Growing dwarf french beans - idiots guide wanted

[littlemoney]

I have been thinking about growing dwarf french beans, seeing the price in supermarkets, and I was in the garden centre today and made a rash decision to buy a packet of seeds. I got the variety Safari.

The only vegeable I grow each year is tomato and I have never grown dwarf french beans before and have an area 3' by 5' that I can use as a bed which is clay soil. Where do a start please, pots if so what size and how deep or plant in open ground. I am seeking an idiots growing guide please so I haven't wasted the £2.35 I just spent on seeds.

I am not sure how many beans I will get from one bean and but I want to avoid them all coming at the same time. How?

What support do they need? Also how long will it be from sowing to harvesting.

Sorry for all the questions but I know what a helpful group you are having previously posted on the fruit forum.

[toomanytommytoes]

I plant them to square foot gardening spacing, which is 9 per square foot or 4 inches apart each way, in the raised beds and about 1 inch deep. When you plant them densely they don't need much support, except towards the edges, and short bits of bamboo etc. will suffice. RealSeeds recommend 2 or 3 sowings at three week intervals for a continuous supply.

[Soupmaker]

I followed the instructions on the packet. Sowed direct in soil. Tried them last year in vegtrug. Got a lovely crop. They don't all ripen at the same time. Cooked straight from plant to plate in minutes. Delicious.

[Jay-ell]

Square Foot Gardening has them at 9 per square foot which is 4 inches apart in each direction.

They should crop over a period of time, as you harvest them this will encourage new flowers and pods to develop.

Before sowing my beans I soak them overnight so that they can swell up as I find this speeds the germination.

You can sow them into pots on the window sill now, or wait till later on in the month when the risk of frost has passed you can sow directly into the bed.

You can pick them at any size you prefer and they freeze well once blanched if you happen to have a glut.

[Nicos]

We plant 3beans per hole. Next hole 6" away.
Next row about a foot to the side.
No need for support-they hold each other up

[littlemoney]

Thanks for the info but can I ask:

I plant them to square foot gardening spacing, which is 9 per square foot or 3 inches apart each way, in the raised beds and about 1 inch deep. When you plant them densely they don't need much support, except towards the edges, and short bits of bamboo etc. will suffice. RealSeeds recommend 2 or 3 sowings at three week intervals for a continuous supply.

Is it possible to square foot garden without using raised beds as my bed is just normal on the ground? I can add growmore to the soil but have no compost available

Sounds like it might be a good idea sow a new block 3 weeks after the first to get some later beans.

Square Foot Gardening has them at 9 per square foot which is 4 inches apart in each direction.

They should crop over a period of time, as you harvest them this will encourage new flowers and pods to develop.

Before sowing my beans I soak them overnight so that they can swell up as I find this speeds the germination.

You can sow them into pots on the window sill now, or wait till later on in the month when the risk of frost has passed you can sow directly into the bed.

You can pick them at any size you prefer and they freeze well once blanched if you happen to have a glut.

What size pots and how deep do you plant in the pot.

I like the idea of soaking overnight to speed up germination.

[littlemoney]

We plant 3beans per hole. Next hole 6" away.
Next row about a foot to the side.
No need for support-they hold each other up

What do you do if all three germinate or are they OK that close together?

[Jay-ell]

You can use the square foot gardening spacings anywhere, it doesn't have to be a raised bed - but it helps to add a bit of compost to the bed.

I usually use root trainers for beans but you only need a pot big enough for them to grow till you plant them out - eg at this time plastic cup, yoghurt pot. They will be hardened off and planted up in a few weeks anyway.

[littlemoney]

Thanks. I have some 3" pots I can use. How deep should I plant in the pot?

[SarrissUK]

Beans don't mind being close to each other - I sow mine direct, three in each hole, each hole half a foot away from each other. I prefer climbing beans to dwarf ones, as you get a greater harvest from them.

[Teds Mum]

I sow mine in trays due to risk of bean theft by mice. I have found that starting them in the heated propagator works better as they tend to germinate more uniformly this way. I have also had trouble with beans rotting, essentially they like to be warm and only a bit damp. Sow them, water once and then ignore them for a week or two.

[Snoop Puss]

This has been a useful thread for me. I didn't realise you could grow them as close as most people seem to. Me, I put four in a hole (each one about palm-sized), each hole about 40 cm apart, rows the same. Closer spacing would make them more self-supporting, so I'll adopt the closer spacing people here recommend.

I too have clay soil and they can find it hard to bust through a hard crust, so I don't put them straight in the ground and water and then leave them to it. Rather than starting them off in pots, what I do is put a thin layer of sowing compost in the bottom of the hole in the ground, then the beans, then some more compost on top. All in all, this probably uses about the same amount of sowing compost as if I'd started them in pots. Some soil inevitably washes over the top as you water, but at least this gives them a bit of better fighting chance than trying to get out of a terracotta top crust.

If it rains a lot or very hard where you are, the beans can get splashed with mud. Obviously, you can just wash it off, but you have any mulching material to go around the base of the plants, that can help and save you water and work.

Home-grown beans are fantastic and very productive. You'll easy save the money you spent on the seeds.

[Nicos]

What do you do if all three germinate or are they OK that close together?

They usually do and they're fine

[Mark_Riga]

As long as you pick them regularly, they will crop for a long time. And use 2 hands to pick. one to hold the stem and the other to pluck, so you don't disturb the roots.

[Vince G]

I sowed yesterday actually. Singles beans sowed 4 inches apart in rows a foot apart. The ones I grow get to about 18 inches high, so I use short canes alongside the rows with string tied at a height of a bout a foot so that the plants can flop against them. I find they need a little bit of support as the stem can be a bit fragile where they enter the ground.