Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage",
then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in their pods,
finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also they freeze very
well. What other vegetables give such good value?
--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

On 22/07/2012 11:46, Moonraker wrote:
Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage",
then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in their pods,
finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also they freeze very
well. What other vegetables give such good value?


Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems and
crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save your own
reliable seed. What can beat that?

In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:
On 22/07/2012 11:46, Moonraker wrote:

Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage",
then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in their pods,
finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also they freeze very
well. What other vegetables give such good value?

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems and
crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save your own
reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

Some of the cabbage tribe can be eaten multiple ways, too, including
their stems (inside the fibre).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Moonraker wrote:
Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage",
then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in their pods,
finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also they freeze very
well. What other vegetables give such good value?

Normally I would have said french beans and courgettes, as they give
so little bother - but this year both have been totally gnawed by
the slug patrol, so I guess I'll second your broad beans.

On 22/07/2012 12:37, wrote:
In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:
On 22/07/2012 11:46, Moonraker wrote:

Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage",
then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in their pods,
finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also they freeze very
well. What other vegetables give such good value?

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems and
crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save your own
reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

Some of the cabbage tribe can be eaten multiple ways, too, including
their stems (inside the fibre).

I disagree, and I've been growing them for forty years - most years with
an excellent crop. It's largely a matter of opinion, of course, but I
don't believe that French beans are anywhere near as good eating as
runner beans. And broad beans are ok if you want to produce tons more
composting material than food!

Farmer Giles wrote in
o.uk:

On 22/07/2012 12:37, wrote:
In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:
On 22/07/2012 11:46, Moonraker wrote:

Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a
"cabbage", then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in
their pods, finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also
they freeze very well. What other vegetables give such good value?

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems
and crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save
your own reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

Some of the cabbage tribe can be eaten multiple ways, too, including
their stems (inside the fibre).

I disagree, and I've been growing them for forty years - most years
with an excellent crop. It's largely a matter of opinion, of course,
but I don't believe that French beans are anywhere near as good eating
as runner beans. And broad beans are ok if you want to produce tons
more composting material than food!



Broad beans forever, (and yes they produce a good bit of compost material),
get them together with some freshly dug new potatoes and a feast is on for
us normally.
So I have 2 that I think go hand in hand. I could not choose between the
two for taste and reliability.

Baz

"Moonraker" wrote

Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my favourite.
They have very few problems and they give three possible pickings. First I
use the tops when I pinch them out as a "cabbage", then the beans when very
young are delicious cooked in their pods, finally the mature bean give
another tasty option. Also they freeze very well. What other vegetables
give such good value?

Shallots. Lots of different sorts, very reliable, excellent return on the
planting, store well and excellent in the kitchen and for pickling.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems and
crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save your own
reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

I disagree, and I've been growing them for forty years - most years with
an excellent crop. It's largely a matter of opinion, of course, but I
don't believe that French beans are anywhere near as good eating as
runner beans. And broad beans are ok if you want to produce tons more
composting material than food!

The OP was excluding taste, and I much prefer French to runner.
However, let's stick to the facts.

I am afraid that you are simply wrong - runners do crop very badly
in dry or cold summers. Many people around here do well, but my
soil is 60% sand, and I don't get a decent crop more than two years
out of three (and perhaps not that). That's over 34 years. The
reason that you and others haven't seen the problem is that dry
summers are relatively rare in the UK, and relatively short dry
spells (a few weeks) will cause trouble on only a few soils,
and when the evaporation is high. The same conditions make it
impractical to grow most salad crops, spinach etc. But the
executive summary is that runner beans do NOT always crop for a
couple of months.

Also, you can't eat runner bean tops the way that you can eat
broad bean tops.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 22/07/2012 22:46, wrote:
In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems and
crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save your own
reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

I disagree, and I've been growing them for forty years - most years with
an excellent crop. It's largely a matter of opinion, of course, but I
don't believe that French beans are anywhere near as good eating as
runner beans. And broad beans are ok if you want to produce tons more
composting material than food!

The OP was excluding taste, and I much prefer French to runner.
However, let's stick to the facts.

I am afraid that you are simply wrong - runners do crop very badly
in dry or cold summers. Many people around here do well, but my
soil is 60% sand, and I don't get a decent crop more than two years
out of three (and perhaps not that). That's over 34 years.

The
reason that you and others haven't seen the problem is that dry
summers are relatively rare in the UK, and relatively short dry
spells (a few weeks) will cause trouble on only a few soils,
and when the evaporation is high. The same conditions make it
impractical to grow most salad crops, spinach etc. But the
executive summary is that runner beans do NOT always crop for a
couple of months.

Also, you can't eat runner bean tops the way that you can eat
broad bean tops.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


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.

BTW, what's an 'executive summary'?

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.

BTW, what's an 'executive summary'?

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


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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'?

In article ,
Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...

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.

Nor in the warmer parts in the lighter soils! Here, the problem is that
it is fairly common for the weather to be either too cold or too dry for
them to set. And they have the characteristic that, once they have
stopped setting / flowering profusely because they are too dry, they
need an extended period of combined warmth and wet to start again.
It's a well-known problem in the east, but doesn't affect everyone,
even here, because the soil and aspect are also involved.

Last year, I tried ripening some for use as dried beans - and it was a
complete disaster, because I started too late (the end of August).
There wasn't enough sun after that to ripen them.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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?

On 23/07/2012 17:45, Farmer Giles wrote:
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?

Depends which part of France he lives. ;-))

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

In article ,
Moonraker wrote:
On 23/07/2012 17:45, Farmer Giles wrote:
On 23/07/2012 09:58, Janet wrote:

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?

Depends which part of France he lives. ;-))

This is getting silly. In the UK, grapes are easy to grow, but not
easy to get a crop from, and do not ripen reliably anywhere in the
country. Runner beans are easier, but are not easy to get a good
crop from everywhere, and it can be tricky to BOTH get a crop of
green beans AND ripen some for seed. Broad beans are easier still,
but even they can be tricky in some places, especially if you want
to ripen some for seed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.