Funny Runners

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by kryssy, Jun 30, 2007.

  1. kryssy

    kryssy Gardener

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    Morning everyone. Hope you are all looking forward to a lovely weekend in the undergrowth.

    While I was picking some runner beans this morning I noticed some which must have been hiding a long time. They are a lot bigger than the rest and have gone a funny colour. Are they only good for the bin now or can we still eat them?

    I think my toms have had it too, but I'll do that later if I may.

    I would like to thank all those who have helped me so far. I really do appreciate it.

    So, here's the funny runner.....

    [​IMG]

    I suppose I should have put a normal one beside it but I've only just thought of that - oops.
    This one is about a half again bigger than the other green normal looking ones. if that helps.
     
  2. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Hi kryssy

    Some varieties of bean do go that colour if left a little longer. They are normally OK to eat and that one looks fine to me. As it has grown more than the others it may be a little stringy.

    I'm rather jealous of you. I usually plant 100-120 bean plants and the snails and slugs have only left me three. I wouldn't mind if they took 20 of them but this is a bit too much. :mad: :mad:

    When we saw that so many of them were being eaten we got some slug pellets that are supposed to be OK for birds and animals and used those. We don't normally use slug pellets but this called for drastic action. I can vouch for the fact that they don't harm birds. As soon as we put them down the pheasant chicks came along and ate the lot. They have also eaten all the successive ones we put down. The chicks were only tiny when we started putting the pellets down and now they are almost as big as mum and are rushing around the garden quite happily. So we have no beans and happy chicks. [​IMG]

    The downside of this is that the pheasants are wild but are getting too used to humans. They keep going up to our builders to see what they are doing.
     
  3. kryssy

    kryssy Gardener

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    Oh, thank you for that Shiney. I'll try the beans later and give them a good old boil to soften them up if they are stringy.

    Your pheasant family sounds adorable - any photos?

    I don't seem to get problems with slugs and snails except on a few hostas I have in a damp dark area. If I see the odd one I'll just put it in my barrow and it goes down on my neighbour's landfill with all our garden rubbish which cannot go on the compost. They live quite happily down there and are a long long way from the house. I've had loads of lettuces from my little plot and not one had a hole in. My friends are sick!

    I think the reason is that as the garden was a bare field for so many years the slugs and snails didn't bother moving here as there was nothing nice to eat. The Hostas were one of the first things to go in just over 4 years ago so I think any that were about just made their way there and stayed there. I suppose I'm lucky. Just had the flipping mole........................ but I won't go there again !!

    P.S. Your banana question is driving me nuts!!
     
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