PREMIER SEEDS DIRECT - Runner Bean - Moonlight - British BRED - 60 Grams

Runner Bean Moonlight - Purchased March 2017. These must have been an infertile crop of seed or they were not stored properly. I have seen comments on other websites where people have experienced failure with this variety. In 2017 I planted eight seeds of Moonlight and eight seeds of three other Runner Bean varieties ( including Firestorm ). All of the other varieties germinated with 100% success - but none of the Moonlight seeds germinated at all ( 0% viability). I contacted Premier Seed a couple of months after purchasing these seeds for their advice - but because I did not make a claim at that time for a defective item - I did not receive a reply from Premier, I recently ( 2018) repeated a trial planting of Runner Bean seed, giving the seed exactly the same germination and growing conditions. I planted four Moonlight seeds ( Premier ) plus four Moonlight seeds ( Suttons ). To date none of the Moonlight seeds have germinated at all. i planted four Firestorm seeds - four germinated. I planted four Galaxy seeds ( 3 germinated so far. ) I planted eight seeds of Hestia - a compact variety ( 8 germinated).. I planted four Galaxy seed (3 germinated). I planted eight Firelight seeds - six germinated. The seeds were planted in the same compost mix in RootTrainers and given exactly the same treatment.It appears that Moonlight ( white flowers) seeds are perhaps not as reliable as Firestorm ( red flowers) or Firelight). Whether this is a problem with the variety or just this crop of seeds is not known. There seem to be many 5***** reviews,but not many reporting the success of growing this variety and its qualities as a runner bean. I do not know whether there is a difference in flavour, texture or stringiness between these two varieties, but so far it seems that Firestorm is the more reliable variety

I really hoped the reviews here would tell me how the beans tasted and cropped, and now I'm adding to those that fell short. I'll give that info later if I remember along with a more helpful star rating, but for now I can say that I ordered packs of both Moonlight and Lady Di on the Saturday afternoon of a bank holiday weekend and they arrived on the following Tuesday morning - effectively 'next day', so that was a good start. I sowed 11 of each into 3" pots and all 11 Moonlight and 9 Lady Di have germinated and look perfectly healthy, which for me is unusually successful. In the past, with expensive shop bought seeds, I have on occasion had zero germination and often only 50%, possibly due to poor drainage and/or overwatering - this time I added grit, vermiculite and a little garden soil to multi-purpose compost and moistened rather than soaked the pots. I also sowed some of each into a large container outdoors but there's no sign of life there yet, though I've not given up on them yet as they were sown deeper. The torrential downpours here might have done for them. So, excellent service, remarkable value, and there's clearly nothing second-rate about the seeds; they have the usual two year sow-by date too. They come in a simple resealable, labeled plastic bag with no misleading pics of unbelievably massive crops and while there's no info on how to grow them you obviously have have access to the internet, so finding advice is hardly difficult. Just hope the flavour won't disappoint.Update: Still can't say anything about the crop but the seeds cannot really be faulted - one of the missing indoor Lady Di's and all six of the outdoor seeds have now germinated so that's a 96% success rate overall.A further update, May 2018: I unscientifically grew, harvested and cooked the two varieties together last year but they both seemed to grow equally well and I didn't notice different mouthfuls tasting any different - they all tasted like I'd expect runners to taste and I've no complaints on that front at all. I tried the elaborate "dry" freezing method, wrapping the beans in a tea towel etc, but it was a dismal failure and I won't bother again this year. The frozen beans had an awful texture and very poor flavour. Both varieties cropped well enough - I had enough to freeze some - though they stopped sooner than I'd hoped, but that always been the case with me and runners. Whatever I do and whichever variety I grow I don't get the bumper crops my father had in days of yore. Neither type was stringy and they were tender if not left too long - the only ones that were tough were the old ones that I knew would be from their appearance and the way they cut - I really should have discarded them before cooking, or picked them sooner. I sowed six of each (from last year's packets just kept in the packaging they came in, in a shoe box in a cupboard) in pots of plain multi-purpose compost this spring and all twelve germinated, the Moonlight more quickly. (Is it just me or do they always break the surface during the night?) I moistened the compost rather than soaked it. I've not had the problems TechAnon reports. I'll try a second sowing in June to try to extend the season this year.So both varieties germinated, grew, cropped, tasted and the seeds stored as well as I could have expected and, especially at the price, I have no hesitation in recommending either - or both, so you have an attractive mix of red and white flowers!

I don't know if it is the product that is the problem here, or the fact that we do not seems to get many bees now in Chelmsford, but although we have been growing Runner Beans for over 25 years in our back garden, we got none at all this year. Some of these seeds developed into plants that only grew half way up our bean poles... others grew further, but in the end we got leaves only - & no runner beans at all!This is one of three varieties we planted out and got no runner beans at all from any of them this year.NOTE: We did get a crop from all of our other garden fruits & vegetables - courgettes, tomatoes (3 types), peas, strawberries & raspberries etc..

I bought this seed last Sept. After reading it is tolerant to dry weather, unfortunately I could not get the seed to germinate in separate pots, on checking the pot, the bean seed had virtually disintegrated to pulp, I then tried putting the bean seed with some compost in a plastic bag again it did not germinate, so all in all not a satisfied customer.

This beans are amaizing . The plant produce a lot from june to november. But the best thing about it is that the roots dont die during the winter. If undisturbed they sprout in spring a new plant .

Best runner bean in my opinion. Great taste and stringless.

I received runner beans promptly and planted 5 of them 10 days ago and they are already 6" tall so will wait a couple of weeks before I plant some more and will keep in a cold frame until weather warms up.

Excellent crop. Better then other varieties.