RUNNER BEANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1940, Page 9

RUNNER BEANS

HOW TO GROW THEM. The runner bean is certainly the most decorative vegetable and for some years after its introduction it was grown as a- decorative plant instead of tor its edible pods as at present. It is considered next to the potato in popularity as a vegetable, and, considering adaptability, this is not to be wondered at. They can be grown up stakes in the open garden, their stems can be pinched and they will sprawl over the ground and fruit without stakes, and they can be trained up stakes or strings against walls or fences, and can be grown in tubs or boxes in backyards, where they arc not only useful, but are very ornamental. Though the runner beans arc usually treated as annuals, and with this treatment they give the best results, they are true perennials, forming a fleshy root from which shoots spring up in the spring. They will thrive in any soil provided it is deeply cultivated and well manured, and the best treatment is to take out trenches two feet wide and the same in depth, to break up the soil in the bottom of the trench with a fork or pick, and then put in eighteen inches of well-rotted farmyard manure, filling up with the best of the soil taken out. The site of last year’s celery trench is also most suitable, for it will have been well manured and deeply cultivated. A good dusting of lime is worked into the surface soil when preparing it for sowing, and it should also be firmed or allowed time to settle down. If two or more rows are grown together, from nine to ten feet should be allowed between them. When sowing in the open, which should not be done before the end of this month except in very warm and sheltered positions against a wall or fence, take out a flat drill nine inches wide and two deep. The seeds are placed in two rows along the outside of the drill at nine inches apart in ordinary soil, and 12 when the trenches have been specially prepared. Dust with superphosphate, fill in the soil and firm with the head of the rake or the feet. To get early crops the olc roots are sometimes saved like dahlia tubers and planted in the beginning to the middle of the present month. For the earliest planting a sowing can be made in boxes, these being twe feet long, one foot wide. and four inches deep, with holes in the bottom for drainage. They are half filled with well rotted manure and leafmould in equal quantities, and finished off with ordinary loam to which some bom dust and superphosphate has been added. Fifty seeds should be spaced out equally, and covered with an incl: of soil. They are then placed in a cold frame or greenhouse where they soon germinate. The present is a good time to sow the seed, and the seedlings will be fit to plant about the middle of nex‘ month, after being gradually hardened off. Slugs are very fond of bean seedlings, and if troublesome lime should be dusted among them after every shower. To get the best results staking is necessary, and the stakes may bt manuka with the scrub removed, bamboos. or sown timber at least six fee’ in length. These are put in at eac! plant, the tops being sloped over t< cross one another, -where they can bfastened together by a rod. or a wire fastened to stout posts at each end This keeps the stakes in position in windy weather. When the stems read the top of the stakes, the top should be pinched out. thus causing branchin,f lower down. When it is inconvenient or impossible, to obtain stakes. th< plants are pinched as soon as one o two bunches of pods have set. this causes branching, and the branches art also pinched, and this pinching out of leaders is continued to the end of the season. The chief drawbacks to thii method of cultivation is that the plant' occupy more space and the pods an liable to become dirty. When grown against a wall or fence it is more convenient to provide strings for the plants to grow on. These are fixed to strong pegs in the ground and fastened to nails or wires at the top. Binder twine is suitable for the purpose. During the summer a mulch with strawy manure helps to conserve moisture and to feed the plants, but watering has to be done during dry weather, and liquid manure should be given from time to time. The pods should be picked regularly before theseeds form to any extent, and those not required for immediate use can be

salted down for use during the winter. Varieties to plant are Prizewinner, Best of All. and No Plus Ultra. Dwarf French beans are also an important crop, though they are not so prolific as runners. They are suitable for growing in pots or planted out in frames over a mild hotbed, to produce early crops, and for the earliest crops in the open seed can be sown in boxes as descrobed for runners, and after being hardened off planted out about the end of this month in a warm sheltered situation. Though they do not require quite as rich a soil as runners they do j require a well-manured and deeply

. cultivated soil. They are sown in flat drills two inches deep and six inches wide, the seeds being placed in two rows six inches apart and six inches between the rows. They are dusted ' with, superphosphate, the soil put back and firmed. Later on they are earthed up a bii, and twiggy branches are stuck in along the rows to prevent them from falling over. There are also climbing French beans which can be treated like runners. Varieties to sow are Canadian Wonder, Early Giant and Peerless. Butter or wax pod beans are i also a useful crop their cultivation bcing the same as for the French.