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Author Topic: Runaway runner beans  (Read 4786 times)

PK

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • West Suffolk
    • Notes from a Suffolk Smallholding
Runaway runner beans
« on: August 03, 2017, 01:05:32 pm »
How do you in the Scottish highlands and isles support your runner beans to cope with windy conditions? I use the traditional parallel rows of bamboo which have served me well over the years but this year they have collapsed on me. Admittedly they have grown exceptionally well so are more vulnerable to the wind and being located on flat fen land we do catch it quite often.

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2017, 01:56:18 pm »
I live in a windy part if Devon, I find wigwams of four or six poles and plants more stable than a long row. In the past a long row has acted a bit like a sail, where as the wind will swirl around a wigwam and have less surface area to blow over.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2017, 05:24:29 pm »
It's too windy to grow runners here, but when we lived in Edinburgh, we built a 'woodhenge' for the beans on our allotment.  Three stobs - one at each end of the row and one halfway - smacked well into the ground.  Sturdy uprights bolted onto these, and more chunky wood nailed across the top.  Then we either used bamboo as climbing poles, attached to the top rail, or string looped under the plants' rootballs (we always have started beans in 4" pots), then tied to the cross beam.  The only time they came down was when some 'boisterous youths' ran through the whole place ripping up people's crops, smashing greenhouses, and hauling our stobs right out of the ground.  Amazingly, few bean plants were broken and we were able to put the whole thing back up, and we continued to get a crop.
We have found that stinting on the sturdiness of your support structure is false economy.  We left the woodhenge in the same place for years and left it for the next tenants too.  OK we didn't benefit our other cops with nitrogen from the roots, but we did get reliable bean crops.  Now our beans are in the tunnel and we grow them up canes attached to the crop bars.



« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 01:10:02 pm by Fleecewife »
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PK

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • West Suffolk
    • Notes from a Suffolk Smallholding
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2017, 11:28:04 am »
Thank you. Since posing the question I have been exploring the issue of growing runner beans in the same spot each year and how this is best managed. I'll have a wind proof structure in place next season.

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2017, 08:16:55 pm »
For a while when in East Anglia I grew my runner beans in a 2 foot deep bed of wet ripped up newspapers in a trench 2 foot 6 deep .  On top of the paper I laid a 30 mm water pipe with loads of 1/4 " holes drilled along the part underground .
 I added a funnel for filljng made from a pop bottle taped to a stake  & blocked the other end of the pipe by warming it up with the blow lamp , folding it back on itself then using cable ties top keep it folded back & closed off .
They were well watered with a liquid manure once a week ....... , made from a sack of sheep & chicken muck hung in a 30 litre barrel of water with 1/2 kg of white sugar to feed the natural yeasts .  Stir it every second day for three weeks & top up what you use with clean water then stir it well again .

About three feet from each end of the hole Ii used a post hole borer to sink a nine foot x 3 " round treated pole down 3 feet  in the hole . refilling the space with dry sand then watering it in well .

Across the top I  stapled a length of fencing wire and also added two anchor wires off each pole fixed to two foot hammered in 2 x 2 " stakes to take any strain .

 The beans were then grown up  6 mm soft blue a polypropylene  rope that was tied with a clove hitch 7 them back on itself in a second clove hitch to the top wire and anchored down into the wet bed  in a well pointed length of re- bar to which I welded a big nut for an eye on th side about 3 inches down fromthe top . Simple make & easy  to knock them deep down

 The rope was not tied very taut in the anchor   , as the beans grew ( 3 at a time in a triangle planted 2 inched from each steel anchor pin  ) the beans wound round the rope following the sun .
 Once th beans got the the top I let them fall over and come back down . They formed a massive bank of beans  at shoulder height & were easy to find & pick .

 I realised I'd made a difficulty for my self  as the beans grew 7 enteined round the rope it became very taut . so I undid the rope at the anchor where by the bean stsarted to try nd pull itself apart where it first touched the rope .


 To solve ths problem  7 did simil;ar to the support but  made th first tie off at th anchor pin and left plenty of spare at the top wire so I could adjust the tension .. it worked well
 

 At this new home I made thre inverted V's place 3 foor apart and set them in lone & over the wet bean trench whic was made as before  , this time I laid two tped up to get the right lenght bambo canes innthe tip of the cross over tip of th inverted V  lashed them in place with a cheap set of small bungees  7 ran the  bean ropes fromthe top in alternate pahts      one rope every 10 inches or so  thre bean plants per rope .
 The anchors this time are  2 " WIDE X 10 MM THICK X  15" strips of scrap plastic barge board cut to a decent point on my band saw . Each has  5/8 th  " hole drilled in the top end .

