scarlet runner beans

golly! I have to be fast to catch them at the green bean phase, within a blink my scarlet runners will get big beans and I'll discover it in the kitchen, halfway through a recipe.

Has anyone developed a good 'by feel' analysis of when the beans have formed? I tried my own experiment, and unless the bean was obvious, got a lot of the guesses wrong.

Truth, be told, it's much more fun to eat scarlet runners as big pink beans rather than green string bean-type. But I feel bad for all the half-formed ones I've picked too. Not quite either.

Its as much a pliability thing as a "feel for beans" thing for me. They bend different as the beans enlarge. I don't get too worked up about having some mis-matching green beans on the dinner table. We are just accustomed to having uniform green beans from the store. Those beans were sorted from thousands and thousands into categories. Some going for fresh eating some frozen some to can whole, cut or frenched, some for "baby green beans". So that the customer can get a nice factory style, consistent, green bean look when they prepare them. I enjoy the variety. It reminds me they are homegrown!