Otter’s useful guide to French Beans

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Better than shop bought

French beans are relatively easy to grow given the right conditions.
They’re a good choice for the novice grower!
Young, tender French beans are a real treat in lots of different dishes.
They’re delicious in stir fries, steamed or in salads.
However, the general advice is not to eat them raw.
One easy way to make them a little extra special is to lightly blanch them, then cook in butter with garlic. Simply yum!
You can also dry the beans themselves to store – soak them overnight and use for homemade baked beans.

Different types

There are two main types, climbing and dwarf.
But within those categories there are plenty of different options, including golden yellow and purple varieties as well as the more usual green.
Dwarf French beans are ideal for smaller gardens as they can be grown in containers.

French Bean Climbing – Blue Lake

It produces an abundant harvest of pencil-thin, stringless green beans with a fine, sweet flavour from early summer.

French Bean Dwarf – The Prince

Dwarf French Bean seeds “The Prince” produces long straight pencil pods of excellent flavour.
The beans are stringless when picked young.

How to grow french beans

Where to grow

French beans shouldn’t be planted outside until late May at the earliest, and if you can wait, early June may be better.
They prefer a moisture-retaining, lighter soil, so dig in lots of well-rotted manure or garden compost if your soil is heavy, a couple of weeks prior to planting.
Choose a warm, sunny, sheltered spot.

In the ground

You can grow both climbers and dwarf French beans directly into the soil.
Generally dwarf plants won’t need to have canes for support.
For climbing beans, you can use individual canes or create your own structure such as a ‘wigwam’.

In containers

Dwarf French beans are perfect for container growing.
You’ll need a decent sized pot, from 35 to 45cm in width.
They have shallow roots so containers don’t need to be too deep.

You can also grow climbing French beans in containers, so long as you are able to provide support.
You will need a deeper pot to around 45cm.

For both, use good quality, moisture-retaining compost.

General advice

Watering

French beans in the ground need regular watering, especially once they flower and start to pod.
If you’re growing them in containers you’ll need to water more frequently – don’t let the compost completely dry out.
Mulching around the plants in mid-Summer will help to retain the moisture.

General Tips

Harden off young plants by moving outdoors in the day and indoors at night for at least a week before planting out.

Sow every two or three weeks for a longer cropping period.

If you sow very late in the season, cover with a cloche to keep the young plants warm.

Place canes into the soil prior to planting the seedlings.

Feeding

Unlike many crops, French beans don’t usually require feeding.
Just make sure the ground is well-prepared.
For container growing, make sure you use high quality compost.
Some people suggest using a tomato feed for container grown French beans.

Pruning

If you’re growing climbing beans you should snip off growth beyond the top of the cane or other support.
This will help encourage new shoots and help prevent plants becoming top heavy and prone to damage from wind.

Things to look out for

Pests and Disease

Slugs and snails love young French beans so you may need to protect them, especially during wet weather.

Birds enjoy eating young seedlings and the pods too.
If this becomes a problem, cover with netting.

Aphids including greenfly will colonise French bean plants, encouraging black mould.
Remove by hand (and squash), spray with water/soapy water or use biological controls.

When to harvest

Pick once the pods are 10 to 12cm in length and snap easily.
Pick regularly to encourage the plants to produce more flowers and pods.
Dwarf bean plants should crop for several weeks, and climbers will crop for a longer period.

Need more advice?

If you’re still unsure or need any advice, our friendly teams will be happy to chat with you and suggest which varieties would be best for you to plant, as well as when and where to plant them.

We hope you enjoy planting your french beans– but more importantly, enjoy eating them!

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