Runner Bean – and
Gone!
A mystery is unfolding in the Kitchen
Garden during the long hot days of summer – just who is
responsible for eating the runner bean
plants?
I should be enjoying the balmy
summer days (41 degrees C according to the outside max/min
thermometer) but most of my time has been taking up investigating
The Case of the Damaged Runner Bean Plants. As you may recall, we
enjoyed a bumper harvest of runner beans last year and were eagerly
looking forward to a repeat performance. All was going well –
I managed to locate the runner bean support frame and untangle the
netting, the seeds were sown into the deep rootrainers and soon germinated and
the young plants quickly became ready for transplanting. They were
duly planted out and began winding their way happily up the pea and
bean netting. I was rubbing my hands in anticipation of another
monstrous yield until…
One morning I arrived at the
garden and had a quick walk round all the beds as per usual.
Everything was fine, there were no apparent problems until I saw
the young runner bean plants – or at least what remained of
them. All had been completely shorn of their large green leaves and
the stem of some had been neatly severed about 5-10cm above the
soil. Even the strand of netting which one plant was climbing up
had been cut along with the stem! I immediately cordoned off the
area and began searching for clues, but the culprit had been very
clever. No footprints or feathers, no droppings and no tell-tale
trail of leaves leading away to a safe location – however, I
was soon able to start eliminating certain suspects from my
inquiries. Bird – no, cut was too neat and unlikely to be
able to sever netting; squirrel – no, netting would not
support weight and cut was too high for squirrel to reach; slug
(always a suspect) – no, too neat a job and aphids –
no, too big a job and out of their league.
So, my two main suspects were the
mouse and the rabbit. But the Kitchen Garden is rabbit-proof and
the boundary netting is intact, so the blame seems to fit firmly on
the shoulders of the mouse. Although there was no trial and the
mouse was never captured or charged, I decided he was guilty until
proven innocent and set up humane master mouse traps to
prevent any further damage. I’ve also managed to rush through
some replacement plants but these are way behind, so I don’t
hold out too much hope of success.
Elsewhere in the garden, there
are many fruits of hugely different shapes and sizes to harvest.
The blackcurrants and raspberries are providing a steady stream of
soft fruit, the courgettes and squash are ready for picking almost
hourly (perhaps an exaggeration – try daily) and the
cucumbers are not far behind. I’ve actually managed to get
the aubergine plants to bear fruit for the first time - although I
suspect regular watering and the high temperatures and humidity
have more to do with that than my input – and the sweetcorn
plants have set cobs without exception. The dwarf French beans have
finished but the French climbing beans, with their attractive
purple pods, are just ready for first picking and there are a few
runner beans (don’t get me started) ready as well. I’ve
been harvesting and bagging up potatoes regularly, the carrots are
being lifted when required and of course the greenhouse crops such
as tomatoes and peppers are in full production. I’m also
regularly sowing lettuce seeds to provide a succession of crops and
there’s plenty of mizuna and rocket to spice up
salads.
I think the key to this bumper
harvest is water and because we’ve not seen many clouds
recently, let alone experience any rainfall, I’ve been
finding ways to use water as economically as possible. The fruit
cage has been fitted out with a micro
irrigation vegetable kit which drip feeds water onto
the soil surface slowly, allowing it to sink down to the rootzone
and not evaporate immediately. The runner beans (what remains of
them) and the outdoor peppers have been fed by a similar system, as
have the thirsty curcubits, whilst the bean crops on the willow
obelisks and potatoes are swelled by water distributed
by the soaker hose system. I am extremely fortunate that the
Kitchen Garden has its own well so I can operate these irrigation
lifelines, but the soaker hose can also be run off a water butt. I’ve also set up a
rainwater tank
which is fed by precipitation alone, ideal if, like in the Kitchen
Garden, a water butt is not compatible with the greenhouse
guttering. I should imagine a rainwater tank would be fought over
in the allotment as well, when again, it is not practical to fill a
water butt. Some other tips I’ve picked up on the subject of
irrigation include watering early in the morning or later in the
evening, to avoid the hottest rays of the sun drying the soil
before the water can soak in, and supplying little and often rather
than a deluge once a week – this is probably why the drip
systems are so successful.
One back-breaking task I’ve
recently completed was re-building the link-a-bord bed.
Gone are the three beds in 1, 2 and 3 tier style and in their place
a formal layout of 6 1m x 1m beds. This is more attractive set-up
if I do say so myself, but I wasn’t thinking that when I was
moving the soil from the 1m x 2m, 45cm deep bed one hot day in
July!
I must return to the garden now
as I can see courgettes increasing in size before my eyes, just
like time-lapse photography or filming. Please continue to visit
our online Gardening Forum, linked to this website, as many of you
have – a number of recipes have been posted recently and are
certainly worth trying out, and you may have some more tips on how
to economically water the vegetable garden. Enjoy the summer and
where’s that mouse?!
