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| Looking good this summer... |
I thought I would continue my occasional commentary on easy vegetables even though the planting season is over as next years plans will soon need to be considered and I can highlight these posts again next Spring for all my wonderful followers....
And runner beans are easy to grow and, although they are wonderful to eat fresh, they can also be easily frozen.
The thing to remember about beans and peas is that they like deep roots - at the expense of foliage for some time - so if planting the seeds in pots to plant out later, use deeper pots than you otherwise might. Sometimes toilet roll holders are used as they are deep and can be torn off the rooted seeds when planting out. Just remember that they will take longer to get their roots established than many other vegetables and you may wonder why they're not growing - they are...underground!
Another tip when erecting your bean poles is to place them in an X shape rather than the traditional A shape or tepee type of arrangement. If you use these later two shapes then the beans will grow and fall into the inside of the trellis in the dark rather than on the outside in the sun.
The final tip is to keep picking the beans, the more you pick, the more you get - the plant will keep producing flowers and therefore beans when you pick the formed beans as soon as you can.
In every allotment, and in many gardens all over the UK in the Summer you will see runner beans climbing all over their supports, their red flowers catching the eye, the beans dropping like green scimitars and swords beneath the leaves - they are all over the place because they are so easy to grow.
When you have picked them, string them if necessary and then cut them up and blanch them in boiling water for thirty seconds or so before plunging them into ice cold water to instantly stop them cooking. Then dry them thoroughly before freezing - you don't want to add any more water to them - and enjoy your beans all over Autumn and Winter!
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| Growing your own produce can be easy... |
