How to grow French Beans

About

French Beans are ideal to grow in the garden and in the allotment. The French Bean plant will only grow around 60cm in height so not as tall as the runner beans which can grow to 10ft. One of the other differences with French Beans and Runner beans is that the French Beans will not produce as many pods. French Beans should not have any issues with the flowers setting and producing pods. A lot of the varieties of runner beans have been cross bred from french bean genes to help them produce beans.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

When to plant French Beans

Here you will find the best time to sow, plant and harvest French beans in the UK. Remember also it all depends on the weather when planting seeds. Look after your plants and you will get a long cropping period.

Varieties of French Beans

There are many varieties of French beans that are worth trying to grow in the garden or allotment. You can get dwarf or climbing French Beans. Here we give you the best variety that you can try growing.

Dwarf beans tend to grow in small bushy plants around 50cm in height. Climbing beans are like the runner bean and will grow round canes and reach heights of up to 2.5 meters. Climbing beans can grow many more pods than dwarf beans. They also take up less space.

These are our favorite varieties:-

Climbing Bean

• Blue Lake
• Kingston Gold
• Algarve

Dwarf Bean

• Purple Teepee
• Golden Teepee
• Annabel

Where to grow French Beans

When choosing an area to grow French Beans they need to be planted in soil that is in a sunny warm spot that holds water and moisture well but it can be too wet and soggy. Choose the area in autumn and winter. Once you have chosen the area add some well rotted manure or compost to the area to improve the soil.

How to sow French Beans

If you are sowing French beans straight outdoors you need to be careful as they do not like frost at all. Wait until the chance of frost has passed then plant the seeds outdoors. If you do want to plant them outdoors earlier put a plastic cloche over the top to protect the young vulnerable plants from getting frost damage.

The best time to plant french beans outdoors is the end of spring or mid summer so you miss the chance of the frost and them getting killed or damaged from it. You can plant both varieties of French Beans – Climbing beans and dwarf beans outdoors from mid summer and they will last until mid autumn till they die off from the cold, they will not survive the winter.

To sow the French beans outdoors dig two trenches around 6cm deep and 12cm apart. Plant the beans in the trenches to the recommended spaces as per the seed packet. Cover with soil or compost. If you are starting your French Beans indoors plant them in seed trays or ideally plant pots. Put a couple of beans per plant pot. Let them grow to around 8cm before planting outdoors. Before you plant them outdoors make sure you harden the plants off for around 12 days though so they get used to the drop in temperature.

How to plant French Beans

When you are ready to plant your French Beans outdoors you need to make sure that the soil has been prepared in advance by adding well rotted manure to it and that it is weed free. Make sure that the area is in a sunny position and the ground is well draining.

You need to work out what you need to support your beans. Dwarf French beans do not need supports but the climbing French beans will need supports as they grow quite tall. You can grow the climbing beans up netting, chicken wire or up garden canes like you would runner beans. The reason for growing them upwards and not trailing along the floor is that the slugs and other animals will eat them and destroy the crops.

Caring for the crop

French Bean’s don’t take much care and attention. If you are growing the climbing french bean make sure that you pinch out the top of the climbing bean plants once they reach the top of the canes. This is so that they can bush out. You can grow them to around 6ft.

Keep the plants well watered especially in dry periods. You can keep the plants moist by adding mulch round the bottom of the stems.

How to harvest

This is the best time picking the produce. You know the beans are ready to be picked when the pods just snap off the plant. Make sure you pick the french beans off when the beans just start showing through the pods. Don’t let them swell too much. French beans will start producing around 12 weeks after sowing.

Like runner beans the more you pick the French beans the more they will produce. You could be picking French beans for a few week. Your friends will love you as you will probably have to many to eat yourself.

One handy hint is that once you have picked them all you should keep watering them as you might get a second crop on your French bean plants. The French Beans won’t essentially be big but they will still taste delicious.

Pests

There are a few pests which can affect French Beans. Here we will try and help you prevent them.

Slugs:- When young plants are popping through the ground they will be more attractive to slugs, especially in damp weather. One tip is to plant them in pots first and wait until they are big before planting out. You can always protect them by putting plastic bottles round them until they are bigger and can survive

Pigeons:- They will love to see new shoots popping through the ground like the slugs. You can again put bottles round them or protect them with netting so nothing can get to the plants.

Aphids:- Greenfly and black fly like French Beans. You can spray plants with soapy water which will hopefully kill the aphids and the eggs off.

Facts

Did you know the French Bean was originally brought from South and Central America by Christopher Columbus and was very popular in France. The green French Beans are the ones you will see most commonly but you can get them in purple, cream and yellow.

Freezing French Beans

When freezing French Beans they are best frozen when the French Bean pods are still young and small. They will taste best when they are that size. If you want you can dry French beans as well. Wait until the pods on the plant start to die off, then pick the pods and lay them some where dry so that the pods dry out. Then you can store the beans in a airtight jar. Before cooking the dried beans though you will need to soak them.

Cooking French Beans

The best way to cook French Beans is to boil them for around 5 minutes in a pan. Make sure you have trimmed away the stems before cooking though.

Growing Questions

How do French beans grow at home?

French beans can be grown at home in the ground or you can grow them in troughs if you do not have any ground to grow them in

Are French beans easy to grow?

French Beans are easy to grow as long as you protect them from getting eaten

Can you grow French beans in pots?

You are better growing French Beans in troughs rater than pots.

Do French beans need full sun?

French Beans need to be in the sun to grow well. Just keep them watered but not water logged.

Why are my french beans not growing?

Check that the soil you are growing them in is good quality. Have you been keeping them watered?

How far apart plant French beans?

Plant French beans around 15-20cm apart in the ground.

How tall do climbing French beans grow?

Climbing beans can grow to about two meter tall. Dwaft French Beans can grow to around 60cm

When to plant out climbing French beans?

Plant French Beans outside after the last frost has been, ideally plant mid summer and they will keep growing till the middle of Autumn

Should you soak bean seeds before planting?

There is no need to soak the beans before planting

Do French beans climb?

The variety climbing French beans climb, the dwarf beans do not need to climb.

Why are my beans dying?

Is it too cold for them. They do not like to grow in the cold. Make sure you are giving them enough water.

Do you pinch out French beans?

You can pinch out the climbing French beans when they get to the top of the canes but dwarf french beans you do not need to pinch out.

Can beans grow in shade?

They are best grown in the sun for better results.

You can find out how to grow other fruit and vegetables here