Planting runner bean seeds
Runner Beans - Growing your own / RHS Gardening
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Runner beans are a delicious veg plot staple – they’re one of the easiest crops to grow and produce an abundance of long green pods over several months. Most varieties are climbers, grown up tall canes, producing large harvests in a small area. A few dwarf varieties are also available, ideal for large containers. Pick when young, for tasty stringless beans.
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| October | November | December |
| Harvest |
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Sow
Runner beans are tender plants that won’t survive frost, so for an early crop sow indoors in late spring. You can also sow outdoors in early summer. Alternatively, young plants can be bought from garden centres and online suppliers in spring, ready for planting outside.
Most runner beans are climbers – they need tall, sturdy supports and do best in the ground, but can also be grown in large containers. As they grow vertically, climbers produce a large crop in a small area of ground. There are also some dwarf varieties – these are quick to grow, but produce a smaller crop. They are useful for raised beds and containers, and for gardens in exposed sites. Climbing beans take longer to reach cropping stage, but produce beans over a longer period, from mid-summer to early autumn if picked regularly.
Runner beans are attractive as well as productive, with red, white or bi-coloured flowers, depending on the variety.
You’ll find a huge range of varieties available as seed in garden centres and online. Look in particular for varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which shows they performed well in trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg.
Sow indoors
If you have space, start runner beans off indoors – on a sunny windowsill, in a propagator or in a greenhouse – from mid-April to May. This will give you an earlier crop. Choose pots 7–8cm (2.5–3in) wide and fill with moist multi-purpose compost. Sow one bean into the centre, 5cm (2in) deep, and water well.
Keep in a warm, bright place, at over 12°C (54°F). Seedlings will grow rapidly and need watering regularly.
The young plants can be transplanted outside once all risk of frost has passed, usually in late May/early June – see Plant outside, below.
Sow outdoors – in containers
You can sow seeds outdoors into pots of multi-purpose compost in spring – either into small pots for transplanting into the ground later, or into large containers as their final growing site.
Sow one bean per small pot, 5cm (2in) deep, and place in a coldframe or sheltered position. Once the plants reach 8cm (3in) tall, in June or July, plant them into their final positions – see Plant outside, below.
Alternatively, sow into large containers, positioned in a sheltered, sunny spot, as their final growing site. For dwarf beans the container should be 30–45cm (12–18in) wide, and for climbing beans 75cm (30in) wide and 45cm (18in) deep – a large tub or half-barrel is ideal.
Simply sow the seeds direct into the container, spacing them 15cm (6in) apart. Insert a wigwam of 1.8m (6ft) canes to support climbing varieties (see Grow below), and choose a heavy container to keep it from toppling over. Dwarf beans don’t usually need support and look great cascading over the sides.
Sow outdoors – in the ground
Runner beans thrive in rich, deep, fertile soil in full sun. If possible, it’s best to improve the soil with organic matter the autumn before sowing. Alternatively, it can be done a couple of weeks beforehand, to give time for the ground to settle. A pH of 6.5 (slightly acid) is preferable – add lime if your soil is more acidic.
Seeds need warm conditions to germinate, so wait until all risk of frost has passed and your soil has reached 12°C (54°F) – usually by mid-May in the south of the UK, and two weeks later in the north.
If your soil is heavy and wet, it can be pre-warmed in early spring by covering it with clear plastic or cloches for about four weeks before sowing.
It’s also best to put the supports in place first – usually tall bamboo canes in a wigwam or double row (see Grow below).
Sow the large seeds individually 5cm (2in) deep – two at the base of each cane, which should be spaced 15cm (6in) apart. Thin to one seedling per cane, and protect plants from slugs and snails.
When sowing dwarf runner beans in the ground, allow 30cm (1ft) between plants and 50cm (20in) between rows.
If you sow one batch early (indoors in April/May), you can also sow a later batch outdoors in July, to prolong your harvests, allowing you to gather beans until the first frosts.
