Growing French or Runner Beans
Beans - Dwarf French
Sow: April to August.
Harvest: June to September
Sow in Pots or Root-Trainers: Sow seeds in pots or root-trainers (or loo rolls) so they can grow into strong plants before planting out into raised beds or your plot.
If you have a problem with slugs or snails, its best to grow seeds in pots before planting out, so the strong plants have a chance of surviving.
Sow Direct: Sow seeds directly into raised beds or veg plots.
The seeds should be sown direct into the soil from May onwards as all chance of frost has passed and the soil should be warm enough.
French Beans - Maxi
Dwarf Bean Varieties to Try:
- Speedy Dwarf Beans – These small green beans are great to sow at the end of the season as they only take 6-12 weeks to grow,
- Safari – This is the fine, stringless, french bean variety found in supermarkets,
- Valdor – A gorgeous yellow bean which has great flavour
- Maxi – Stringless, heavy cropper and very reliable. I’ve been growing this one for a few years as its good for freezing.
Three Runner Beans
Runner Bean Varieties to Try:
- Red Rum – This is an old classic, red flowers and heavy cropping, the flowers set to beans in any weather.
- White Lady – Another classic variety, white flowers, heavy cropper and great flavour, I love this variety.
- St George – This is the new kid on the block, semi stringless and bicoloured flavours and a great cropper.
- Scarlet Emperor – Bold red flowers, long beans and another heavy cropper.
How To Sow French or Runner Beans in Root-Trainers or Pots
You will need:
- Dwarf Bean or Runner Bean Seeds,
- Root Trainers, or Pots,
- Seed Tray,
- Plastic Propagator lid (optional – quicker germination with it)
- Multi-Purpose Compost,
- A Dibber,
- A Watering Can.
Instructions:
- Fill up your root trainers with multi-purpose compost and bang on hard surface to settle contents.
- Lightly water soil.
- Use a dibber to make a hole 2 inches deep.
- Put one bean seed into each hole.
- Cover up the hole with multipurpose compost.
- Label your seeds with plant labels.
- Water and put on propagator lid. Put in mini greenhouse and monitor progress.
How To Grow French Beans in 10 Easy Steps
Common Pests and Diseases of Beans
- Bean Weevil
- Aphids
- Downy and Powdery Mildew
- Fusarium Wilt
- Slugs and Snails
- No Flowers or No Pods Formed
Top Tips:
Top Tips on Growing French Beans
Tiny Purple Bean
Find out about watering, how to get more beans on your plants and general care of your plants to get the best ever harvest.
Other Guides you may be interested in:
- Building a Wigwam Cane Support for Runner Beans
- Transplanting Dwarf and Runner Bean Seedlings into the ground
- Common Pests and Diseases of Beans and Peas
Blog Posts on Dwarf French Beans:
- Want to try something different? Sow Multi-Coloured French Beans in Pots
- French Bean Variety: Minidor Yellow
- All Bean Blog Posts on iGrowVeg.com
- Vegetable Seeds To Sow in April
Other iGrowVeg Tips and Advice Pages:
Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series
A colourful six part guide to help you plan your own vegetable garden and get sowing! Covers: crop rotation, easy to hard to grow rated vegetables, drawing a plan on paper or online, choosing seeds, putting your plan into action.
A Free downloads page of resources to accompany my Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series including plan and seed templates, pdf advice pages, all free for you to download, print and take away for your vegetable garden.
What can you sow now in your vegetable garden? View my month by month series which contains details on harvest dates, varieties to choose from and growing tips.
Step by Step instructions and what you will need to start sowing your very first vegetable crops with a handy photo slideshow to show you how to get started and what to expect from your seedlings.
Find out more about the vegetable varieties that I’m growing, where to buy them, when to sow, harvest, special features and photos or slideshows to help you choose which variety to grow in your vegetable plot.
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About Me
I'm Tracey Bacon from Essex, UK, author of iGrowVeg.com
I'm an avid vegetable grower, writer and tweeter. I aim to show that anyone can grow their own vegetables at home on a windowsill, in pots or raised beds.
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