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I live in the south of the UK, so have quite a mild winter climate. I am curious to know if it's common for runner beans to grow again the following year.

Last spring some of the previous year's runner beans grew again and produced beans. They seemed to have really well-established roots on them too. Some of the previous year's beans did not sprout and the roots had actually rotted in the ground (as I would have expected).

I'm reluctant to dig over the spot where the beans grew last year, yet since it is mid-May now I'd be keen to know whether I need to plant from seed again.

Has anyone else experienced this and how common is this?

runner bean root with new shoot

Update 12/06/2023

For those who might be interested, since I posted this question I've found that just four of the beans have sprung into life. Perhaps one or two more might still. I had about 20 planted last year, so not many survived in that case. Some of the other woody roots I'd dug up had not rotted either, though only a couple had visible shoots on them.

Update 04/07/2023

For you avid bean watchers out there, I thought I'd mention that one or two more roots sprang back in to life in the last few days. These veteran roots are way more vigorous than than new seed, one of which has 5-6 climbing vines erupting from it.

You'd have to decide for yourself whether you're happy to wait for the veteran roots to grow again or whether to plant new seed.

26/06/2024

An update for avid runner bean watchers... My veteran roots from 2 years ago are yet to show any signs of sprouting. It's been a very wet start to the year in south Devon, UK, the Atlantic has truly blessed us with plenty of precipitation. However we're now sweltering at 23 degrees Celsius, embarrassingly this is pretty hot for us... So perhaps there's life in them yet. I dug up a couple a few weeks back, I saw they weren't rotten, just possibly dormant.

If I spot anything else happen, I'll update the answer here.

Update 16/09/2024

Nothing sprouted into life at all this year, neither the original sowings from 2022 or from 2023. Presumably the roots rotted this time round.

Tally
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We had a very warm winter in the UK in 2022/3 and spring has also been relatively frost free. So this year in the UKm it is perfectly possible that pods and beans fell into the soil from your last summer's crop and have been carefully growing through to now.

Provided you have enough of the new shoots and they look vigorous there is no need for you to sow any more in the area where they were last year, though only you know how abundant or sparse the new growth is.

If by the end of June, they have failed to thrive, you could always buy some nursery grown plants that will top them up which is what I intend to do in some raised beds I built late last summer which currently need a bit of extra topsoil kindly donated by my generous neighbour.

Incidentally, the least digging you do in your garden, the better your soil health will be - digging aka disturbing the soil structure has only negative effects on garden soil, particularly if you are adding compost in the spring and a good mulch in the autumn. Look up the No-Dig method and Charles Dowding on YT and you might be as surprised as you were with the runner beans at how much less work you need to do and get better outcomes.

Nikki
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