Plant outside
Wait until after the last frost before planting indoor-raised or bought young plants outside. Then harden them off to acclimatise them to outdoor conditions for a couple of weeks, either by putting them in a coldframe or placing them in a warm, sheltered spot, covered with fleece.
If planting in the ground, enrich the soil with well-rotted manure or garden compost – ideally at least two weeks before planting, to give the ground time to settle. Even better, do it the autumn before planting. When growing in rows, the traditional method for preparing the soil is to dig a bean trench:
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Mark out a line, then dig a trench 90cm (3ft) wide and 60cm (2ft) deep. Loosen the soil in the base by forking it over
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Scatter well-rotted manure or home-made garden compost in the base of the trench and mix with the soil from the trench. Return the improved soil to the trench
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Add pelleted poultry manure at the manufacturer’s recommended rate
With climbing beans, it’s also best to put the supports in place before planting – see Grow, below.
Once your bean plants are hardened off, plant them into their final growing position, in the ground or in a large container, in a sunny, sheltered spot.
Water the plants well, both before and after planting.
Plant one climbing bean plant at the base of each cane, and loosely tie their stems to the canes to get them started. When planting dwarf beans, space them 30cm (1ft) apart.
If planting in a container, choose multi-purpose or loam-based compost. Containers should be at least 30–45cm (12–18in) wide for dwarf beans, and 75cm (30in) wide and 45cm (18in) deep for climbing beans.
Grow
Supporting runner beans
Runner beans need tall, sturdy supports to climb up. The traditional method is to grow them up a double row of bamboo canes (1.8m/6ft tall), with 45–60cm (18in–2ft) between the two rows. Space the canes 15cm (6in) apart within each row and slope them inwards, then tie near the top to a horizontal cane, to form a sturdy A-frame. If growing more than one double row, allow 1.5m (5ft) between them.
Alternatively, create an X-frame by sloping the canes at a sharper angle so they cross in the middle.
Tie them at the centre, and add a horizontal cane to link them all together and increase stability. An X-frame takes up more space, but picking is easier and cropping is usually better.
If you don’t have room for a double row of canes, you can make wigwams. Again, use 1.8m (6ft) canes, four or five per wigwam, spacing them 15cm (6in) apart at the base. Tie the tops of the canes together – or use cane support rings or ceramic finials to hold the canes together. Wigwams make an attractive feature in a border or veg plot and also work well when growing in containers.
Loosely tie young plants to the canes to get them started – after that they will climb naturally. Remove the growing point once the plants reach the top of their support. This encourages side-shoots and prevents plants becoming top-heavy.
Another support option is to use 10cm (4in) polyethylene pea/bean netting, secured to tall posts or placed over a frame.
Dwarf beans don’t usually need support, although you can insert short twiggy sticks between them to keep them upright and lift the beans off the ground.
Watering and mulching
Runner beans are thirsty plants and crop best when watered regularly, especially once they start to flower and form pods. You will typically need to apply 5–9 litres (1–2 gallons) of water per square metre/yard every three to four days. Regular and generous watering is particularly important for plants growing in containers, which dry out more quickly.
Spread a thick mulch of well-rotted manure or mushroom compost over the soil in July to help hold in moisture.
Encouraging pods to form
Runner bean flowers sometimes fail to ‘set’ (produce pods) – there are several possible causes and solutions:
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Ensure the soil is constantly moist and doesn’t dry out. Add mulch after planting and water regularly and generously, ideally in the evenings.
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Flower set is better in alkaline, chalky soil. If your soil is neutral or acidic, try applying lime.
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If this is a recurring problem and you live in a mild area, try growing varieties with some French bean parentage, which set pods more easily in warmer summers.
Examples include ‘Firestorm’ and ‘Moonlight’.
More on problems with runner bean flower set
Harvesting
Cropping starts around mid-summer, depending on the variety and when the seeds were sown, and continues for eight weeks or more if harvested regularly.Pick pods when young and tender, about 15–20cm (6–8in) long. The pods should snap easily and the beans inside should still be small and pale in colour.
