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How to grow French beans in the UK

'Dwarf' ones don't need canes, so they're perfect for pots.

• DifficultyEasy peasy
• WhereBeds or Pots
• Grows to150cm
• Spacing15cm
• Time to first pickabout 10 weeks

When to sow, plant and harvest french beans

Dates are for central England. Sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland, and up to two weeks earlier in the south and south west. Get the dates for your postcode.

Starting it indoors

1. Fill a small pot or tray with seed compost
2. Push the seeds in (5cm deep) - a couple per pot
3. Water gently, then put them on a bright windowsill
4. Keep the compost damp but not soggy - check it every day
5. When they have 2 proper leaves, give each seedling its own pot

Sowing it outdoors

1. Pull out any weeds and rake the top of your bed until it's crumbly, like cake crumbs
2. Make a little line in the soil (5cm deep) with your finger or a stick
3. Drop the seeds in, about 15cm apart in the row, with rows 30cm apart
4. Gently cover them with soil and pat it down
5. Water with a watering can that has a sprinkler head
6. Push in a label so you remember what's there

Planting it out

1. Toughen them up ('hardening off'): put them outside in the day for a week, bring them in at night
2. Dig a hole a bit bigger than the pot
3. Tip the plant out gently, holding the leaves, not the stem
4. Pop it in the hole, firm the soil around it, and water well
5. Space the plants about 15cm apart in the row, with rows 30cm apart

Top tips for growing french beans

• Choose a 'dwarf' variety for pots and small beds.

Soil and feeding

Any decent soil - they make their own food from the air!. Peas and beans take nitrogen from the air, so they don't need rich soil. Some compost in the planting trench helps hold water.

Pests and problems

• Slugs & snails: munch seedlings overnight, worst in wet weather
• Blackfly & greenfly: tiny bugs that crowd the tips and suck the sap
• Wood pigeons: strip the soft young leaves off peas, beans and cabbage-family plants

• Go on a slug hunt at dusk with a torch and move them far away
• Sink a jam jar into the soil with a little beer in it - slugs fall in
• Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle and pop it over each young plant, like a mini greenhouse

Harvesting and eating french beans

Pick them when they snap in half cleanly.

How to eat them: Steam for 3 minutes, or eat raw with dip.

Storing french beans

Keeps about 5 days.

• Keep in a bag in the fridge

Freeze well: top and tail, blanch them (dip in boiling water for 2 minutes, then straight into icy water - ask a grown-up to help), dry and bag. Keeps 12 months.

Good varieties of french beans

• Cobra: A climbing bean with loads of tender pods.
• Purple Teepee: Dwarf, with purple pods held above the leaves - they turn green when cooked!
• Safari: Thin, tender beans on a small bush.
• Borlotto: Speckled pink pods - dry the beans for winter.

Companion planting

Grows well with

• Sweetcorn: beans feed the soil that hungry sweetcorn needs
• Swiss chard: they share space well
• Nasturtiums: blackfly go for the nasturtiums instead
• French marigolds: keeps whitefly away
• Cosmos: brings hoverflies that eat blackfly

Keep away from

• Onions: onions can stunt beans
• Garlic: garlic can stunt beans
• Leeks: leeks can stunt beans
• Spring onions: the onion family can stunt beans
• Chives: the onion family can stunt beans

Saving your own french beans seed

Late summer, when the pods are dry and rattle.

1. Leave a few of the best pods on the plant - don't pick them
2. Wait until the pods turn brown and papery and you can hear the seeds rattle
3. Pick them on a dry day and pop the seeds out
4. Spread them on a plate indoors for 2 weeks to dry completely

Things to build for french beans

• Bean wigwam:
• A-frame bean row:
• Hoop tunnel cover:
• Cold frame:

Where to buy french beans seeds

Thompson & Morgan · Suttons · Amazon

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French beans questions

When should I sow french beans in the UK?

In the UK, sow french beans indoors from mid April to late May or outdoors from mid May to early July. These dates suit central England; sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland and up to two weeks earlier in the mild south and south west.

When do I plant out french beans?

Plant french beans out from late May to late June, once the last frost has passed.

When can I pick french beans?

French beans is ready from early July to late September. Pick them when they snap in half cleanly.

How long do french beans take to grow?

Roughly 10 weeks from sowing or planting until the first harvest.

Are french beans easy to grow?

French beans are rated 'easy peasy' for beginners, and can be grown in the ground or a raised bed or in pots and containers.