French beans Growing Guide
French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are an easy-to-grow crop, suitable for various garden sizes, including both climbing and dwarf types. They produce delicious stringless pods in green, yellow, or dark purple and are ideal for warm, sunny spots for summer harvests. Dwarf varieties are compact (up to 45cm tall) and fast-cropping, perfect for containers, while climbing varieties (up to 2m tall) need tall supports and produce a crop over a longer period.
This guidance applies to the crop in general. Individual varieties and local conditions can differ.
Planting information
For an early crop, sow indoors from late April onwards in small pots or deep modules filled with moist peat-free multi-purpose compost. Sow one bean in each, 5cm deep. Place in a propagator or on a warm, sunny windowsill to germinate. Outdoors, sow once all risk of frost has passed and the soil is warming up (usually late May or early June). For climbing beans, sow seeds 5cm deep, one or two at the base of each bamboo cane, then thin to the strongest seedling. For dwarf beans, sow 5cm deep and 15cm apart in blocks or double rows. Make several sowings from late spring to mid-summer for continuous harvests. Plant indoor-raised or bought young plants outdoors after the last frost, usually in late May or early June, after hardening them off. Water plants well before and after planting. Space them 15cm apart. Plant dwarf varieties in blocks or double rows, potentially adding twiggy sticks to keep them upright. With climbing beans, plant one at the base of each bamboo cane, then loosely tie the shoots to the cane to get them started. When planting in containers, use peat-free multi-purpose or loam-based compost. Dwarf beans need pots 30–45cm wide, and climbing beans need containers at least 75cm wide and 45cm deep, with appropriate supports.
Harvesting information
Pick pods when they are 15–20cm long, snap easily, and before the individual beans can be seen through the pod. Regular harvesting stimulates plants to produce more pods. Dwarf French beans will crop for several weeks, and climbing varieties will crop for much longer, from mid-summer to early autumn if picked regularly. For seed saving, leave a few pods to fully mature and dry on the plant, then pick, remove seeds, and store in a labelled paper bag somewhere cool and dry over winter. After harvesting has finished, cut plants down to the base and compost them, or leave the roots in the ground to boost soil nitrogen levels.
Storage information
For saving seeds, store dried seeds in a labelled paper bag somewhere cool and dry over winter.