In article ,
says...

How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?

As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

Janet.

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

How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?

As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

In warm, damp weather, they remain excellent until much larger
(depending on the variety) - I typically pick mine at 6-9",
when the beans inside are just visible when they are broken
but don't show as lumps. Also, it's mainly the climbing
ones that keep cropping, and even they stop when there is
a dry or cold spell :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Janet wrote:
How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?
As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

That seems to be true for runner beans, and I'm sure it's been true
about my french beans in the past, but this year I seem to be picking
and then they don't do any more. :-(
(possibly also related to more of them than should have been are looking
like they are dwarf ones rather than climbing)

On 02/08/2013 22:15, Victoria Conlan wrote:
Janet wrote:
How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?
As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

That seems to be true for runner beans, and I'm sure it's been true
about my french beans in the past, but this year I seem to be picking
and then they don't do any more. :-(
(possibly also related to more of them than should have been are looking
like they are dwarf ones rather than climbing)

The easy answer is to go into tesco and look at the french beans they
sell, then you will have an idea of how yours should be when you pick them.

In article , says...

Janet wrote:
How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?
As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

That seems to be true for runner beans, and I'm sure it's been true
about my french beans in the past, but this year I seem to be picking
and then they don't do any more. :-(
(possibly also related to more of them than should have been are looking
like they are dwarf ones rather than climbing)

I only grew runners this year (three sorts).. slow to get going but
they grew well, flowered well, all that's missing is pollination :-(
They flower but very few form beans. At this rate i'll get a lousy
crop. Yet peas have done really well.

I've only seen 2 honeybees this year, which might explain lack of
pollination but there are a LOT of bumble bees about.

Janet

Janet wrote:
I only grew runners this year (three sorts).. slow to get going but
they grew well, flowered well, all that's missing is pollination :-(
They flower but very few form beans. At this rate i'll get a lousy
crop. Yet peas have done really well.

Ours seem to have been late polinating, but are setting beans now.
Peas are also doing very well (And sweet peas)

I've only seen 2 honeybees this year, which might explain lack of
pollination but there are a LOT of bumble bees about.

Tonnes of honey bees on the lavender, but it does seem to be a bumbley
kind of year this year. Don';t see why the bumble bees wouldn't be
polinating your beans, though

On 03/08/2013 00:08, Janet wrote:
In article , says...

Janet wrote:
How do you tell if the above are ready to harvest?
As soon as they are big enough to eat, about 3" long. The harder you
pick them the more beans they produce so don't hold back.

That seems to be true for runner beans, and I'm sure it's been true
about my french beans in the past, but this year I seem to be picking
and then they don't do any more. :-(
(possibly also related to more of them than should have been are looking
like they are dwarf ones rather than climbing)

I only grew runners this year (three sorts).. slow to get going but
they grew well, flowered well, all that's missing is pollination :-(
They flower but very few form beans. At this rate i'll get a lousy
crop. Yet peas have done really well.

I've only seen 2 honeybees this year, which might explain lack of
pollination but there are a LOT of bumble bees about.

Janet


Lots of honey bees here this year - a swarm set up a nest in a nearby
tree a few months ago.

Only just started cropping the runner beans; but I always plant the bean
(seeds) directly in the soil so they are a little slow. However, there
is a regular progression now every year from asparagus to spring cabbage
to mange-tout to runner beans to main crop cabbage / cauliflower /
brocoli then over winter with brussels, leeks and Swiss chard. A few
other greens too but that covers my main crops.


--
David in Normandy.

Martin wrote:
I've seen one honey bee and two wasps. Only one of the two wasps is
still alive the other one committed suicide by crawling into an open
tin of beer and drowning. We've never seen so many bumble bees in our
garden as we have this year.

I've not seen a single wasp this year, although Nick says he's had
a wasp invasion of one of his hives, so they are definitely around

On 3 Aug 2013 15:21:06 GMT, Victoria Conlan wrote:

Martin wrote:
I've seen one honey bee and two wasps. Only one of the two wasps is
still alive the other one committed suicide by crawling into an open
tin of beer and drowning. We've never seen so many bumble bees in our
garden as we have this year.

I've not seen a single wasp this year, although Nick says he's had
a wasp invasion of one of his hives, so they are definitely around

There's a wasp buzzing around my glass of water but it's the only one
I've seen this year. These were hundreds of bees around my garden
earlier in the year.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

On 2013-08-03 15:21:06 +0000, Victoria Conlan said:

Martin wrote:
I've seen one honey bee and two wasps. Only one of the two wasps is
still alive the other one committed suicide by crawling into an open
tin of beer and drowning. We've never seen so many bumble bees in our
garden as we have this year.

I've not seen a single wasp this year, although Nick says he's had
a wasp invasion of one of his hives, so they are definitely around

One nest here has been destroyed and there were many wasps on the
flowering Angelica today. The pest control man said he 'did' 17 nests
last week in various places.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon