Been eating my runner beans now for 3 weeks, excellent crop this year from 24 plants. Just had a plateful with my dinner, still very tender and not at all stringy. As soon as I get a stringy one I don't pick them anymore, I hate the texture in my mouth. Have frozen a fair few boilings as well (always save some for Christmas).

An old friend of mine who used to take his gardening seriously, told me years ago that you cannot overwater runner beans, the more water the better. He also told me to keep blackfly away, throw your cooled down washing-up water all over them. Seems to work for me.

A couple more weeks and I'll be taking them down and digging some horse shit in ready for next year's crop.

good for you, elk.
i've just got a load of tomatoes in.
cherry ones and romas.
organic - no preservatives or chemicals.
lovely juicy taste, good colour, skin not tough.
counting myself lucky as just about every other backyard grower i know who's tried them this summer has had huge problems. so i'm not sure how mine prospered but were looked after water-wise so maybe that was the trick. took a long time this year but worth the wait.

Dont dig them up lay them down when died back clear the tops off - the roots are a fantastic source of nitrogen - just dig them in later.

We have had bumber crops of runners, french climbers (cobra) and broad beans.

Love runner beans gujarati style - just made a massive portion this second.

Pumkins are the current glut, pumpkin muffins, apple and pumpkin chutney, pumpkin rissotto and pumpking soup so far - amount used up 1/2 (we have 6).

This very good advice goes for all peas and beans - legumes. They suck nitrogen out of the air and form it into nodules on the roots. Follow this with leafy veg.