On 14/10/2013 13:48, Phil Gurr wrote:
And no, it's not a 'send-up'. Up here in the far north, runner beans
are very much a 'sometimes' crop. The last two summers have been
quite useless but this summer I once again planted out the beans
after the last frost at the end of June. The soil was still cold and
so the plants made a very slow start but by August they were
growing well and the first flowers were appearing. By mid-Sept.
there were masses of flowers but the temperature plummeted and
I thought "that's it for another year. After a superb week of almost
summer weather, I thought I would have a last look at them - and
surprise, surprise; there was a great crop of good sized beans.
Runner beans are one of my favourite vegetables and tonight I am
going to have a feast!!!

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland


I'm still picking after a dead start, almost all the lower flowers
failed through lack of bees, but I have been picking for the last 5
weeks a great crop.
White flowered ones, the red gave a poor pick and went tough around 3
weeks ago after just 2 picks.
I am saving a load of the best white pods fro seed and as I've said
before all the keepers are sprayed blue.
David