Growing your own - is it worth it?

[amateur51]

'Desiree' sounds worth a try, it is claimed to be totally stringless and tender and very heavy cropping.

Very Anna I'd say

[umslopogaas]

ams, this sounds like a subject for a separate thread. How to describe your partner in horticultural terms?

"Late flowering, thick skinned and resistant to frost, but strong flavoured after a long simmer and you can pick and come again."

That sort of thing? Better offers welcome, if the moderators will allow.

[doversoul1]

After the last three days of heavy rain, the ground must be too wet for the pheasants’ dust bath. There have been no more potatoes scratched up.

Very unexpectedly, I cut two outdoor cucumbers (fully grown) today. As the rest and any in the green house were nowhere near ready, these must have been a case of freak pollination.

jean
I have been harvesting white-flowered runner beans for beans, both for eating fresh (like broad beans) and for dried beans. Last year, however, a lot of pods went mouldy before the beans were fully mature although I left some early ones for this purpose. I suppose we had wet weather just at the wrong time.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Following the discussion on potatoes, I dug up some the Pentland Javelin "earlies" on Wednesday. Rather dry and powdery in texture, but perhaps that's the penalty of quick growing crops.

[Anna]

The white-flowered runner beans produce white beans, which are good to eat if the pods get too big.

I had absolutely no idea that you could discard the pod and just eat the beans! I love, and eat a lot of, all dried beans - how do you go about drying them or do you just leave them in the pod until the whole lot withers?
As to Desiree, the seed seems readily available from all suppliers but it says they are shy seeders so you get more flesh, more of a French bean I assume. Painted Lady I find is a vintage/heirloom variety, introduced around 1855. I'm aiming to clear an area for next year's veg growing, it would be fun to try a few different varieties. Meanwhile my tomatoes are not looking too healthy with yellowing of the lower leaves (Shirley in particular), from the fruits forming I can't see I'll have much of a crop.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Once the pods become too stringy, letting the beans mature is one option.

[jean]

But the spotty purple ones don't taste nice.

I usually just let the beans dry in the pod - though if there's too much rain, they won't dry properly.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

We've just harvested what we thought were mange tout, but found they had become rather stringy. Then it occurred to me that they might actually be peas.



They were.

[french frank]

Tomorrow, runner beans are on the menu for lunch

[ahinton]

Tomorrow, runner beans are on the menu for lunch

Mmmm!! And all the better for being french beans, frankly. I know that the forum isn't the proper place to seek a lunch invitation, but...

Anyway - enjoy!

[umslopogaas]

ff, you are way ahead of me, it'll be two weeks at least before my runners get big enough to eat. But, just as well, I've got more than enough peas to fill the gap. Ah, all these vegetables make you feel so HEALTHY. I think I need to open another bottle to counteract all this glowing virtue.

[french frank]

ff, you are way ahead of me, it'll be two weeks at least before my runners get big enough to eat. But, just as well, I've got more than enough peas to fill the gap. Ah, all these vegetables make you feel so HEALTHY. I think I need to open another bottle to counteract all this glowing virtue.

I wish I had sown a few more peas - I've now grubbed up all the plants and buried them. The runners are really too small for slicing, but there are a few helpings that are 5-6 inches long. And there will be an awful lot so I have to start eating them early! There are still quite a few broad beans, as well.

But. Nevertheless. I think this will be the final year for all but herbs. The battle is lost with the local felines so shrubs and hardy perennials it will be hereafter

[umslopogaas]

ff, dont give up! its a long fight, but if you win, its a great feeling. I've failed many times with veg, but when I succeed, it pays back. Its financially nonsensical, you could get all this stuff from the supermarket for a tenth of the price and a hundredth of the effort that it takes to grow it, but that's not the point. I suppose that the point is that you know how to do it and need to prove it every year so you know you havent lost the knowledge. That's how I see it, anyway:its not important that I can grow veg, but it is important that I can show that I can do it.

Try growing your peas in plug trays. They cost next to nothing in Homebase, and you can get pea plants to a size where mice wont eat them when you plant them out. I grow mine this way and so far, so good

[cloughie]

ff, dont give up! its a long fight, but if you win, its a great feeling. I've failed many times with veg, but when I succeed, it pays back. Its financially nonsensical, you could get all this stuff from the supermarket for a tenth of the price and a hundredth of the effort that it takes to grow it, but that's not the point. I suppose that the point is that you know how to do it and need to prove it every year so you know you havent lost the knowledge. That's how I see it, anyway:its not important that I can grow veg, but it is important that I can show that I can do it.

Spot on - the frustration when those seeds don't germinate, but the sheer joy when after a week away things have burgeoned. You cannot buy runner beans which come anyway near the ones you pick and eat within 20 minutes. ff - Fresh herbs are great but you can't eat shrubs and hardy perennials!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I replaced runner beans with climbing French beans a couple of years ago. They crop for longer without becoming tough and stringy.