[Sharonx]

I'm still waiting patiently for my runners to make an appearance in the pot. I sowed Galaxy stringless just over a week ago.
In the veg section in sainsburys today I saw a pack of the flat runners called 'stringless' Please can someone tell me I haven't planted them? I don't like that type so if I have i've wasted alot of time waiting for them to pop up 

[violet61]

Not sure, but then runner beans are horrid My dad always grew them & they were always stringy! What was you hoping for stringy beans? 

[Aunt Sally]

What was the picture like on the packet of seeds Sharonx ? Because I'm not quite sure what you mean by "flat" 

This is the picture on the Unwins site



If you pick them young - before the beans begin to swell - you will find them delicious sliced and lightly boiled or steamed with a big knob of butter on top

[HLS]

Aren't all runner beans flat?  I thought the stringless varieties looked the same as the rest, just were a bit less tough down the sides.

I like runner beans, personally, unless they've been cooked to death.

[oldbean]

I like them too. Not many get as far as the pot, they get eaten on the way. 

[violet61]

Can you eat them raw then? I think my dad put me off for life

[Eatyourgreens]

Runners after Greens and Kale, me secondbestest veg.

Bob

[Quetzal]

i haven't grown them, so take this with a pinch of salt, but...

in answer to the original question, I don't _think_ stringless runner beans are the same thing as the stringless beans in  the supermarkets. I think the sainbury specials are more like 'flat beans', which seem to be classified as a type of french bean:

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/climbing-french-bean-algarve-seeds-pid1942.html

runner beans = rough skin,
flat beans = smooth?

edit:
this describes galaxy runners as 'smooth', so it shows what little i know...
http://www.onlinegardeningcentre.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=rungal

[jenjen]

Hi there - I grew stringless runner beans last year and they were not those horrid flat things. They were normal yummy runner beans just not so tough along the edges. Hope that helps.
Jennie

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm getting confused here.  runner beans are flat, and french beans are rounded.  At least all the french beans I've seen are rounded.  Runner beans are delicious, and if left til they get stringy, aren't as nice unless you just peel off the string down each side.  Older beans not as nice as young and tender beans.

Your Dad obviously either didn't grow them properly or didn't cook them properly!!  They are the best veg going to my mind.  I could eat a plateful with nothing else!!  apart from a few nice new potatoes!!

[Greengirl]

Put a cut clove of garlic in the water you boil your runners in - it really brings out the taste.

[HLS]

GrannieAnnie, I think there are some varieties of French bean which are flat.  I've never seen them except in seed catalogues, but they're definitely not the same as runners.

[violet61]

I think my dad grew them properly, just didnt pick the damn things soon enough! then my mother boiled them to death! As for best veg?? I am talking childhood memories, so maybe its time I tried growing some, I could be missing out here

[Yabba]

I think my dad grew them properly, just didnt pick the damn things soon enough! then my mother boiled them to death! As for best veg?? I am talking childhood memories, so maybe its time I tried growing some, I could be missing out here

Eat them younger and cook them for a fraction of the time that your mother did

Ohhh, and ignore all the "call them bl**dy beans m'lad? My beans are as long as me arm" comments from the ... older ... folk

„

[Kristen]

We grow Climbing French Beans which we refer to as "Flat Beans" - such as Sutton's Limka.  My family prefers them to Runners - so each to his own I guess!

They aren't the same thing though, as I have grown so called stringless Runners in the past, but we always aim to pick ours when relatively small

Sutton's Limka