Munty's one way to grow runner beans

[muntjac]

now then folks its munty one here bringing you a gardening tip from itv kessingland ,suitably dressed in flat cap and corduroy trousers. now i want you to imagine a big blond and a gallon tub of ice cream ...ooooooops wrong program ........ i want you to imagine a ice hockey stick ,,,,,, ok stay with me now!!!!v now it has a short end and a long end ok? now what i want you to do is dig your trench fill it with lovely manure and then put the soil back on . now take 2 5ft stakes and drive them in at the end of your trench . now take another stake and put it in the middle of the other 2 .in a line of course . now walk down your plot to the south about 4 /5 paces . now stick a 8ft stake in there adjacent to the 3 you have already put in .now looking at it you should have 2 lines of stakes  one about 3 ft high n tother about 6ft high? ok
now take some baling twine or strong thin rope  and join the three short stakes together with it , now do the same with the 3 long ones . now going from the long stake to the short stake i want you tie lengths of twine  every 6 inches or so  . now leave a bit extra say 4 ft hanging over the short stake end ... now looking side ways on to this erection it kinda looks like ya hockey stick. now with the extra tail you left on the short end  i want you to plant your runner bean plants , put the tail under the plant to hold it down . trying to keep it tight as you do so ,after you have put a plant at every string . rake back all the soil over the to the beans . now twist all the bean vines that are growing around the twine ,and then sit back and watch them follow the sun and twine up the whole frame ,,,,,,,,, why  do i do this , well the bean pods hang down so nice and grow straight , and the sun is on them all day . yopu just pop under to get ya beans ,,,,,, and wait for itttttttt, you can plant lettuces and radishes under the shaded bit and they still grow lovly . thats all from me for now , the next time you hear from me i will be wearing a nice white blazer of white held tight with loverly leather straps


 maybe someone can draw it and scan it in , my scanners wassucked on me , n i havent got mine up yet  

[muntjac]

maybe someone can draw it and scan it in , my scanners wassucked on me , n i havent got mine up yet

[Aunt Sally]

How this Muntjac  ( I could only find red string )

[muntjac]

brillianttttttttt sally xx ur a likkle darlin lol :wink:
you can knock out the middle tall one if you wanna folks ,,  :wink:

[Aidy]

Ay up Munty, this looks the biz, I was going to do as Mr Clevely bloke suggested and have canes inverted ( V ) but this looks better. Think I will try it. Cheers long haired bloke.

[muntjac]

your welcome shorty  , oh hairy spiked one :wink:

[Aunt Sally]

I think I'll try this too.  

I you try it, it would be a great idea if we take pictures and post our [guess will do] crop weight at the end of the bean season.

[muntjac]

i pull a couple hundred pounds off sally , i plant my first lot and then another lot a month later ,start the second lot in the greenhouse on the floor ,plant em out when the beans are half way up the framing . it gets me loads good beans and i collect great seed

[muntjac]

1 vine from each plant . plant one plant on both sides of the strings . if you have 20 strings put 40 plants in hope fopr plenty freeser space or lots friends wanting beans ..i plant one plant to start on each string then another 3/4 weeks later  you can save ya own seed then if you want to or even dry them for storage for soups and stews  :wink:

[muntjac]

sure is  if you sow a 1/.4 lb seed in a 30 ft singel row ur looking at 40lbs beans i sow double rows  and then sow seed in the same trench to come later  so in fact i am looking at over 100lbs from my planting  which wil also provide me seed for next year

[mkhenry]

The stucture looks great Munty but is havesting the beans that grow in the middle and hang down ok.  With my normal wigwam type I can reach in all round,I would love to give your way a try,but I cannot get down to crawl about.

[WG.]

but I cannot get down to crawl about.

You must be very tall?  The front is 6ft tall, the middle nearly 5ft.

[mkhenry]

Not that tall, only 6ft .But the plants will hang down and at the lower end the headroom would be far less. I will have to make it a bit higher or trench the middle. I will get around it because I think the yeild will be so much greater and its good to try something a bit different.

[muntjac]

ok if ya have a hieght or back problem .. or just a short arse like wot shaun is .. try making he front posts taller and bringing them in to the lower leg more .its easy ,what you really are lokking at is the gravity allowing the beans to hang under the strings so they dont get mishapen and twisted . the distance from the two sets of posts can be 3 ft if neccasry but remember the nearer the vertical the more chance of them tangling up ..belive me a straight bean is nicer than a twisted curly little things ,,,, isnt it lades  :wink:

[Lottie Lady]

Munty - I have tried to do the canes as you said but being a  girly 8 stone weakling I can't get the canes in deep enough - the soil is clay on the lottie( but it has just been rotovated again) I have even tried making the holes by hammering a shorter cane in  and it still doesn't work - any suggestions?