GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - What is your favourite vegetable to grow?

Farmer Giles · 23-07-2012, 05:45 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 23/07/2012 09:58, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...

On 23/07/2012 08:09, wrote:
In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:

Well, let's agree to disagree. Runner beans are my favourite - which was
the OP's question. I seem to remember that Percy Thrower said they were
his favourite vegetable too.

I was not disputing that, nor whether they are the best vegetable,
because value judgements are always dependent on your criteria.
I was disputing only the claim of reliability. Broad beans aren't
perfectly reliable, either, of course.

The only time I used the word reliable was in relation to runner bean
seeds - which, in my long experience of growing them, is a fact. You
also said that they crop very badly in wet or dry summers - which, again
in my experience, is not true. It might be in yours, but that doesn't
make it true.

BTW, what's an 'executive summary'?

One that gives just simple statements and leaves out all of the
justification.

Yes, but of what and whom - as in your statement, 'the
executive summary is that runner beans do NOT always crop for a
couple of months'?

How about, "of gardeners in colder parts of the country". The ones
where the growing season between frost dates, can be so short I always
have to give runner beans and sweet corn a head start under cover.
Completely different from Hereford and Worcestershire where we used to
poke the beans in the soil and stand back.

You can't count on a crop of runner beans every year up here. Last
summer in Scotland arrived so late and cold it was a disaster for runner
beans.

Yes, but almost all plants need to right soil and conditions to grow
well (I am very close to Herefordshire, BTW). I bet you don't get a good
crop of outdoor grapes up there either - so does that mean that you'd
tell a Frenchman that grapes are not a good crop to grow?