Growing dwarf french beans - idiots guide wanted

[littlemoney]

Eleven beans! Just how big is your family??????

Just to be clear, Miss Mt, do you think that's not many or a lot?

(Edited to add that I note more are due to show.)

Snoop Puss I also thought is 11 to many or too little.

I sowed that many as that as I didn't know how many beans each plant would produce as they only grow 18" tall and the beans are only 5" long. Have I got it wrong and I will be inundated with beans.

What quantity of beans should I hope to get under normal circumstances to get, or is that an impossible question to answer

[SarrissUK]

I don't think that's that many beans... in fact, I don't think that would be enough for me and I live alone. I have sown two trays of Scarlet emperors, two trays of two other runners, all with two or three beans in each module, so in total probably 300 runners have been sown. Not all have germinated to be fair.

Then I have probably the same amount of French climbing beans and I'm planning on sowing the same again directly outdoors.

Then I also have Swedish brown beans, probably a 100 or so beans in the end, and lima beans - 50 or so will grow in the polytunnel.

So.. I'm not sure how many is too many

[mcdood]

2 people in our house but admittedly some (not many) beans are passed on to children and parents: I've planted 12 Canadian Wonder, 12 Borlotti Dwarf, 16 Ferrari, 16 Climbing Borlotti, 10 Blauhilde, 10 Blue Lake, 12 Enorma Runners. Fresh , frozen and dried beans all year long.

[Bacchus]

Given the number and variety of beans we could easily have a specific bean growing thread next year - similar to the chilli one.

[SarrissUK]

Given the number and variety of beans we could easily have a specific bean growing thread next year - similar to the chilli one.

I agree Bacchus!

[Snoop Puss]

^Not too late to start one now, I'd have thought.

[littlemoney]

When do I plant out

Sorry another question as I am at the next stage.

My dwarf french beans are approx 1.5" to 2" tall, most with one pair of leaves but not all have full leaves. They are currently in 3" pots. They have been outside in cold frame hardening off and now I advice on the next stage.

When can I plant them into the garden? Do they need to be a certain size before I can do this or is it just a case of being frost free. I generally regard myself as frost free after 3rd week of May.

Should I prepare the soil in any way? I dug the bed 2 weeks ago to make planting easier. I have some growmore which I could put in the planting hole but no compost or anything else. Will they need a lot of watering?

Thanks for helping me so far. Slowly I am getting there.