Like I said during the year, runner beans are my favourite crop. They grow well in the marginal soil, and it must be a really bad year indeed for me to not harvest at least a few kg, even when planting them just in one row behind my house. This year, I also grew several common bean varieties, and I bought white runner beans to grow those too. I wrote about the trouble I had with seeds, and that my yellow beans froze after I planted them and ate the rest. That prompted me this year to go about saving seeds differently – from the first pods, those that ripened on the vine, I saved 250 healthiest-looking and biggest seeds from every variant. Only after that I started saving seeds for eating.

The yellow beans are the variety “Konstantin”. The pods are without the vein and papery layer, and the seeds are reasonably large and easy to shell, so it is a variety suitable for both harvesting green pods and dry seeds. This year, I have only had a few plants that survived; thus, I concentrated on harvesting seeds only. I managed to replenish my seed supply for future seasons, and I got a little surplus for eating (ca 300 g).

The white small beans are a variety “Neckarkönigin”, although probably with some admixture of other varieties. I am undecided about whether to grow them in the future or not. I just about managed to get 250 seeds, and they are basically the same as “Konstantin” except the color is white and the seeds are smaller, thus they are slightly more suitable for harvesting pods than seeds.

White runner beans are not in the picture – I only managed to get 50 healthy-ish seeds. Which is a bummer, since I bought 60, which mainly rotted in the ground. I hope to have a better germination rate with these that I have grown myself. I will probably plant all of these next year near the south wall of my house instead of the red ones.

I harvested over 6,5 kg of the red runner beans. Putting aside 250 seeds was no problem, and I might give them a pass next year, completely. The seeds should remain viable for several years in a tightly closed jar (two years are nearly certain).

The black beans are a variety “Meraviglia di Venezia”. They produce large, fleshy, and juicy pods without the paper layer and the vain. They are quite difficult to shell once ripe. Thus, once I was reasonably certain that I would have 250 seeds for the future, I harvested all the remaining pods. To be honest, I had no choice anyway. The weather started to freeze, and it was either that or compost.

These are some of the best and tastiest pods for canning. I harvested 6,5 kg of pods, and we made a pickling solution from these ingredients for them:

4 l water
1 kg sugar
0,5 l vinegar
5 teaspoons of salt

To preserve the pods, they have to be blanched first.

I overdid it slightly on one batch, but fortunately not too much, so they did not disintegrate.

After the pods are blanched, they can be put into pre-heated, sterilized jars, and boiling hot pickling solution can be poured over them. When the lid is closed while hot, they form a vacuum seal, and so far, they have never spoiled, and they last up to three years in a dark, cold cellar without an issue.