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Julia Hurford on her Totton allotment.

ONCE the fresh young runner beans have been harvested allotment holder Julia Hurford still gets a whole lot more out of her plants.

She transforms the long stringy beans at the end of the season into sumptuous soups, creative chillies and perfect pickles.

Julia who has been growing runner beans for the last five years on her Totton allotment used to throw away the stringy beans, thinking they couldn't be eaten.

But then she read that by simply drying them out they can be used in a similar way to kidney beans, adding taste and bulk to a multitude of delicious meals.

"Beans are great for you and the long stringy beans can be used in so many ways - they don't need to be thrown away!" she said.

"Anyone can grow runner beans and now is the perfect time in May. You can grow them in old dustbins or containers and just need a few bamboo sticks.

"The more you pick the more you grow.

"I make sure I chuck a lot of water over them - normally my dirty washing-up water!"

According to the Royal Horticultural Society now, in late May, is the perfect time to plant your runner beans.

As long as the soil is prepared well with lots of compost they should flourish, producing large amounts of beans which can also be frozen.

Julia's advice comes after it has emerged for the first time in decades vegetable seeds are outs e l l i n g flower seeds.

S u t t o n Seeds has recorded that 70 per cent of its seed sales are now vegetable seeds compared with 30 per cent for flowers. Five years ago it was the other way round.

At around £3 a packet for 40 runner bean seeds the savings are great when the harvest grows the more you pick the beans making it all worth the effort when you have to pay £1.50 for just a 350g bag of runner beans in the supermarket.

2:14pm Friday 30th May 2008

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