The message
from "ex WGS Hamm" contains these words:
"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...

Last year, I dug up 3 runner bean plants, trimmed them to 3" of stem,
planted them in a pot of multipurpose compost, put it in an unheated
bedroom and left them. They died.

This year, a have them in a pot with about a dozen leaves still attached
and I'm hoping to improve :-)

- Should I chop them down to 3" again?
- Should I water them once a month?
- Keep them warm/cold/wet/dry/light/dark?

You don't, you sow new seed every year.

Not if you know what you're doing, you don't.

Runners are a perenniel, but very unhardy.

Each year, if you overwinter the roots in sand (or similar - I guess
vermiculite would do), you get a growing number of shoots from the base,
so instead of the single vine you get from a bean, you get several stems
the next year, and a whole bunch of them the following year, and so-on.

Not only do you get more beans that way, but you get them a great deal
earlier too.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
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