We grew three types of 'runner' beans this year. We try to grow three different flower colours to add a bit of interest as well as provide a crop.
We grew the red flowered Lady Di ...
... the white flowered on is Desiree ...
... and the bi-coloured St George.
All are looking really healthy - probably healthier than normal for the time of year - but they really do have some ground to make up.
This year they have been very slow to grow. Pollination wasn't the problem - the flowers weren't there to pollinate. The plants just seemed to prefer a steady jog as opposed to the usual dash to the finishing post. Maybe the heat affected them or maybe the fact that it is difficult to provide sufficient water when growing on a large plot not attached or close to our house was the problem. The plants are now laden with masses of immature beans.
We have started to harvest but will the conditions be helpful and allow us to reap the promised harvest? I hope so.
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Those beans certainly look very healthy and strong. I expect you will end up with a glut just like everyone else - only a bit later in the year!
ReplyDeleteHope the summer lasts a bit longer so we can have a glut, Mark
DeleteYour beans look amazing Sue, in fact everytime I see a photo of your allotment I want to replicate it here lol. I never thought to grow Beans in columns like that I've always done the long row type. I think next year I will trying your way.
ReplyDeleteYour sweetcorn is coming along too. I've actually finished cropping mine now as they're in the tunnel but I think I may grow some outdoors next year as well as indoors - see! I see your plot and want to replicate it lol.
Just hoping the corn ripens Linda. I've been getting in amongst it and brushing it to try and make sure it pollinated.
DeleteI see the garden space that you have and want it!!! :)
I've grown St George this year, I've had a decent enough harvest so far, and still more to come. It's a variety I'll grow again next year.
ReplyDeleteIt's a new one for us this year, Jo so we will see how it fares
DeleteWhat beautiful beans! I did not have a single seed germinate this year, out of over 100, but have a generous neighbour! Yesterday, I put sliced runner beans on my courgette, apple, and onion skillet pizza! Delicious and different.
ReplyDeleteHow strange that none germinated, Deborah. Glad your neighbour helped out
DeleteSt George is a real cracker isn't he....xxxx
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping so, Snowbird. He's only really just getting going for us.
DeleteLovely post Sue never tried beans before but will even if other dose not like it
ReplyDeleteThey are decorative too, Linda so sneak a few in and say they are climbers.
DeleteYour plants look super healthy and look like a huge harvest still to come. I'm afraid my dwarf beans and cobra weren't too productive for me this year. I must try harder with beans!
ReplyDeleteOur dwarf ones and Cobra seem to have done well Kelli. It can be a mystery why some things work out and other things don't.
DeleteI hope your autumn is an Indian Summer so that you get a glut of beans. I was thinking of trying St George this summer and seeing yours has made up my mind. How high are teppees, I think mmine were a bit short last year.
ReplyDeleteThey are usually a bit too high for me to pick the top ones, Sharon
DeleteAh more gorgeous bean photos! I didn't grow any this year, on purpose and I miss looking at them and taking photos of them! It's nice to look at yours instead!
ReplyDeleteThey are lovely plants, Anna
Deletep.s. when I say "ah more gorgeous bean photos.." that's me thinking out loud because I just came over from Mark's blog post about his beans!!
ReplyDeleteI've been there too and Mark's are much further on.
DeleteHope you haven't had the three days of wind we have. I'm fearful it will turn off the bean producing machine. September is usual for this - but not the FIRST of September!
ReplyDeleteBi-coloured flower St George looks a lot like the old favourite Painted Lady which I am growing. Very vigorous but also a bit sluggish about bean production. It's going like the clappers now. Glad to had had French Bean Sungold which cropped in advance.
When's the flavour comparison?
We've grown Painted lady in the past, Mal. St George was a change this. It's was windy and cold here yesterday. I'll be happy if the beans already produced go on to mature
DeleteThey are worth growing for the flowers alone. I confess to not liking runner beans - but I do love their flowers!
ReplyDeleteThey are really ornamental Linda
DeleteThey look so lovely
ReplyDeleteThank you Elablue
DeleteThey look beautiful and very healthy.
ReplyDeleteI grow open-pollinated varieties and let some beans dry to seed the next year. I have noticed that when I use my beans from the previous year, they mature faster than new varieties I bought. It was the case last year and again this year.
That's interesting Alain maybe they 'remember' the conditions and adapt. Clever things - plants
DeleteThank you for this it makes me feel a lot better. My St. George beans here in Sheffield are at the same stage as yours and I feared that perhaps I had done something wrong as this is my first attempt at growing runner beans.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with gardening swefling. It's always difficult to decide whether you have done something or conditions affected growth.
DeleteMy beans haven't been great so far. I'm growing one of the white flowered ones, I can't remember which off-hand, but the bottom half has hardly had a single bean, and there aren't hundreds on the top half, although there are plenty of flowers. Instead of bunches of beans, I seem to have only two or three growing on a string. I don't know if the weather has been a problem, but I think I'll be trying a different variety next year. Your three varieties certainly look healthy enough, so hopefully you will have a good harvest from them in the end.
ReplyDeleteI think conditions must have had something to do with it, CJ as we have grown two of our varieties before
DeleteI lost all my runner beans to the dreaded rodents last year. I thought my plants weren't setting fruit but I eventually noticed some which vanished not long after. Hopefully this year the rats will give my garden a wide berth.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a ratless season, Liz.
DeleteA similar story with my beans. Since the temperatures have lowered somewhat this week the beans are developing rapidly at the moment. Glad I didn't pinch them out this year, due to the early slow growth.
ReplyDeleteWe are picking now Rooko - hope it continues for a while.
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