Regular harvesting – ideally every two to three days – is essential to prevent any pods reaching maturity. Once this happens, plants will stop flowering and no more pods will form.
Recommended Varieties
Common problems
Runner beans are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. However, a few pests and diseases can be problematic, one of the most common being black bean aphids. Young plants also need protection from slugs and snails.
Occasionally, fungal or bacterial diseases such as rust or halo blight can develop, while in warm, dry conditions red spider mites may get established.
The southern green shield bug is a relatively new pest found on runner beans and – although only in certain locations at present – is more serious than our native shield bugs, which do negligible harm to runner beans.
Black bean aphid
Sap-sucking aphids will disfigure plants and cause stunting to leaves and stems.
Remedy
In the case of broad beans, pinch out infested tips. On other beans, catch populations when small and squash.
Slugs and snails
These feed on the young seedlings and you'll see the tell tale slime trail on the soil around your crop, as well as on the leaves.
Remedy
There are many ways to control slugs and snails, including beer traps, sawdust or eggshell barriers, copper tape and biocontrols.
No/ very few beans
This is one of the most common problems of bean growing and is usually caused by lack of moisture and/or poor pollination by insects.
Remedy
Plant or sow beans into soil that has had plenty of organic matter, such as well-rotted manure added the previous autumn, as this will aid moisture and nutrient retention around the roots.
Plant in a sheltered site as this will encourage bees to visit and pollinate the plants.
Rust
A common fungal disease of many plants that can be recognised by orange, yellow or black spots or blisters that form on leaves, along with pale and distorted stems. Leaves can fall and in severe cases, plants will eventually die.
Remedy
Dig up badly infected plants and dispose of to prevent the spores spreading to other plants. Carefully check plants before buying to ensure they are healthy and show no signs of disease.
Recipes
Nigel Slater recommends serving runner beans with lemon and garlic crumbs, as a lovely side dish for grilled fish.
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How to grow Runner Beans
There's nothing better than freshly harvested runner beans
Image: Runner Bean 'Polestar' from Thompson & Morgan
For many gardeners, the summer just isn't complete without a delicious harvest of tender runner beans.
They’re such a productive crop and, because they germinate and grow quickly, runner bean seeds are a wonderful vegetable to sow with children. Here’s all the information you need to grow runner beans at home, at the allotment or even in containers on a balcony!
Where to grow runner beans
Runner beans thrive in containers and grow bags
Image: Runner Bean 'Firestorm' from Thompson & Morgan
Don't be put off if your plot is tiny. Because they’re climbers, runner beans are the perfect space-saving crop and grow equally vigorously whether you plant them into the ground or into large patio pots. In fact, with their ornamental, heart-shaped leaves and pretty, nectar-rich blooms, they even look perfectly at home in a flower border.
Grow runner beans in a sunny or semi-shaded spot with shelter from strong winds. Though they’re happy in any fertile, well-drained soil, it's a good idea to prepare the site for your beans a little while in advance, digging some compost or well-rotted manure into the soil during the spring and leaving it to stand for a few weeks.
If you fertilise the ground immediately before planting, you’ll encourage lots of foliage to grow at the expense of beans.
How to sow runner beans indoors
Start your runner beans off indoors in April, but don't plant outside until the end of May
Image: Dean Clarke/Shutterstock
If you prefer to start your runner beans off indoors, sow the seeds in April. Just fill a small pot with seed compost and make a hole of about 5cm (2") deep. Drop in a runner bean seed before backfilling the hole with compost and watering it in. The seeds germinate in about a week and grow surprisingly quickly.
You’ll need to harden your plants off for 7 to 10 days before transplanting them outdoors. Before planting out, check your bean plants are fully rooted into their pots, and do keep a close eye on the weather to ensure that all risk of frost has passed. In most parts of the UK, this will be from around the end of May.
