when do you harvest scarlet runners??

[bayouchica]

Hi,

I've been researching online, one site says to leave them on the vine & others to pick when they are 8 tp 10 inches long.
Has anyone on here grown them ?
Thanks, Miriam

 

[patandchickens]

I love scarlet runner beans, I think they are tastier than any bush or regular pole beans I've had, plus of course much prettier. (Yield does not always compete, however).

IMO they are best when 'normal green-bean' size, maybe 3-4". Realistically you will miss some and they will get longer, at which point you NEED to pick them as soon as you notice them to keep the plants producing more, but fortunately they are still quite tasty if cut in diagonal slices sort of like Frenching.

Actually they make very good fresh shelling beans too (you let them mature to where they're not getting any bigger and the beans inside are quite large, but the pods have not started to dry out yet, then shell and boil for a few minutes like fresh lima beans)... but if you do that on purpose you are sacrificing a lot of productivity, b/c letting them get that size will largely shut down the plant's production of new flowers.

They freeze good, too.

Pat, hoping to plant mine later this week, it's just been soooo wet.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Now, as a Brit, I can tell you there are two completely different camps when it comes yo when you eat them.......!! The older gardeners tend to wait till they are about 10" long & have developed strings along the sides & you get more bean for your money -- Hmmm.....!! I prefer them about 6" long when they have developed a definite "runner" taste but the string is not an issue.

However the variety matters as some have less string than others. I grow a heritage bean called "PAINTED LADY" which has splashed red & white flowers & a wonderful flavour. It is not as productive as some other types -- To counteract this I just plant more.

Most people grow red-flowered beans, but suffer for that in hot summers because the bees don't fertilise them so well. Other people only sow white-flowered varieties -- the bees love these, & they are fine in hot weather.

Years ago a local farmer, who prides himself on having the earliest beans locally to sell at his farm gate, told me that he mixes together his red & white bean-seed before sowing. I have no problems with "Painted Lady", which I grow on teepees. I direct sow mine & cover with floating fleece pegged round the teepee. Mine are often very early. They are the single most popular vegetable grown in Britain, eaten slathered in butter.

Hope this helps. Happy Gardening. :tools

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[bayouchica]

Thanks Pat & Hattie,

Last year, I had planted them in a bad spot & maybe got 2 pods.
They are doing much better this year, can't wait to try some.
We planted some green beans & purple hulls peas,should be having some of those real soon too.
Sure is nice to have homegrown veggies.

Miriam

 

[patandchickens]

Last year, I had planted them in a bad spot & maybe got 2 pods.

I think runner beans are better suited to England than to much of the US. They seem to shut down flower production when the weather gets too hot, especially hot nights. They also seem to me to benefit more from inoculant, if being planted where legumes have not recently grown, than most beans do. Anyhow my success with scarlet runners has always been pretty irregular - some very good years, some real busts. In contrast to normal bush or pole beans which are pretty dependable.

Doesn't stop me from planting them; but I do make sure they're not the ONLY bean I plant

Pat

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Pat

Have a go at planting ONLY WHITE_FLOWERED RUNNER BEANS. I really think they would work better in North America. Can you get them over there? My local farmer swears by them for hot summers & I follow his advice. He was told about this by Southern German Prisoners of War in the early part of the 1940's. They were forced to work for him but they worked so hard they all became great friends. Their area of Germany gets very hot in summer. It's a strange story but the farmer always says that over the years they taught him so much & he has made a lot of money out of their information. He is a very special person.

I hope you will try them out.


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[patandchickens]

I think that Thompson&Morgan's catalog is the only place I've seen white-flowered runners here... maybe I'll try them next year, although we don't really have "hot" summers where I am, compared to most of the US or populated Canada

Thanks,

Pat

 

[HiDelight]

I have grown them and eat them in all phases I love them as a fresh bean and as a dried bean

I have grown scarlet runner beans from the same seeds I was gifted to from a very dear friend..my first friend in Washington ...25 years ago now...they grow all over the place in my yard..and seems to in our climate and they are productive ..generally after something eats a few leaves ..they do quite well ...one year I put them on my deck in pots and they looked just beautiful trellised along the railing


they are such a beautiful plant and hold really sweet memories of a dear friend who got me deeply involved in urban homesteading


thanks for starting this thread ..and please allow for little shout out for my mentor .... scarlet runner beans were one of his true favorites because of how pretty they were as much as he loved to eat them..

RIP SAM I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!
the man could and did grow some of everything and shared it all with me I was very lucky to know him

 

[Hattie the Hen]

HiDelight

Thank you for sharing your devotion to the memory of your friend & mentor Sam. I was very touched by it. I too had a mentor in gardening ; a teacher when I was at art-school who grew old roses, glorious in colour & perfume. Who sent me, on my wedding day, a huge box of them -- I have never forgotten opening that box -- a few years later I started growing them myself. A passion that outlasted the marriage ALAS......!!


:rose Hattie :rose