[Redgoat]

Once I've harvested the runner beans is the rest of the plant suitable for the compost heap?

[mumofstig]

Yes but don't leave any fat pods on there as they can sprout  :blink:

[digalotty]

cut off and leave the roots in the ground they put nitrogen back in the soil and compost the leaf

[Ice]

I leave the roots in the ground and chop the plant up small before composting mine.

[Redgoat]

thanks all

[Kristen]

I follow Runner Beans with Brassicas the following year. They like solid soil, so after cutting off tops, to leave the roots / Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, I mulch with manure and leave it at that for the winter - no soil disturbance - and then plant straight into that in the Spring.

[JayG]

Maybe it's due to my dry sandy soil but I find that if I leave the runner bean roots in the soil over winter they are still there next year (and have probably lost their fixed nitrogen due to leaching.)

The whole lot goes in the compost bin, the roots chopped up a bit as they are quite large and tuberous.