A few dwarf varieties are also available, ideal for large containers. Pick when young, for tasty stringless beans. You can also sow outdoors in early summer. Alternatively, young plants can be bought from garden centres and online suppliers in spring, ready for planting outside. As they grow vertically, climbers produce a large crop in a small area of ground. They are useful for raised beds and containers , and for gardens in exposed sites.
Climbing beans take longer to reach cropping stage, but produce beans over a longer period, from mid-summer to early autumn if picked regularly. Runner beans are attractive as well as productive, with red, white or bi-coloured flowers, depending on the variety. This will give you an earlier crop. Sow one bean into the centre, 5cm 2in deep, and water well.
Seedlings will grow rapidly and need watering regularly. Sow one bean per small pot, 5cm 2in deep, and place in a coldframe or sheltered position. Alternatively, sow into large containers, positioned in a sheltered, sunny spot, as their final growing site.
Simply sow the seeds direct into the container, spacing them 15cm 6in apart. Insert a wigwam of 1. Runner beans thrive in rich, deep, fertile soil in full sun. Alternatively, it can be done a couple of weeks beforehand, to give time for the ground to settle.
If your soil is heavy and wet, it can be pre-warmed in early spring by covering it with clear plastic or cloches for about four weeks before sowing. Thin to one seedling per cane, and protect plants from slugs and snails. When sowing dwarf runner beans in the ground, allow 30cm 1ft between plants and 50cm 20in between rows. Wait until after the last frost before planting indoor-raised or bought young plants outside.
Then harden them off to acclimatise them to outdoor conditions for a couple of weeks, either by putting them in a coldframe or placing them in a warm, sheltered spot, covered with fleece. Even better, do it the autumn before planting. When growing in rows, the traditional method for preparing the soil is to dig a bean trench:. Mark out a line, then dig a trench 90cm 3ft wide and 60cm 2ft deep. Loosen the soil in the base by forking it over. Scatter well-rotted manure or home-made garden compost in the base of the trench and mix with the soil from the trench.
Return the improved soil to the trench. Once your bean plants are hardened off, plant them into their final growing position, in the ground or in a large container, in a sunny, sheltered spot. Plant one climbing bean plant at the base of each cane, and loosely tie their stems to the canes to get them started. When planting dwarf beans, space them 30cm 1ft apart.
If planting in a container, choose multi-purpose or loam-based compost. Runner beans need tall, sturdy supports to climb up. The traditional method is to grow them up a double row of bamboo canes 1. Space the canes 15cm 6in apart within each row and slope them inwards, then tie near the top to a horizontal cane, to form a sturdy A-frame.
Potty by name Potty by nature. By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club. We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office. Aesop BCBC sigpic. Latest Topics. Reply to Chitchat thread View All. Recent Blog Posts. Mothhawks - Orange curd tart. Reply to Nicos Orecchiette Sausage Pasta. Nicos Orecchiette Sausage Pasta. Yes No. Their twining stems work well when grown up the curly metal plant supports originally developed for tomatoes.
These are available in a range of colours and are a feature on the patio, even before the beans advance up them. There are bush varieties of scarlet runner beans as well as haricot or French beans. These can be grown in smaller pots, troughs or vegetable growing containers.
They can even be grown in window boxes or balcony troughs. They can also be combined with other vegetables such as cut-and-come-again lettuce or bushy, trailing tomatoes. Watering is critical at the flower production stage. If the plants dry out the buds drop. In warm weather, when the plants are in full growth and flower; they enjoy being sprayed with water over leaves and flowers in early morning or evening. This also helps with pollination. There are plenty of varieties to choose from, old and new.
It is probably best to choose a red or bicoloured flowering variety of runner bean for pots as these are prettier. It is free-flowering and showy with red and pink flowers and a plentiful crop of beans.
The succulent pods are stringless and do no go tough with age. Its flowers are insignificant and the beans seem to appear from nowhere, so keep an eye open for them.
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