How many runner beans?

[BumbleB]

I germinated some runner beans a few weeks ago and they are all up and growing in the greenhouse waiting for the correct time to put them on the veg patch.

I looked for the pkt today thinking maybe I should start a few more for a longer season etc but it seems that I must have already sowed them all.

How many plants would you think is a good amount for a family of 3 with enough for a small amount in the freezer?

I don't really want to buy another pkt but I also want to ensure that my 'efforts' will be productive.

Many thanks
BB

[Alison]

I don't grow runners any more as I much prefer French beans and don't want to grow both but we always grew them when I was a kid. Never bothered with the phased sowing then, if you keep picking them then they seem to keep producing more so long as they've got plently of water (they're very thirsty plants) and only seemed to stop when the weather got cold or we went on holiday and they went to seed. Unfortunately I'm not too sure how many plants we used to have but it wasn't an excessively long row (possibly about 20 plants?) and we did eat them pretty much every day and there were 5 of us. Personally I don't like them frozen much as I think they aren't a patch on the fresh ones but they can be useful in the dead of winter.

[Tori]

there is only 2 of us- and i am going to plant 10 plants. i am not going to bother with sucessional sowing!

[Capsid]

Successional sowing isn't necessary. I grow about 10 plants in a wigwam for a family of 4, but we could easily eat twice that. So I may grow 2 wigwams this year if I have room.

[HayleyB]

They will keep producing throughout the summer so successional sowing is not needed. I had about 20 plants last year and that did the 3 of us with a drawerful in the freezer as well

[Sweepster]

We had three runner bean plants last year for the two of us, a bit erratic due to the weather, but OH was boycotting them by September.... 'No more!' was the plaintive cry...

But maybe that's just a reflection on my cooking skills

[Two_Sheds]

I grew at least 100 plants (French bean, don't like runners) - for dried beans. They see me out all year long.

[sewer rat]

I would imagine that the quanitity of seeds you get in a packet will be more than sufficient. As has been pointed out, if you keep picking, they keep cropping so successive sowing is not really necessary.
Having said that, I will start all mine off in pots and when I plant the out, I place another bean alongside so that I get two plants per cane - but I am growing for slightly more than one family.

[BumbleB]

Thanks very much for all of your replies. It seems that I should have enough with the 18 plants that I have so I wont buy any more seed. I am now deciding if I will do an upturned wigwam or if I will let them grow over the pergola arch.

Cheers
BB

[Spiderling]

Hi BumbleB. As has already been said, Runner beans are prolific croppers. Last year, I had 18 canes with one plant each and for two of us, there were far too many, despite giving lots away and freezing bagfuls. Each week I was harvesting 2 supermarket carrierbags full of beans and we got sick of them!!! This year I will only have 12 plants. I make an "A" frame for my runners as I find it much easier to pick them...you can see through to find the beans you always manage to miss from the front!! I will sow mine in individual pots at the end of this month to plant out first week in June. Cheers!