Did You Guys Know....

[TransplantShock]

that runner beans (like Scarlet Runner, an heirloom and still common and a bean I will grow this comming year) are actually perennials and in cold zones you can dig up the roots and store just like dahlia roots over winter? Supposedly if you do this the vines produce way more beans every year then seed grown ones started every year. I just found this out....thought I would share it with you. :wub:

[boo]

That would be great way to get a lot of beans. Just what do you do with all the beans?

[TransplantShock]

eat em :lol:

[DandyLioness]

One year, I canned pickled beans with onion and garlic.

[grindle]

I'd heard that TS but never tried it, are you going to experiment with it :unsure:

[donybee]

One year, I canned pickled beans with onion and garlic.
Now that's my kind of bean! I love pickled beets also. I also get pickled now and then. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[erdine]

I also get pickled now and then. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
good one!
I make a mustard bean pickle with yelllow beans, oooh, tangy and tasty. love pickled beets too, but this year they taste a bit too sweet.

[Rich]

It's like many tender perennials, people treat them like annuals. I don't know if you'd get earlier beans by storing the roots.

There is a reason it's not recommended, but I can't remember what it is.

[TransplantShock]

Yes, all the reading ive done says you get earlier beans and more of them if you save the roots. Just a lot of people are lazy and would rather not dig em up every year. It seems to me it would be easier to dig the roots then to fight off birds and other critters from eatting the seeds every year.

I will definatly give it a try :blink:

[Sneezie]

:blink: Yeah love those pickled beans. I make what is known as "dilly beans" Pack your beans in a cannin jar straight up and down, a teas. or less to your taste of cayenne pepper, a clove of garlic, pinch of salt. Make a brine outta 3/4 vinegar and 1/4water or less of whichever you don`t want alot of. Bring your brine to a boil, then fill your qt. jars to 1/4 inch from top. Water-bath 20 to 25 minutes. DELICIOUS!!!!! :wub:

[TransplantShock]

Sneezie thoses sound soooooo good! :wub:

[manda]

Thanks for the info. I will try that too. I would like to get enough beans to can, but my kids eat them faster than I can pick em. :D Let us know how they do if you try that. My ? how are they stored?

[cnith]

I'm confused... how do you store dahlias? what happens if you just leave them in the ground and dont pull them up?

[MaryG]

If you leave them in the ground there's a danger they could rot over the winter. You store them by pulling up the tubers, cutting off any stalks and putting the tubers in a box of peat in a dry place for the winter.

Some people don't bother with the peat and might store the dahlia tubers in a paper bag again in a dry place like maybe a garage or basement.

[MrSeedy]

Dahlias can be left in the ground anywhere where the ground doesn't freeze through the winter, but they can't take too much wet in the cold soil, so as mentioned it is better to dig them if you have very wet winters!! I'd guess in your area they could be left in the ground though cnith!!