On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:22:32 +0100, Roy Bailey
wrote:

~In article , Ron
writes
~Urglers,
~
~This year I have grown two lots of runner beans on wigwams. The seeds
~we- Unwins "Scarlet Emperor" at £1.99 a packet and their "Polestar" at
~£2.79 a packet. The raised bed in which the beans were grown was treated
~with farmyard compost before planting out the greenhouse grown plants. They
~have been well and regularly watered. The growing methods I used this year
~were no different to those I have used for many years in various gardens.
~
~To tell the truth, my wife and I are very disappointed with both beans, for
~although they germinated well, produced prolific stem, side shoots, leaf
~growth and plenty of flowers, the beans are short. badly shaped and they
~certainly lack taste. In fact, I would go so far as to say that their taste
~is akin to the cash crop almost tastless runner beans we get early in the
~year from some African countries which are a pleasant change of veg. in the
~late winter, but make me look forward to tasty beans from our garden. I
~will not grow these beans again.
~
~I would be interested to know others' opinions of these beans and if anybody
~can recommend a runner bean with tons of taste . . . . . .
~
~For many years I have grown 'Enorma', which is a highly recommended
~runner bean for flavour if the pods are not allowed to get too big. We
~normally pick them at about 6 inches long.
~
~Sadly this year they have been a disappointment, but this is down to
~vermin attacking the plants after they have been planted out, rather
~than any shortcomings of the variety.

I'll second that - I grow Enorma and lost a lot last year (slugs got
all the leaves below about 2' off the ground) and this year took a
slightly different approach by a) sowing indoors, but later (May 6th
as against April 17th) b) putting them out when smaller but
well-hardened off so they grew tougher and c) combining them with
sweet peas to provide an extra barrier as well as bee-attractor. They
are just starting to crop really heavily :-)

Baked buttered marrow and runners for Sunday lunch this week with
homegrown new potatoes... yum.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!