[Elcie]

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

Oh yes definitely.  They are a great snack raw.  Lady at work used to bring me in a carrier bag full and I just to leave them there and snack on them during the week.  Tasty!

[sunshineband]

Just to add to the mix -- helda beans are flat  climbers 

[violet61]

Oh I'm definitely going to grow some, I seem to be missing out here, I suppose its too late now

[nobby]

no its not too late  get them in now and pick them small and tender thay tast great

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, french beans are either flat or pencil pod, you can get either low or climbing as for runners picked young they are nearly all stringless.

[Fruity]

I haven't enjoyed runner beans since I was a kid. We used to get them from PYO farms or grow them ourselves. The ones in the shops these days are horrid.

I'm going to reclaim a part of my childhood and grow a small crop this year.

[Jade]

I grew 'Galaxy' last year (remembered the name because we drive one)
They are not the flat supermarket sort, just normal runners with rough skin.
not sure I'd describe them as stringless exactly.
but they were the longest beans I've ever grown!

[GrannieAnnie]

Defo not too late Violet!  You can even sow direct up to end of may for runners.  like the others have said though, try to pick them young and tender, then at the end of the season, if you miss some, just leave them on the plant for the pods to go brown and dry, then take out the bean seeds and keep them cool and dry for next year.

When we moved here 7 years ago, somone from next door gave me a load of beans,the biggest ones I dried out and panted the following year, and each year I save some and re-plant.

[mumofstig]

I'm growing pink flowered runners, Celebration, next to some 'White Lady' this year......wonder what will grow from the seeds next year.
It'll be the first year i've had mixed varieties so will be interesting to see what surprises i'll get

I also want to see if the blurb is right that the birds don't peck the white flowers off

[iwantanallotment]

I grew Galaxy last year, also Painted Lady and Celebration.
But runners are usually stringless, if picked young. It's growing them to be as big/long as possible that makes them stringy.
Re Galaxy though, they did have thick, tougher, darker pods and strings, even when young. I kept these purely for the beans, the pods were basically inedible. Won't be growing them again.

[Sharonx]

Thanks for all your answers. Quetzal, the thread you left are exactly what I saw in Sainsburys yesterday, and I don't like them at all.

I hope iwantanallotment is wrong about Galaxy, I am so looking forward to growing and eating them   

Glad this thread has got peeps growing runners too, nothing like them in my opinion.