French beans - How long?

[SarzWix]

From sowing to planting out size?

I'm having a blank moment and I can't find my note book from last year... Just trying to work out if it's too early to sow some of my climbing frenchies - it's about 3 weeks-ish to our last frost up here.

[coreopsis]

You can wait another week-won't do any harm,if the weather is nice they will grow very quickly.

[kethry]

climbing frenchies i've sowed, but in loo rolls, in the cold frame. i figure climbers need the help. dwarfies i'm planning to direct sow. and pray the slugs don't get em this year.

I read somewhere the soil needs to be 16*C for french beans, don't know if that helps... mind you, i've also read about resting bare bum cheeks on the soil, if it feels comfy (temp wise) then its time to plant. I think i'll give that one a miss - my garden is VERY overlooked!!!

[coreopsis]

i've also read about resting bare bum cheeks on the soil, if it feels comfy (temp wise) then its time to plant. I think i'll give that one a miss - my garden is VERY overlooked!!!

Isn't it called moon gardening?

[RedThorn]

Isn't it called moon gardening?

ROFPMSL hehe lol and thanks for that!

[SarzWix]

I'll be sowing them in peat pots/rootrainers indoors, then they can go into the heated greenhouse, then a cold frame for hardening off. It's just whether they're going to get to triffid size before planting time or not

[zazen999]

I'm sowing mine on May 1st. No arguments that way...and they get 2-3 weeks of growing before they go out en masse. It's also the day we get the greenhouse, coincidentally....and I've got the modules/roottrainers and loo roll inners all ready and waiting for the day.....

It's like the first proper day of the summer....Yip Yip Yip.

[coreopsis]

Sorry,Sarz,just got a bit carried out.
If you plant them now you may struggle with them later if they grow too big and you still can't put them into their final position.
The last frost date for me is supposed to be in mid-May.Might be,might be not.I know that french beans here are not safe till the beginning of June-painful lesson I learnt a few years back.
If you delay your planting for a week you won't loose anything-it saves you a week of struggling with tangly beans if they grow too big.A week later for bean plants means nothing-they will catch up quickly with the weather.
Up to you.

[coreopsis]

I'm sowing mine on May 1st. No arguments that way...and they get 2-3 weeks of growing before they go out en masse. It's also the day we get the greenhouse, coincidentally....and I've got the modules/roottrainers and loo roll inners all ready and waiting for the day.....

It's like the first proper day of the summer....Yip Yip Yip.

I'll probably be the same or even slightly later-depends on the forecast.

[FionaH]

Ooops sowed my dwarf french beans yesterday! Got a bit carried away in a sowing frenzy

[coreopsis]

All of you are much more further south than me-surely you have higher temperatures there than here.It's about 6 degrees here at the moment(after the sun went down)

[Snadger]

Isn't it called moon gardening?

Only if you're caught!

[SarzWix]

We'll be down to 3c tonight Coreopsis.
I guess you're right, another week of waiting probably won't kill me

Best go through me seed tin and see what else I can sow instead... Got itchy fingers!

[kentvegplot]

Couldn't wait, and sowed some of mine this evening. I'm a long way South, but that doesn't always mean we'll get away without a late frost.

I don't think a week or so at this time of the year makes a big difference.

[blito]

i sowed mine in pots in the greenhouse 3 weeks ago and have been leaving themoutside by day for the last week or so.
They went in the ground at the weekend and seem happy so far - but to be on the safe side ive sowed a second set in the pots - they might get used or might end up composted - nothing lost as i`ve enough seed to last for years!