"Broadback" wrote in message
...
David (Normandy) wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
et...
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Broadback writes:
|
| To maximise crop is it best to pinch out runner beans when they
reach
| the top of their poles, or leave them to sort themselves out?

Pinch them out. They will produce new shoots from lower down.

And you have to look at them daily, those tips grow at an astonishing
rate! Think Jack and the Beanstalk.

Mary


Is it really necessary to pinch them out? I've grown runner beans for
years up an elongated wigwam of bamboo canes and never pinched them out.
We always get far too many beans and end up giving lots away to visitors.
It was only last week we finished eating the remains of last years frozen
ones.

The important thing I was told, is never to allow beans to grow too big
or the plants stop flowering. Where I find the odd one that "has got
away" I pull it off and compost it. Similarly if there are too many beans
on the plants and the freezer is full and everyone including visitors are
sick of the sight of them, I just pull them off and compost them rather
than let them "age".

It is only towards Autumn that we let some pods grow to maturity to
provide seeds for anther year.

Why do supermarkets typically sell pods that are long, stringy and dry
rather than the smaller juicy ones?

David.


I guess David because they are sold by the pound, whoops wash my mouth
out, kilo, therefore it maximises the profit.

I've seen some really awful ones for sale in such places. Supermarket runner
beans and home grown are like two entirely different vegetables. If they
sold them small and fresh I'm sure they'd sell more.

David.