Nursing an old favourite
I’m bowled over by an attractive heritage runner bean
While I was at Aberglasney Gardens, head gardener Joseph Atkins told me about runner bean ‘District Nurse’, which grew in the mining valleys of South Wales more than 100 years ago.
The bean has pretty lilac flowers and green, succulent pods, dramatically splashed with navy blue. Joseph said it tasted wonderful and, what’s more, appeared to have few pest and disease problems.
The pods reach about 23cm (9in) long and Joseph had them climbing up 1.8m (6ft) tall canes. ‘District Nurse’ is much rounder than normal runner beans, and I’ll certainly try it next summer but keep it well away from my other beans to avoid them crossing.
I grew a few rows of runner bean ‘Stenner’ this year and though it was initially cold and wet, the plants really flourished in the end. I set up a sprinkler that managed to get enough water through the foliage to all the rows. When I bought the land, I bored a 50m (160ft) deep water hole and throughout the hot summer it never ran dry.
Whether you’re growing runner beans in a row or in a tepee style, make sure the structure is strong and safe. To prevent my 9m (30ft) long rows from collapsing, I’ve concreted 10cm (4in) square tanalised posts to the ground with a single strong galvanised wire running along the row. I use 2.5m (8ft) canes for the beans to climb up, which are secured to the wire in seconds with Jiff Clips.
However, a howling gale in September snapped the posts holding the runner bean wires. When in full growth, the amount of foliage on runner beans acts like a sail on a ship, putting tremendous pressure on the structure, so now I’m wondering whether I should use steel posts instead! l Follow me on Twitter – @medwynsofangles.