"Have you got your runner beans in yet," asked the lady in my local shop as I bought the papers. "I've no plans to do a runner, as today is the day," I grinned. (I know a terrible pun but I couldn't help myself). She then gave loads of advice on the bean machine of wigwams and manure, and tips on growing French beans, runner beans and broadbeans. A five-minute walk ended up a 30-minute class! So despite the rain, hailstones and the cutting wind, I was now full of renewed enthusiasm and ventured out to Narraghmore with my bamboo shoots and spade in hand.
Doing a runner:
I had given the runner beans a head start by sowing them in seed trays weeks previously. They grow to about six feet high and, like us all, definitely need support. The wigwam is the most preferred option I'm told. So the caning began in earnest.
My hands turned purple with the cold as I knotted the twine around four to five bamboo canes. I transplanted the runner beans at the foot of the canes and sowed more seeds directly below.
I also twisted some twine around the canes, which will give the growing plants more to grad hold of. Other methods are to erect a criss-cross of canes, which looked complicated, but I tried a variation anyway!
