Runner Bean Growing In The Garden

Growing runner beans in the garden is a way of not only producing home grown vegetables but also adding some colour.

Any area will become more attractive and you can choose a climbing variety with red or white flowers like Scarlet Emperor or White Apollo, or a dwarf variety like Hestia which has red and white flowers.

An advantage of growing in the flower bed is you will get a lot of ground cover from the other plants and this should help to keep weeds down. You can also disguise a fence or wall but it will make it slightly more difficult at harvest time.

You will have to check at the back very carefully as missed pods will stop the plant from producing new pods and your harvest period will be shorter.

Plants that provide good ground cover have large leaves and the beans will grow tall through them. Another way is to use a good mulch.

If you have a small area for vegetables then I would suggest using the wigwam method of support. But you can grow up and over a pagoda or archway to utilize an existing garden feature.

You can also get ornamental climbing supports that will enhance any part of the garden.