Runner Beans

Runner beans are popular vegetables that are very easy to grow.

Light loam is the best soil for runner beans, but they will thrive in any kind of good soil.

Soil should have a good application of farmyard manure. You can also add potassium sulfate and superphosphate.

It is hard to grow runner beans in clay soil, but you can grow a good crop in clay soil that has been well drained and well prepared over the winter. If you are planting your runner beans in clay soil, make sure that you have prepared the soil by adding lime to the soil, in addition to the other recommended fertilizers, during the winter.

Plant your runner bean seeds in May, sowing the seeds in drills that are 4 inches deep.

Seeds should be sown 4 ½ inches apart, in double rows and then thinned so that they are 9 inches apart, so that the seeds in one row fall in between the seeds in the next row.

Begin picking the pods as soon as they are a reasonable size, then continue to pick them several times a week.

If you let the pods remain on the plant too long, the beans will stop producing more pods, and the pods that they have already grown will be useless.