Runner Beans

I have just been looking at runner bean seeds and have noticed a stringless variety.  Has anybody tried these before?  I normally grow Red Emperor.

Have got my newspaper pots all made up and ready, OH thouht I had gone mad and was going back to my childhood!  Will sow them over the Easter weekend, or should they already be in?

Not too late, a bit early if anything. They hate frost and you will need to plant them out as soon as they are a reasonable size.

Which variety were you looking at ? I've grown Desiree http://www.thompson-morgan.com/seeds1/product/176/1.html for  the last couple of years, although they're stringless they do get rather hard if you leave them too long on the plant. Nice taste to them too.

Plenty of time to get your runner in yet - I always forget to cover things if we have a late frost so I tend not to plant the runners out till all signs of frost are gone. last year they were sown 02/05  still had a freezer full of beans by the end of the year.   

Thanks everybody, I will leave them a bit longer then.  Why do all the garden centres have them out so early, for me a beginner, they confuse me!

we grow cobra beans , 8 inches long , smooth, ours are just poking through the pots now , will be ready by end of april , when picked , top and tail them , cut to requires length, pop into freezer , no need to blanch

Thanks everybody, I will leave them a bit longer then.  Why do all the garden centres have them out so early, for me a beginner, they confuse me!

There was an op-ed in the latest RHS magazine about this.  Basically, some terrifying proportion of the UK's gardening budget is spent in a couple of months on young summer bedding (with young vegetables as a related side-line).  The garden centres try to spread out the rush (and you can't really blame them), which is fine for experienced or commercial gardeners who can grow things on under cover, but less good for enthusiastic beginners without greenhouses.  The columnist was complaining that she's never yet been reminded when buying tender plants that they need to be grown on under cover until after the frosts.  What we need is big signs saying "pot on and grow indoors" or something.  Also, if you have a polytunnel and want to get an early bean crop, then now probably would be OK, and there are parts of the country that probably aren't expecting more frosts.

I grew Galaxy last year they are stringless, but TBH they are not the tastiest bean on the market and loose nearly all flavour in the freezer  I'm trying Wisley Magic this year and will not be sowing them until late April.

 

Thanks everybody, I will leave them a bit longer then.  Why do all the garden centres have them out so early, for me a beginner, they confuse me!

So they die and you buy more later, is my thought