It is oft times said that a farmer takes twice as long to drive anywhere because he is constantly looking over the hedges to see what’s ‘going on’ in field and pasture. I suspect the same could be said about gardeners, especially keen vegetable growers who are always eager to see what’s been planted and how far up the sticks the climbing legumes have reached. It would be a fair bet, that in most vegetable plots and allotments in the summer there can generally be spied a row of ‘Roger Bannisters’, as Uncle Dick calls a good runner bean.
I’ve heard it said on many occasions from growers that the scarlet or runner bean is one of the easiest to grow; not strictly true in my humble opinion. For a start the ground needs plenty of attention, for they are mucky feeders. Some gardeners say that unlike other vegetables they should be grown on the same spot each year with more compost added so ‘there’s plenty under em’. When growing, they need support in the form of canes or hazel sticks cut from the hedgerow, placed in rows or wigwams. Then there is prodigious watering in dry spells; problems of the flowers dropping off before setting and of course slugs and snails just love the young tender shoots which we hope have evaded the late frost.
But we are rewarded with the most delicious, nutritious and succulently flavoured bean in late summer and it never ceases to amaze me the quantity which, if all goes well and with constant picking is produced. It is estimated that one ounce of seed which is enough for a ten foot row and ,can produce 60 lbs of pods. If like me you save your own seed, then it is certainly a profitable crop.
Just preceding the runner in the cycle of harvest comes the ‘Lautrec’; yes you’ve guessed right, the dwarf French, the haricot vert. which reigns supreme across the channel. There are many varieties and colours available now from the climbing to the tiny pencil pod so loved by the supermarkets, packed into little black trays and flown halfway across the world.
But first in line to crop; and you either love it or hate it, is the broad bean. Which if sown in the autumn and overwintered can be picked as early as late May. For those of us who remember the tough, wrinkled, grey and chewy beans of old, there is salvation in the green seeded varieties and Chiltern Seeds are offering a pink skinned variety called ‘Karmazyn’. For those that have visited Heligan in Cornwall as well as the black and white flowered ‘Aquadulce Claudia, you may have seen a striking red flowered variety, both good looking enough to grace any flower border.
