Climbing French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), or, not all French beans are green

Climbing French beans are a staple for us during the summer months. We never tire of them, and freeze any excess to eat later on in the year. 

(One Borlotto, give it to me....)

We pick the pods whilst young and tender, the more you pick the more the plants produce, before finally exhausting themselves come autumn. We sow the seeds two to a three inch pot around about late April in the greenhouse. You can wait and sow directly into the soil in mid May, but we have found that in wet springs the young seedlings become easy prey for slugs and snails. 

Beans like rich moisture retentive soil, so before planting out we dig in plenty of garden compost where they are to be planted out. The plants are hardened off in a cold frame before planting out in mid to late May. Any earlier and we risk the chance of damage from a late frost. 

The beans of course need something to climb up, which in this garden is bamboo canes - either in wigwams or double rows, depending on how the mood takes us. When the bean supports go in, summer has well and truly arrived. 

(Sunshine, my only sunshine...)

We plant the contents of each pot on the inside of each cane, giving each plant a good watering in. They will also need tying to the canes for the first foot or so with soft twine and after that they climb themselves skyward. 

(My editor/daughter could not think of a song relating to Violet, other than Courtney Love's song. I had to draw a line)

Some French beans have the added advantage of coloured pods, which not only make them attractive against the green foliage, it makes them a damn sight easier to pick! We grow 'Sunshine' which has yellow pods, 'Violet Podded' which has blue/purple pods and 'Borlotto lingua di fuoco' which produce mottled red pods, and beans that can be dried and used later in stews and casseroles. 

Any beans that get missed amongst the foliage and become too stringy to eat are kept overwinter and dried, to be sown next year - which is a good way of reducing your seed bill. 

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