wrote in message ...
Is anyone else suffering a very poor runner bean crop this year ?
This is the poorest year I can remember. The blossoms seem to be mainly
falling off the plant, without setting at all. Perhaps one or two
out of a possible 15 blossom might set on my runner bean plants.

Although on the I.W. we've had dry weather my beans are fantastic.

The secret?

A few years ago I bought a length of leaky pipe for my front garden bedding
plants and they did well so this year I used the pipe around the wigwam of
canes in the small raised bed to support the bean plants. When the dry
weather really started I connected the pipe to a water butt. Although the
pressure is of course very low, the pipe leaks enough to keep the soil
moist.

In the course of a week the water level in the butt drops by about 4 inches.
I've refilled the butt three times from a second butt using a pressure pump
and was going to fill it again the other day but it rained.

My wife told me it's the best year ever for our beans.

By the way, a nearby neighbour was going to plant some beans where she had
grown them last year but saw those plants growing again - her husband had
not dug up the old plants - so she left them and she too has had a super
crop. Runner beans are perennials so why not leave them in? If there's no
hard frost they'll come up again.

Geoff