Grow Your Own French Beans

Lesson 2: Sowing French Beans

Warm Start
French beans are susceptible to cold, so shouldn't be planted outside if there is any danger of frost. By May, though, the soil should be warm enough to give your seedlings a good start. Use a rake to create a fine "tilth" – a crumbly surface soil that's ready for sowing. Peg out a length of garden twine as a guide and create a 5cm-deep drill, or sowing channel. If you're growing a dwarf variety, sow the seeds every 7.5cm. Space your rows 45cms apart. French beans have a high germination rate but, just in case one or two don't come up, sow a few spares at the end of the row.

Sowing Climbers
Climbing French beans are sown at the same depth as dwarf beans but the seeds should be spaced around 10cm apart. Climbers will need 60cm between rows. Sow an even number of rows. Traditionally, some gardeners soak beans seeds before sowing. Avoid this tactic: it can lead to a bacterial condition known as Halo Blight. Cover, firm and label your row. Don't forget to water your new plantings if conditions are dry.

Tepee Technique
One attractive way to support climbing French beans is to train them up a tepee of garden canes. You'll need to make your tepee first, so that you'll know where to plant the seeds. Take four or five 2.4m canes, lash them together at the top and push them into the ground in a circle, 30cm apart. Sow two seeds 5cm deep at the base of each cane. Things can get rather crowded at the top of the tepee and pods in this apex area are more difficult to harvest. Growing beans in rows will make life easier. But the tepee option is good when space is limited and the construction certainly has visual impact.

Pic: GAP Photos/Sharon Pearson