An endless supply of runner beans - Scarlet Empire & White Lady

The Scarlet Empire in full flower, I do enjoy a vegetable that can do pretty as well

I got plenty of blossom off this variety, although there are a fair few plants
in this mass

I come to writing this directly from eating what could not be far short of a pound of runner beans for dinner, which may cloud my opinion a little.  I have taken to eating ludicrous amounts of this vegetable in an attempt to keep up with supply, but there is only so many beans one person wants to eat, and I am well over this level.

I personally like the runner bean flowers coloured rather than white, they
make more of a firey impact

Normally my main complaint with growing vegetables is that the crop tastes great, I just end up slicing one pea in half to ensure everybody gets a piece.  Not with my runner beans, oh no.  From what you can gather from above, I have been inundated.  To say it has been a success would be to undersell.

Yours truly at the beginning of the season getting the mass pick underway, ignore the shoes, they aren't mine.  Im now only picking from about chest height and above

The White Lady variety in flower, managed to snap this bumble making good
his exit

The secret has been where I grew them.  Last year the mother grew runner beans but I only remember having a few meals off of them.  That would be because she only had a few plants planted in about a foot square and they had to climb up the apple tree for support.  Clearly not ideal.  This year she sowed about twenty seedlings of Scarlet Empire, without actually having anywhere to put them, and then she dug up all the bushes in the front garden, and suddenly a prime bean growing spot appeared.  It is open on all sides, with good blow-through and lots of sun.  And the beans have loved it.

Early beans forming.  I swear they look like this one minute and then you
check on them a few days later and you have a foot long green swords

I have already covered my intense session of wigwam making, needless to say they have survived sturdy through intense rain and the odd gusty breeze.  The mother's runners I planted round one wigwam and some White Lady I bought round another.  The Scarlet Empire started flowering first, with lovely bright reddy-orange flowers that sung out and were really pretty.  The White Lady are more of a pale creamy white, still nice but not as impressive.  The Scarlet Empire was completely covered in flowers, and much to my horror does still have flowers on it now because I haven't cut the tops of the plants, naughty me.  The only difference I can tell between the two is that the Scarlet Empire tend to be a slightly darker bean and maybe a bit thicker, and also possibly mature faster.  Its hard to tell because I do not segment my beans on picking, I just chuck them all in a colander together.

More early beans

I do this because picking beans has become my second job.  I come home from work every other day and go straight into the front garden to start picking for a good half hour.  I can't keep up.  It always amazes me that a, the little rotters can grow so fast.  You leave them to get just a smidgeon bigger and come back the next day to find them huge.  And b, that despite going through the plants with a fine tooth comb you come across absolute whoppers that are a bit on the tough side.  And the most annoying part is at the beginning I would be out there picking and a neighbour would wander past and exclaim that they were wondering when I would start picking.  Like im not always picking!

Slightly bigger beans

At the start I was terribly concerned about knocking off the ageing blooms incase this meant that little beans wouldn't form.  Now I actively try and knock off the baby beans.  Thats a joke, I would never turn my nose up at vegetables that have made the effort to grow, but I am reaching my limit.  I probably pick a good half pound of runner and french beans every two days, thats a lot to consume, especially as the mother, a woman who can munch through twenty beans in a single sitting alone, is out of action just having had a tonsillectomy.  So with our ranks dwindling the fridge is stuffed and the freezer is also packed out.  Im hoping some extra room can be found in the freezer so we can save them for a time when I feel less over indulged in beans.

The average pile every two days, thats a lot of bean to munch through

Next year I will be growing runner beans again, after all they are such good value for money, just maybe not so many plants!

PS. What's the deal with the massive spiders on spindly legs that seem to hang around in runner bean bushes?!  I just pulled a few and screamed like a girl.

My takings from one lovely August day, ah the summer, I already miss its bounty