I planted half runner beans for the first time this year, by request from a couple of customers, BUT I have no idea when to pick them. Should they be smooth like a bush bean or bumpy or is it personal preference on the size? The smooth size(3-4") seems very small to me and the 5" size is somewhat bumpy....???....Any advice would be helpful and welcome. Thanks.
Hiyah C--I grow runners every year. I do not know what "half runners" are though. What is the variety name of your runners?
Hi S, The variety is called state half runners. They grow to about 3'. These have a "string" that needs to be removed when cleaning them. I tasted them and have come to the conclusion that if the raw taste test is equivalent to the cooked taste test, that I wouldn't worry about making sure I had these in my garden. I was told there is no better tasting bean....well, I think that the variety called Strike is a most excellent flavored bean and so is Derby without the extra step of removing the string.
Well, I think we guessed correctly on when to pick. I took them to my market today and sold almost all of them and the one person said they were just right. I was happy! 4" not knobby, either, was the right size.
Ms. Carolyn, Should you wish to grow 'half' runners, pick them when the seed begins to swell. It won't matter which variety you grow, they will be tough, and tasteless. This is a result a market growers on a large scale trying to take advantage of a niche market. Whilst I haven't tried them, Sustainable Mountain Agriculture, say they have have a half runner that is not tough, and is very flavorful. They are on the expensive side, although you can grow them out for seed. http://www.heirlooms.org/ Just my $.02
FBG, I didn't think they were tasteless, but I was told that they were so much better than the bush beans. I tasted them and thought they really weren't any better, just a different taste, but thanks for your 2cents worth. I asked and you gave. Thanks.
Hiyah C--I only grow stringless types, and for my mouth there are tasty one and less tasty ones. They absolutely have a different taste from French beans(who also have a variety of flavours among themselves) and broad beans. If you are interested in offering your customers a different type, we can talk about this. Shucks miss--you may want to eat some yourself. I choose the stringless beans because I do not have the time nor do I want the aggro. I like the flowers of runners too, and I know some folks that grow runners for the flowers on an arch and not for the beans. Some plants have some very lovely flowers. Anyway, about picking: as I said, I have never grown the type of runners that you are talking about here;but, FBG has made a very good suggestion, and that is to pick them young. I find that the younger you pick them, the tendered they are and the better tasting they are. Determining when the beans inside the hull are large enough is a question of experience. What I had to do back when I began experimenting with them is to feel then cut that bean pod open to see the size that I was feeling. At any rate, as I said--if you want to continue with runner beans, I can give you a few tips. I believe that some customers would prefer stringless ones. There are many, many sorts of runner beans to choose from, depending upon your requirements.
S, Thanks. I only grew these at the request of a couple of customers. I grow the stringless in a bush bean for most of my markets. I, too, don't have the time to do these beans if I don't sell them. I usually am canning or freezing in the late hours any of the produce I don't sell at my markets. I hate to see it wasted. ESPECIALLY the corn. It has to be done immediately or it is not any good. So, no I don't grow these for me...only some other people at their request. If they want to go to the work of them...Okay!
I know what you mean about the corn. I am so fanatical about the time in-between picking and processing that I often eat it riget there at the gardens. My bride brings the water to a boil, thenI break off a couple of ears and plonk them into the boiling water....this way it is a question of seconds, not minutes or hours. I have forgotten quickly the corn degrades by the minute, but it is alarming. As you know the sugars convert to starch so that after about three days, your corn is more starch than sweet. Mealy, that is. I reckon that your customers do not care for this. Just out of curosity, do you pick the morning of the market, or do you pick it earlier and keep it cool?
Hi S, corn is ALWAYS picked the morning of the market. Along with berries, tomatoes, sometimes even the beans if my market doesn't start until noon. Anything I take I try to pick either the night before and refrigerate or the morning of the market. People just don't understand why it tastes so much better than what they are used to from the store .
It's no wonder that your customers are happy. How many markets do you have this year? How did the folks that wanted those runners like the ones that you provided? Are they interested in any other type of runners, or was that just a one-time thing with the half-runners?
I grew half runners last year. This year I've gone back to bush beans. Good enough flavor but not superior to other beans I've grown. There was nothing about them that made them worth the extra work--stringing and putting up a trellis. But at least I can say I've grown them.
PP, I agree completely, but I have customers who are adamant thet these are the best flavored beans. BLECH!!! I have Strike and Derby in the garden and they taste much better to me than these, but each to his own. S, I start my forth market this week. I do three of them and Kevin does one, too, starting this week. I don;t know how the customer liked the beans. I haven't seen the in between person since I delivered them and I am not sure if she has seen the customer either. I had a customer today tell me those that I picked were too small. she wants them with the seeds more developed. YUCK! but whatever!
I was thinking about the harvesting of the runners...I believe that I note more carefully, the width and length of the bean pod ...and not so much the feeling of the bean seed inside the hull. We eat runner beans cut in little rectangular shapes and do not remove the beans---we eat bean, shell and all. We prefer having the little beans inside less than fully developed at picking time, as the pods and all are more tender that way. A runner left too long on the vine can become fibrous and stringy with mealy beans inside. ....but you know Carolyn--customer is king, right?
S, I agree that the customer is "king" I don't like the taste of the bean seeds when they are developed...immature is okay, but large bean seeds...no thanks.
