How to grow French Beans
in the UK

If you're after something proper easy to grow on the allotment, French beans are a cracking choice, especially if you're just starting out. They're dead productive, giving you loads of tasty pods all summer long, and they don't ask for much, you know.

Sowing

You can get started with French beans from May right through to July, once all danger of frost has passed, which is usually mid to late May up here in the North East, a bit earlier down south. I tend to sow them direct into the soil, about 5 cm deep, spacing them roughly 15-20 cm apart in rows. If you're keen, you can sow a few indoors in pots about 3 weeks before planting out, or just grab some plug plants from the garden centre, they're dead common. A succession of sowings every few weeks means a steady harvest.

Growing on

If you've sown indoors or bought plug plants, get them hardened off properly for a week or two before planting them out on the plot, after that last frost, mind. Space them out about 15-20 cm apart. If you've gone for a climbing variety, they'll need some support, like canes or netting, to scramble up. Bush varieties are a bit easier, they're fine on their own, even in a big pot on the patio.

Looking after it

French beans are pretty self-sufficient, to be honest. Just keep them well-watered, especially when they're flowering and forming pods, or they might just drop their flowers. They don't usually need much feeding if your soil's half decent. Planting them near sweetcorn or potatoes can apparently help them out too, like I say, good companions those.

What goes wrong

Slugs are the main culprits when the young plants are getting established, so keep an eye out and use your usual slug control methods. Aphids can sometimes be a bother too, particularly on the growing tips, but a good blast of water usually sorts them out, or just squish 'em with your fingers. Healthy plants are less prone to trouble.

Harvest

You're usually looking at about 60 days from sowing until you're picking your first beans, so July onwards. Pick them when they're young and tender, before the seeds start to swell too much. Keep picking regularly, every couple of days, and the plant will just keep on producing more for you. They're best eaten fresh, but if you get a proper glut, they blanch and freeze really well for later.