Next week: Focus on winter squash, applying glasshouse biocontrols, growing romanesco, planting tomatoes in growing bags, planting comfrey.
Top Tip
You can reduce the number of stringy pods by choosing modern self-fertile varieties, watering frequently and thoroughly, and picking beans while young and tender.
AN annual feature on any vegetable plot, runner beans can be sown and are utterly delicious when the pods are picked at a young and tender age. The pitfalls are easy to avoid if you know how, so let me divulge how to ensure a summer full of beans!
Choices, choices…
Plant breeders have done gardeners proud in recent years. While older varieties flowered late in the summer, modern types develop earlier blooms due to boffins adjusting the bean’s sensitivity to day length. Drought resistance is improving, too. Red-flowered varieties were shallow rooted compared to their white-flowered cousins, but breeding has now blurred the boundaries.
