Runner beans are dead easy to grow, and the variety "Painted Lady", with its red-and-white flowers, makes a very attractive display against a fence or over an arch (they were originally grown as ornamentals, not veg!). I soak the beans overnight to get them started, then make my own root-trainers by slotting loo-roll tubes into the larger size of plastic module (24 to a tray) and filling them with seed compost. When the bean plants are three or four inches high, ease the tube out of the module and plant out the whole thing - the cardboard will just biodegrade in the soil. |