I have 2 questions:
1. I am harvesting a huge crop of Scarlet Runner beans now. Having never grown pole beans before, I was wondering about how to deal with the pods. I seem to have 2 kinds of beans growing from the same seed. Some vines produced red flowers and I got some white flowers also. I have beans that are 10 inches long by 1/2inch wide with huge purple pods and other beans that size that have very immature pods. There are also beans with smaller white pods. Do you have to leave the beans on the vine until the pods are dry or can you pick them and let the pods dry or just eat them fresh? I don't understand why I have so many beans that are huge and no pods.

2. Tomato Blight! Does this manifest itself by vines dying from the base and the tomatoes turning brown and hard. I tried growing some of the Northern varieties outside this year. I got a few good tomatoes and then this struck about 6 weeks ago. The tomatoes that I'm growing in the greenhouse are producing heavily and are disease free.

Other than that, this seems to have been a perfect summer for gardening! I managed to grow more than the 2 of us could eat so I have been busy canning and freezing. How did all of the rest of you fare?

Thanks ahead of time for any advice and I look forward to future discussions with all of you. Sonja

I assume you are growing the runner beans for "shelling beans" to extract the seeds, or "beans", rather than using the runner beans as string beans, and eating the whole pod, seeds and all, fresh or cooked.

For shelling beans, once the seed beans have swollen inside the pod, deforming the pod to the point where it splits open, the seed beans can be removed and then dried or cooked. If you shake the vines and can get a few seed beans to fall on the ground, it is time to harvest the whole crop of mature pods.

For string beans, harvest when immature before the seeds swell.

The huge beans/no pods thing is probably just the variable nature of this runner bean's self-pollinating capability.

I would think the seeds would better for fresh eating when of a decent size but still immature.
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We've never had tomato plants do that here, I don't know what the problem is.

Welcome & congratulations on your garden bounty this year. We have had a great summer season as well!

If you planted runner seed you have 2 types of harvests possible from the same seed just different maturity.

1. smaller pods with white immature seeds to eat whole or cut up lightly cooked. Great raw as snacks with hummus or chive dip.

2. leave those same pods on longer & the seeds will swell and become like what you planted with purple markings. Wait until seeds are quite plump & visible through the pods, but before the 1st frost. That way you have mature seeds to replant next year.

We just eat the pods whether smaller or thicker with larger seeds inside and didn't attempt to shell the beans. I don't recall having any pods split. Perhaps, back in OK they dried more than here in our cooler summers.

Corrine

Tomato late blight is generally started by fall rains causing the mold spores to grow in the soil and splashing on the plants. If you put a plastic cover over your tomatoes to protect them from the rain you can delay the onset of blight. Legend tomato is supposed to be resistant. It was a very productive tomato for me this year.