much space, maybe 5ft panal for mangetout .. 10ft for runners and 10ft for climbing. (i also did dwarf french last year but i doubt im bothering again as the crop was quite poor)

How would i go about this concidering limited space? im growing up against fence panels? is there any way to stagger them in the same spot or would i have to use seprate plots for each stage?

I don't care about getting tons and tons of each at once, we are a small family so i just need enough each stage for a couple of meals a week.

[JayG]

I had the same problem last year so this year will grow half the number of plants I can accommodate at the usual time (i.e. planting out hopefully at the end of May) and the other half about 4-6 weeks later.

I plan to grow the two batches side by side as I think the second crop might struggle a bit if planted amongst the established ones.

Not proven yet of course but hopefully a logical way to go about it..................

[Kristen]

I only sow one lot of Runners and Climbing French. The runners go on until pretty much the first Frost, and Climbing French don't last that long (so a second sowing might extend that season).

Just curious if others have Short or Long season Runners?

[Snoop]

I'm trying Merveille (Maraviglia/Marvel) of Venice. Apparently they're a late variety. They're a yellow, flat pod, climbing bean. Apparently delicious, especially cold in salad dressing. I bought them here in Spain, but I've seen them on the Seeds of Italy website.

The packet says sow from Feb through to September, pick from May to November. Can't do that many places I know, though. I'll be sowing one lot early June and another lot a couple of weeks later. I've got a Munty frame on order from OH to grow them up. The locals will never have seen anything like a Munty. The frame could be about to become an international hit!

I tried dwarf beans last year and was surprised how quickly the plants gave up the ghost. I thought I'd done something wrong or that they'd got a disease, but I read somewhere dwarf beans are quite shortlived.

[HugglescoteGrower]

as Kristen says, with Runner Beans at least I tend to just do one sowing, as early as is reasonably safe. I find they keep going and going until the frosts cut them back, as long as you pick regularly and don't allow any beans to get old and woody. They seem to have a "switch" to stop cropping once they have sucessfully seeded, so keep taking all of the beens young and tender.

I did try and stagger last year, by growing half a dozen canes with plants and the rest sown direct, so theoretically they should have been three or four weeks ahead, but the plants got eaten so my experiment didn't run it's course. Those from seed did well though.

Peas for whatever reason are different, and I will grow two double rows about two to three weeks apart for all varieties.

[JayG]

Just curious if others have Short or Long season Runners?

It's the first time I've had that particular problem with runners (in a bad summer the problem is usually trying to speed them up!) and think it might be that Celebration are a particularly fast-maturing variety, which is only good news if you have sown them successionally! 

[mumofstig]

I've said on another thread that Celebration did less well than Lady Di, I thought they stopped early because the sparrows were pecking the flower buds off...but you think they might just finish early Jay?

I usually do a few runners started off early inside, and then a 2nd seed per string sown direct early in june. This keeps me in runnerbeans right through to the frosts

I do Cobra french beans, a few early in plastic tunnel for the first harvest. then outside, I plant some on one side of the frame and then a few weeks later I sow the other side of the frame. By the time one side is ending over the other side has started.

[JayG]

Ooh Mum!  It's like Mastermind (specialist subject; growing Runner Beans!)  :happy:

They started early, so they probably finished early! (I think it was an article in GW magazine which said they were early croppers which seems to have been borne out by my experiences although I wasn't expecting them to suddenly stop at the end of August!)

Overall I get the impression that the "new" stringless varieties have lost a bit of flavour along with the stringiness but I also thought that Celebration were amongst the best flavoured of the stringless varieties I have tried in recent years. That's why I'm giving them another go this year but staggering the sowings to prolong the crop. Not sure I have the confidence to sow the second crop direct because if they get nobbled it's BIG bottom-lip time! 

[mumofstig]

thanks Jay.....I'll give the Celebration a miss then and just stick with the Lady Di, as they worked so well last year

[Paul Plots]

Runners:
I use a bean-frame the width of my plot... first batch go in asp with plastic sheet either side to give them a helping hand. This is followed a few weeks later with the 2nd batch (grown in paper pots) and then a 3rd and final lot.

I usually continue to pick runners until everyone in the family begs for mercy!

(Mrs Learner refuses to freeze any... so we look forward to the first and the end of the last!) 

Variety? In the past mostly saved seed... a real hotch-potch mixture including seed exhanged and given to me by relatives.

This year three different lots plus a sprinkling of saved seed... very long stringless so looking forward to beans again 

[diggerjoe]

I dare not say outloud how many different varieties Im having a go at this year suffice it to say as was sorting packs last night OH said youre grwoing how many beans I've yet to tell him how many peas

[Paul Plots]

I dare not say outloud how many different varieties Im having a go at this year suffice it to say as was sorting packs last night OH said youre grwoing how many beans I've yet to tell him how many peas

 

Variety is the spice of life - let's also hope it is also the dangling of beans!