RUNHER BEANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

RUNHER BEANS.

A tall row of runner beans, \vell staked and heavily cropped undoubtedly forms an imposing and interesting object, and all who are able to procure stakes should grow the plants in this way. In some districts it is easy to obtain stakes. Heavy crops of beans may be grcwn, however, without the aid of stakes. I dare say many readers have seen the plants grown by market gardeners, without any staking being done. The seeds should be sown about 15 inches apart, the rows being ,three feet apart. If sown in clumps three seeds should be sown one foot apart to form a triangle, and the clumps must be three feet apart each way. When the plants possess about eight rough leaves beyond the seed leaves, pinch off the tip; a number of side-shoots will grow immediately, and in due course these also must be stopped. Thus each seed grown results . in a bush-shaped plant, the branches of which will, of course, trail on the ground to a certain extent, but this will not mean that the flowers, and eventually pods, will not form. Not. only will the 1 pods grow freely, but, owing to the system adopted of pinching off the ends of the shoots, they will swell up to a large size rapidly.