[markp76]

Couple of questions for you green fingered wonders out there. Have a few runner beans left on the plants {went on holiday for a fortnight} obviously to big to eat and the frost has got to them so will they be ok for seed purposes? and if so whats the best way of going about it? Pick the pods and wait for them to go brown and dry then take the seed, or is it ok remove the seeds while there still green?
Whens the best time of year to move a rasberry and strawberry plants, in my haste this year to get my plot started i put them in what now will be the middle of my plot!
And finally reccomendations on a good potato for using as jacket spuds for next year, was more than happy with my pentland javlin, fur apples and desiree's but not so keen on the golden wonder we have grown so any more suggestions?

Thanks Mark

[Goosegirl]

Not sure if you can leave the bean seeds to go brown or if they will do so if you pick them - see what others say. You can move raspberry plants now as the soil is still "warm" and they should be ok. Same for strawberries - as long as they are still this year's plants - I know that older ones don't like being moved. My OH likes a floury potato for baking such as King Edward.

[JayG]

Ideally bean pods should be left on the plant until brown and almost crispy but that ain't going to happen now, especiallty given the forecast for the next few days!

I've had seeds sprouting in my compost heap this year from beans chucked in because they were a bit too "gone over" to eat, so there is seemingly a fair bit of leeway!

Pick them now, leave them to dry a bit for a few days, take out the seeds and chuck away any which are noticeably smaller or dodgier-looking than the others, dry and store in a paper bag somewhere cool and dry.

Don't forget that your saved seeds may not turn out to be exactly the same as the variety originally sown, especially if there were other varieties being grown nearby!

[arugula]

We've got the potato results thread for 2010, which has been collated into three polls on first & second early and maincrop potatoes grown this year with peoples comments, likes, dislikes etc. It might be worth a look at these for potato ideas.

[markp76]

now that could be a * as i grew enorma and scarlett emporer together

[JayG]

now that could be a * as i grew enorma and scarlett emporer together

They will almost certainly have "crossed" with each other; whether that's a good or bad thing is a matter of personal choice (you may have accidentally produced a new RHS winner!) 

[mumofstig]

as i found out yesterday.....it is not easy to remove seed from green pods....
you damage quite a few  (most ).........so i'm leaving the pods to dry on the windowledge before I try again