Procrastination can be a much-maligned pastime. For instance I’m so glad I was late sowing my runner beans this year. Now that most of our other garden flowers have bloomed and faded, the runner beans are still going strong. Scented towers of brilliant scarlet, they’re just what the bumble bees are looking for. We always eat runner beans young, when the soft, green pods resemble the curled boots in the story of the elves and the shoemaker. A few pods are left to grow, and we use these beans to sow next year. It’s these seed runner beans that cast us right into the middle of another fairy tale. Who hasn’t heard of Jack and the Beanstalk? Well, if you’ve ever felt a handful of the glinting tortoiseshell beans for yourself then you’ll understand why he swa