Runner Beans (gouache style)

Runner beans, Phaseolus coccineus, come from the mountains of Mexico and Central America. In their native home they're perennials with fleshy roots, though in Britain they're almost always grown as annuals. The plants twine up any support well above head height, and the flowers are usually scarlet, though white, pink and bicoloured kinds exist. They're pretty enough that the plant was grown as an ornamental before anyone thought to eat the pods.

Runner beans are tender, so sow them indoors in pots from late April or outdoors from late May, and don't plant out until frost has passed. They like rich, moist soil, and digging in compost the winter before pays off. Grow them up a wigwam or double row of tall canes, pinching out the tips at the top. Water well once flowering starts, which helps the pods set. Pick every few days while the pods are young, and the plants keep cropping into autumn.

Scarlet flowers and long green pods hang together from bamboo canes in this picture. It's high season on the vegetable plot, with the plant flowering and cropping at once. Showing both together captures what makes runner beans so generous: they'll keep producing for weeks, as long as someone keeps picking.