How to direct sow runner beans outdoors
For small gardens, there's even dwarf runner bean varieties that can be grown in containers
Image: Runner Bean 'Hestia' (Dwarf) from Thompson & Morgan
Sow runner beans directly into the ground from May to July.
Sow them at a depth of 5cm (2") at 30cm (12") intervals in rows 45cm (18") apart. If space is limited, try growing your runner beans in containers or against a wigwam structure made from canes; this also makes an eye-catching feature for your flower borders.
It's a good idea to sow a few extra seeds at the end of each row, so you’ll have spare plants to fill any gaps where seeds fail to germinate. If these plants aren't needed you can always give them to your friends.
How to support runner beans
Runner beans' stems naturally twine around their supporting structure as they grow
Image: Runner Bean 'Lady Di' from Thompson & Morgan
The most commonly used runner bean support is a cane A-frame which spans two adjacent rows of beans. Insert a tall garden cane next to each seedling and, using garden twine, tie the top of each cane to the one opposite to create a tunnel. A supporting cane secured along the top of the framework helps to hold the structure rigid.
The beans will naturally twine their stems around the canes as they grow.
When growing runner beans in containers, a wigwam framework is preferable. This is simply three or four garden canes, pushed into the soil around the edge of the pot and tied together at the top. If you’re growing runner beans against walls and fences, try using a piece of plastic horticultural mesh which creates a perfectly adequate support for the plants to scale.
How to feed and care for runner beans
To get a good crop of beans, make sure you water and feed your runners regularly
Image: Runner Bean 'Scarlet Emperor' from Thompson & Morgan
Throughout the growing season you’ll need to water your beans regularly, particularly as they start to develop flowers. A lack of moisture is one of the main reasons why runner bean flowers can fail to set pods. A liquid feed applied every 14 days will also help to maximise your crop.
Pinch out the growing tips of the plants once the stems reach the top of their canes.
This diverts their energy into producing beans rather than growing tall.
When to harvest runner beans
Harvest your runner beans once the pods reach around 20cm long
Image: Runner Bean 'St George' from Thompson & Morgan
Runner beans are usually ready to harvest in July, when the pods reach about 20cm (8") long. Avoid leaving the beans on the plant for too long or they’ll turn stringy. Ideally, you should pick beans every day or two to ensure optimum tenderness and remember, the more you pick, the more pods your plants will produce. Don't worry if you end up with a glut of runner beans, simply freeze them down to enjoy later in the year.
Why do my runner beans fail to set pods?
Use CDs as a homemade bird scarer to protect your crops
Image: Christopher Kissling/Shutterstock
Runner beans grow particularly well in the UK and serious problems are rare. Nonetheless, gardeners do sometimes find that their plants fail to set pods, particularly early on in the season.
Here are some of the most common reasons that this might happen:
- The temperature is very high and there’s insufficient moisture at the roots during the critical watering period (when flowers and pods appear). Regular watering and mulching with organic matter helps to alleviate this problem.
- When night temperatures are particularly high, this can negatively affect the production of pollen, causing a reduction in the number of pods that are set. As temperatures cool, this problem normally resolves itself.
- Acid soils and very poor soils may also reduce crop production so it’s well worth taking the time to prepare the soil properly before planting runner beans.
- In very cold and wet summers there’s sometimes a lack of pollinating insects. This usually improves with a change in weather conditions.
- Birds can sometimes peck at flowers and damage them. If this is an issue, try hanging bird scarers made from tin foil or old CDs among your canes.
- Do keep picking your runner beans, even if you have too many and your freezer is full of them! Irregular picking slows the production of new pods.
Watch our 'How to grow runner beans video' for a full run-down
Best varieties of runner bean
There are plenty of different runner beans to choose from and there’s something to suit almost every need. Take a look at the table below to find some of our favourite runner bean varieties for sale online.
To learn how to grow other varieties of pea and bean seeds, head to our pea and bean hub page where you'll find our best guides and tips.
How to plant and care for green beans to get a rich harvest
June 19, 2022 Likbez Adviсe
Lifehacker's simple tips will help you grow an edible hedge.
