Nat on Runner Beans

Where the seeds came from
Three years ago I went to one of the events of the London Freedom Seed Bank and everyone was encouraged to take some seeds away, and that was the pack that I took.

How to grow
I planted some straight in the ground, and I also sprouted some first, soaking them and waiting for the shoots to come out and then only planting the ones which had germinated. And that worked quite well. And then watered them, gave them a feed a few times through the season. I fed them with a mix of a nettle tea and some compost tea from the. Got quite a good crop of them, not as good as in past years I think because it was so dry. I’ve left most of them to go to seed to collect. They do like quite a lot of water. The more sun they have the healthier the plants will be and the more they’ll produce.

Nat on Runner Beans

Tips
Make sure you build quite a strong structure for them to grow up. They can grow quite tall and become quite heavy. So if they’re in a windy spot they can fall over.

Recipe
I quite like eating them raw. So I chop them up and put them in a salad or just boil them or steam them. They’re really versatile to use.