Cool Beans

[ojay54]

I haven't been well enough to do much in the garden for a couple of weeks,and it looks pretty wild,but The runner beans seem really early.Picked a large bucket full yesterday,which is a week earlier than last year.This summer's just brilliant.

[Zech]

Wow! I know I sowed my runner beans late, but they're only about four inches tall!

Mind you, the french beans are doing far better. The runners were saved seed - I wonder whether they might have been hybrids. They're rubbish.

[Odsox]

No runners (as you know), but my French beans are loaded. Can't say I'm missing the runners as I think they do really better outside, but if I'd grown some outside they would almost certainly be flat on the ground as we had a gale a couple of weeks back.

Zech, saved seed from F1 plants make F2 offspring and there's nothing wrong with that. They will be broadly similar to last year's, but probably not exactly the same, although it would take a biologist to tell the difference. Some might be better.
The instructions that you can't save F1 seed is to stop you putting the seed company out of business.

[diggernotdreamer]

My moonlight runners are doing really well in the tunnel, so thanks for putting me onto them Tony, who would have thought you could have grown runners in a tunnel, was just saying the same thing to the Wizard as the gales blew in on Friday, they would have been half way to Donegal. I can't work out if they are F1's, if not I will save the seed
They grow very long and straight too

[Zech]

Zech, saved seed from F1 plants make F2 offspring and there's nothing wrong with that. They will be broadly similar to last year's, but probably not exactly the same, although it would take a biologist to tell the difference. Some might be better.
The instructions that you can't save F1 seed is to stop you putting the seed company out of business.

That's interesting. I suspected a cynical misinformation campaign, which is why I still try saving seed anyway. There must be some other reason for my bean failure, then. I noticed a hole in the ground this morning, right next to where I planted them. I say hole... "burrow" might be a better word. Perhaps my runner beans were just very tasty!

[MKG]

From that description, I'd put it down to small, furry and quite cute rodents of the mouse variety.

Don't let them get their bearings, Zech - they're quite capable of travelling unerringly accurately straight down your row of bean seeds.

[Odsox]

Or it could be your runners are doing a runner

I should have mentioned about F1 & F2, that only applies if you are only growing one variety of runner bean and your neighbours beans are a reasonable distance away, otherwise you could get cross breeds.
Sorry I forget about neighbours, as mine (or at least the veg growing kind) are several miles away.

[Zech]

Don't let them get their bearings, Zech - they're quite capable of travelling unerringly accurately straight down your row of bean seeds.

In that case perhaps it was lucky that I'm using round wigwams in that bed. One circle followed all the way round - back to where they started. The other two wigwams are untouched.

Or it could be your runners are doing a runner

I should have mentioned about F1 & F2, that only applies if you are only growing one variety of runner bean and your neighbours beans are a reasonable distance away, otherwise you could get cross breeds.
Sorry I forget about neighbours, as mine (or at least the veg growing kind) are several miles away.

I have veg growing neighbours within a few hundred yards in any direction. Well, not to the west. On that side we have sheep, who don't do much gardening. Good for mushrooms, but not much veg.