When to plant green beans
This plant loves heat, so the soil should warm up to 12–15 °C, and the air should warm up to 15–17 °C. Sowing beans in the ground before the second half of May does not make sense: the seeds will simply sit in the ground and wait for suitable conditions for growth. However, you can harvest a good harvest, and if you plant a vegetable even in July.
How to choose green bean seeds
Bush beans grow compactly and do not require support, unlike climbing beans. The lashes of the latter are capable of becoming a dense hedge. Due to the size of the plant, the climbing crop will be much larger than the bush.
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String beans. Frame: In the countryside and in the city Tatyana Malyuga / YouTube
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Curly green beans. Frame: Garden soul / YouTube
Beans ripen from 50 to 100 days from the moment of germination. Early varieties are ready for harvesting in 1.
5–2 months, late varieties in 3–4.
Pods may vary in length and color. They are white, yellow, green and dark purple.
How to prepare a bed for growing green beans
Find a sunny and wind-sheltered spot. A place along a fence or fence is perfect - in the future they will become support for climbing beans, and you do not have to make special supports.
2 weeks before sowing, apply 1 tablespoon of superphosphate and azofoska, 3 kg of compost and 1 cup of wood ash to each square meter of bed. Dig up the soil onto the bayonet of a shovel and level the surface with a rake.
How to plant green beans
Sowing this vegetable is not difficult.
Soak the seeds
To speed up germination and disinfect the seeds, place them in a solution of potassium permanganate - you need to take 0.5 g of the product per 100 ml of warm water. After a day, discard the floating beans: they are dry or empty inside. Those that remain at the bottom are ready for sowing.
Make holes
A depth of 4-5 cm is enough. For climbing beans, make holes at a distance of 60 cm, for bush beans - 40 cm. If you are sowing in several rows, the distance between them should be 20-30 cm.
Plant beans
Image: GardenGuide / YouTubePour plenty of water over the holes and wait until it is absorbed. Put two beans in each and cover them with soil.
Place a support
If you have planted the beans along a fence or other structure that they will climb over, skip this step. The bush form does not need support at all.
In other cases, it is enough to drive in two pegs at least 2 m high along the edges of the row and stretch the net between them. You can buy a special one for climbing plants, or use building grates made of metal and plastic.
Photo: Berna Namoglu / ShutterstockAnother way is to drive sticks at least 2 m high near each hole and wrap beans around them in the future.
Wait for germination
Seeds may take 1-2 weeks to germinate.
The warmer the soil and air, the faster shoots will appear. If two beans hatch at once from the hole, carefully pull out the weaker sprout.
How to care for green beans
Just a few steps to a great harvest.
Mulch beds
Frame: Alenin's garden / YouTubeThis will protect the soil from drying out and hold back the growth of weeds. Pour peat, sawdust or straw around the bushes with a layer of 5–10 cm. Freshly cut grass is also suitable, which during the composting process will generate heat and additionally warm the soil. But you need to be more careful with it: when mulching, step back 3-5 cm from the stem of the plant, otherwise the rotting mass can burn it.
Water the beans
The soil in the garden should always be moderately moist, so water the plants under the root as needed. One bush needs 1-2 liters of water, and as soon as the fruits begin to set, the rate can be increased to 3 liters.
Feed the beans
Only do this once when the buds start to form.
For each square meter of beds, take 15 g of superphosphate and 50 g of wood ash. Sprinkle fertilizer around the plants, gently loosen the soil, and water the beans.
Weed the beds
Do this regularly. Weeds develop very quickly and in the process of growth they take nutrients from the soil.
When and how to harvest green beans
Photo: DGSHUT / ShutterstockOn average, pods mature in 10 days from the moment they are set. Depending on the variety, the fruits reach 10–20 cm, and remain flexible and elastic to the touch. Harvest every 2 days, otherwise overripe beans will start to burst right on the bushes and lose grains.