This final set of bean growing ropes is permanently tied to the stake, the top is tied to the cane via a double wrap round on the cane & finished in a simple slip knot on th drop rope .

It's the same in the glasshouse as also I use this idea  it to support my tomatoes aubergines 7capsicums  in the glass house as well .

  These peg anchors & ropes are now in their seventh year , washed & rinsed off when taken up & put away then  washed & sterilised  in early spring when I wash & sterlise the glass house each year before they are reused .


 The old method my Uncle jack used to use was growing his beans on long a three foot high , three foot wide bed of 3 or more year old well turned over rotted / composted cow muck & urine soaked straw ,  that came initially from out of the crew yard ( aka over wintering cow byre ) at the annual  spring clean out .  He'd cover the top with a foot or so of fine friable soil ..
 Not only did he grow his beans here he also inter cropped it with salad stuff .
 Come the end of the season he'd then spread what was left of the bed over that area then dog it in in late autumn &  say it was the five year fertilizing cycle done .

   The older way was to dig a gert big trench to the same dimension as the pile & fill it with the composted manure but Jack reckoned that by the time he'd carted the raw manure home & made the bed that was way too much work for a farm hand unless of course someone was willing to pay the going rate to do it .
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2017, 05:51:28 am »
In the highlands (except for low coastal areas) most people don't have any problems with runner beans in the wind .... Because they tend not to grow very well as the climate isn't warm enough.

Broad beans are the only reliable beans unless you have a sheltered garden or are a gardening genius.

YorkshireLass

  • Joined Mar 2010
  • Just when I thought I'd settled down...!
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2017, 11:04:26 am »
Thank you. Since posing the question I have been exploring the issue of growing runner beans in the same spot each year and how this is best managed. I'll have a wind proof structure in place next season.

In a healthy soil, the fungi will help distribute the nitrogen from the bean area (this is a key concept of permaculture/ first gardens). However, you need to not disturb the soil in order to leave these transport networks intact - think no-till at the very least.

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2017, 10:54:02 pm »
One experiment you may like to try is to grow your runner beans in pot noodle sized pots & plant them out three per station after the last frost date .
 Instead of running them up on poles , knock a 2 foot long peg deep  in the ground ,  plant the pots out in a 10 inch triangle round the peg .
Then tie a strong 6 to 10 mm blue polly rope on the peg & to a post abut 8 feet away .
They'll  run off at an angle to the post top  that's  showing two feet above the ground about 8 feet away .

 My thoughts are that the three beans can be trained to grow at an angle low to th ground cordon style  . Being close to the ground if the cordon runs north to south it should give you maximum sun on any beans that grow .
Being low to the ground should see lower wind forces acting on the beans .... any ne care to experiment like this for next year ?

 Other thought are use the punched out plastic roll fencing to make a simple wind brak to slow down winds below a metre  .  prep th bed hole area for the beans well lots of well composted matter and dig the hole in at least two feet down

 Runner beans grow well if the moisture content is constant rather that them having a dry day & a couple of sopping wet ones that's where th volume of th good compost helps no end .

If you cannot get enough compost,  dig a hole  2 foot six deep use seaweed or horse muck layered in between two feet thick of opened up newspapers , soak it well for three weeks or more to get it well wetted throughout & cover it with a foot or so of quality soil .

 It'll also make a fantastic moist nutrient filled growing bed  & it will help "  build the soil " as it rots down .

 If you have the slightest problem from slugs & snails  sort it out well before you put the beans out , for both of them just love to devour all your young bean plants less than 4 inches tall .
« Last Edit: October 10, 2017, 11:00:49 pm by cloddopper »
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

Skandi

  • Joined Oct 2014
Re: Runaway runner beans
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2017, 04:37:35 pm »
AH I'm in Northern Denmark where it's VERY windy! I do grow runners, and I do it in the "traditional" shape, but I put guy ropes out as well! So I make the tent shape, thin end into the prevailing wind (NW for me) and then add two guys to that end and one to the other end, it's stayed up in a gale, unfortunately the beans lost 80% of their leaves.


 

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