[kathrose]

You was all right, I have had some lovely beans, yes I am still losing flowers, buy if I wasn't I could set up a stall.  Family and neighbours have been happy to help me out with them.

It's very satisfying picking beans and digging up a few spuds and having them for your dinner. 

[Sparkyrog]

it is great isn't it 

[GrannieAnnie]

Nothing nicer than sitting down to eat something you have nurtured since it was a little seed! 

[R6robbo]

My first successful year this year and i still can,t help grinning when i look at my plate and realise that  everything on it apart from the meat i have grown myself.
A great feeling.

[Aunt Sally]

It is a good feeling, Rob

[Sparkyrog]

My first successful year this year and i still can,t help grinning when i look at my plate and realise that  everything on it apart from the meat i have grown myself.
A great feeling.

Get some chicken 

[JayG]

Being almost self-sufficient in veg, if only temporarily, makes it all seem worthwhile - the only veg I've bought in the last month or so is mushrooms, although I must admit to the occasional blurry double-take when I look at the courgettes stuffed in my fridge and half-wishing they would magically transform into that nice supermarket broccoli! 

[Fairy Plotmother]

My first successful year this year and i still can,t help grinning when i look at my plate and realise that  everything on it apart from the meat i have grown myself.
A great feeling.

Just wait, that feeling won't change. I'm in my 3rd growing season and I still grin at my plate.

[kathrose]

Love it.  Grinning at your plate.  I go up the garden every morning and stare at my beans, feel my cucumbers and study my tommies.  Wish we had a little more sun to ripen the tomatoes.  I put a lot of plants into the garden and to be honest, they have done as well as the ones in the greenhouse.  I just want some red ones.  If not guess I will be making green tomatoe chutney.

[Yana]

It never fails to make me smile when I look at what I've managed to grow.
I've had disasters, gluts, thefts, vandalism, but knowing that I'm eating produce whose history I know is all worth it.
That and the banter at the lottie makes it all the better.

[MickyB]

My first year has been superb!

I under estimated how much growth and height the runner beans made, my bamboo cane frame is groaning and swaying under the weight and I had to trim the plants back and tie the structure to the fence to try to keep it from collapsing. I think the lot might come down in the first descent wind, I have my fingers crossed that it is still standing every time I go down to the plot.......I will be constructing sturdy wigwams next year!

[JayG]

Have you got room to drive a couple of strong stakes into the ground and guy them to near the top of your frame MickyB?

That's what I used to do before I built my permanent Munty frame and it worked well (needless to say this lesson was learnt the hard way when an entire inverted "V" row toppled over in the wind - luckily the tall hedge was nearby to catch it and avoided an embarrassment turning into a disaster!)

[Goosegirl]

My first successful year this year and i still can,t help grinning when i look at my plate and realise that  everything on it apart from the meat i have grown myself.
A great feeling.

Absolutely brilliant feeling. Not wishing to trump your joy, but I remember in the past when we had a few sheep, we had roast lamb, pots and other veg with a choice of redcurrant jelly and mint sauce - alll home produced - and the taste! 

[MickyB]

Have you got room to drive a couple of strong stakes into the ground and guy them to near the top of your frame MickyB?

That's what I used to do before I built my permanent Munty frame and it worked well (needless to say this lesson was learnt the hard way when an entire inverted "V" row toppled over in the wind - luckily the tall hedge was nearby to catch it and avoided an embarrassment turning into a disaster!)

Thanks for the tip 

I have just checked them and now I have removed some of the growth the frame seem to be holding up, although I think I will still stake & guy them just to make sure.

How much longer do they do they continue to produce runner beans?

[JayG]

How much longer do they do they continue to produce runner beans?

It's often said "the more you pick, the more they produce" which is not strictly true, it's more like "if you don't pick them regularly they will stop producing sooner than they otherwise would." 

It's not at all unusual to still be picking some runners at the end of September in a good year, although obviously to some extent it depends how early they started producing.