Collecting the pods is easy: pinch them off while holding the stem, or better yet, cut them off with scissors or secateurs.
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Growing green beans.
Planting, garter, harvest
Who is used to calling such beans - string, asparagus, green. You will not find it in every garden, although it is very tasty and healthy, besides, the bean plant saturates the soil with nitrogen. That is why everything that is planted in the place where the beans grew grows well.
This plant is quite unpretentious, grows well on any soil. You only need to meet 2 conditions: provide her with one of the sunniest places on the site and water it in a timely manner. If you have only a shaded place left for the beans, then at least make the bed higher so that there is no stagnation of moisture.
Naturally, any plant grows better on fertile soils and beans are no exception, but this is not critical. The only top dressing we use for beans is ash infusion.
Planting beans is carried out in the same way as beans or peas. That is, you can use dry seeds, or you can pre-soak them or even germinate them.
To do this, the seeds are poured with warm water (25-30 degrees) for several hours and then planted in the garden.
Make furrows at a distance of about 30 cm from each other. The seeding depth is 2-4 cm. The distance in the row between plants is about 15-20 cm. Until sprouts appear, the bed must be kept moist. You can even cover it with foil.
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Growing bean seedlings
To get a harvest a little earlier, it is necessary to grow seedlings. Planting for seedlings begins a month before planting in the ground, that is, for the middle lane this is the end of April. Bean seeds are pre-soaked for several hours or a day. During the day, sprouts are usually already visible and bad seeds can be easily rejected. Beans are planted in separate cups, deepening into the ground by 2-3 cm. That is, timely watering and a well-lit place.
Seedlings are planted in the ground when the temperature is above zero both day and night, usually this is the beginning of June.
String beans grow best when the soil is warm, so take your time to mulch the plants.
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Ways of growing green beans
There are 2 types of green beans: bush and climbing. Bush beans are easier to grow, they are undersized, usually a bush 30-40 cm high. They are planted both on separate beds and among other crops. Very often you can see bean bushes among potato plantings, and even more often along the perimeter of a potato field.
Curly beans are another matter. For it, it is necessary to build supports along which it will grow upwards. Usually these are trellises, as for cucumbers, or all kinds of tall structures such as a hut, pyramids, etc. Some gardeners grow curly green beans along a grid, for which it clings to itself and stretches up. Curly beans tie pods along their entire height (and this is more than 2 meters), so its yield is higher.
String beans begin to bear fruit 2 months after germination.
Both beans are harvested not at once, but as the pods grow, that is, several times during the summer.
They are removed in milky ripeness, when the formed grains are still invisible in the pods. At this stage, green beans are tastiest and tender, with no coarse fibers. A variety of main dishes, salads are prepared with it, and they are also preserved for the winter. Many people prefer to freeze beans for the winter, for this they usually cut the pods into 3-4 parts and arrange them in portions in bags. Currently, frozen green beans are sold in any supermarket, but their own is much tastier and more tender.
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String bean seeds
For seeds, a plant is usually left, from which the pods are not removed. The pods fully mature on the bush. Then you can collect these pods and dry them and store them in a linen bag, or you can cut the whole plant and hang it somewhere in the barn.
Why cut the plant instead of uprooting it? It is important! On the roots of beans (as well as other legumes) a special type of beneficial nodule bacteria is formed that can saturate the soil with nitrogen taken from the air.
Under good conditions, up to 700 nodules are formed on the roots of 1 plant! As a result, enriched soil remains after harvesting the beans. And the roots and residue of the plant remaining in the soil will be food for earthworms.
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Varieties of string beans
There are varieties in which only tender shoulder blades (pods) are used for food, as well as shelling varieties, in which only grains from the pods are used as food.
The most popular varieties are Saksa 615, Zolotaya Gora, Triumph Sakharny, Dialogue, Vestochka, Sakharnaya 116.
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Bush, asparagus and curly beans on video
If you grow green beans, please write which varieties you like. How many beans do you grow? What dishes do you cook from it? If possible, attach a photo of your landings.
