Which way up to plant runner beans
Runner Beans - Grow your own
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Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Runner beans.
- Getting Started
- Choosing
- Preparing the Ground
- Sowing
- Plant Care
- Pruning and Training
- Harvesting
- Problems
1
Getting Started
Getting Started
Choosing
Section 1 of 8
Runner beans are a veg plot staple – one of the easiest crops to grow, producing an abundance of long green pods from mid-summer to early autumn. Most are climbers, producing large harvests in a small area, with a few dwarf varieties, ideal for containers.
Easy to grow from seed and highly productive, runner beans are a great addition to any garden, large or small. Climbing varieties add vertical interest to veg plots, large containers or even borders, with their red, white or bi-coloured flowers, followed by clusters of long green beans.Give runner beans sun, rich soil and plenty of water – they particularly thrive in cool wet summers. Pick the pods regularly when young, tender and stringless, to keep the harvest coming through summer and into autumn.
Month by Month
Jobs to do now
- Prepare soil
- Prepare soil
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sow | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| Plant Out | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N |
| Harvest | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
2
Choosing
Getting Started
Preparing the Ground
Guide Start
Section 2 of 8
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 a few dwarf varieties (up to 45cm/18in tall) – these are quick to grow, but produce a smaller crop. They’re great in containers and raised beds, and in exposed sites. Climbing beans take more time to reach cropping stage, but produce beans over a longer period, from mid-summer to early autumn if picked regularly.
There are many varieties to choose from, with different pod sizes, flower colours (red, white or both), disease resistance and heat tolerance. 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.
What & where to buy
You can buy a wide choice of runner bean seeds in garden centres and from online retailers. Many also sell young plants in spring and early summer – ideal if you only want to grow a few or don’t have space indoors to grow them from seed yourself.
Recommended Varieties
Showing 3 out of 5 varieties
3
Preparing the Ground
Choosing
Sowing
Guide Start
Section 3 of 8
Runner beans like a sunny, sheltered position. Weed the ground thoroughly, then fork in lots of well-rotted manure or garden compost – at least two bucketfuls per square metre/yard. Ideally do this a few weeks ahead of sowing or planting out, to allow time for the ground to settle, or even better, the previous autumn if you’ve planned out your growing site early enough.A pH of 6.5 (slightly acid) is preferable for a good crop, so add lime if your soil is more acidic.
4
Sowing
Preparing the Ground
Plant Care
Guide Start
Section 4 of 8
Runner beans are tender plants that won’t survive frost, so for an early crop sow seeds indoors in late spring. Indoor sowing is also best in colder locations. Seeds can be sow outdoors from early to mid-summer, or you can buy young plants ready for planting out after the last frost.
Choose a sunny, sheltered location for your beans, and prepare the ground by adding organic matter and putting up supports before sowing outdoors or planting out. Putting up supports
Climbing beans need tall supports to twine up, which are best put in place before sowing or planting.
The traditional method is to grow them along a double row of bamboo canes, 2.5m (8ft) tall, with 45–60cm (18in–2ft) between the two rows. Space the canes 15–30cm (6–12in) apart within each row and slope them inwards, then tie each pair near the top to a horizontal cane, to form a sturdy A-frame. If growing more than one double row, allow at least 1.5m (5ft) between them.
If you don’t have room for a double row of canes, you can make a wigwam. Again, use 2.5m (8ft) canes, four or five per wigwam, spacing them 15–30cm (6–12in) apart at the base. Tie the tops of the canes together. Wigwams make an attractive feature in a border or patio container, as well as on the veg plot.
With dwarf beans, you can insert short twiggy sticks between the plants to keep them upright and lift the pods off the soil.
Sowing indoors
From mid-April to May, start runner beans off indoors on a sunny windowsill, in a propagator or in a greenhouse. This will give you an earlier crop than sowing outdoors.
Use small pots or trays of deep modules 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 moved outside once all risk of frost has passed, usually in late May or early June – see Planting out, below.
Related RHS Guides
Seed: sowing indoorsSowing outdoors – in the ground
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.
Before sowing, prepare your site well and put supports in place – see details above. If your soil is heavy and wet, warm the ground in early spring by covering with clear plastic or cloches for about four weeks ahead of sowing.
Then sow the large seeds individually 5cm (2in) deep – two at the base of each bamboo cane. Once they germinate, thin to one seedling per cane, and protect from slugs and snails.
When sowing dwarf runner beans, allow 30cm (1ft) between plants and 50cm (20in) between rows.
Related RHS Guides
Seed: sowing outdoorsSowing 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 cold frame or sheltered spot. Once the plants reach 8cm (3in) tall, in June or July, plant them into their final positions – see Planting out, below.
Alternatively, sow into a large container as their final growing site. For dwarf beans the container should be 30–45cm (12–18in) wide, and for climbing beans 75cm (30in) wide, 45cm (18in) deep and heavy enough to keep it from toppling over once the climbing beans are at the top of their supports.
For climbing beans, insert a wigwam of 2.5m (8ft) canes (see Putting up supports, above) before sowing.
Then simply sow the seeds into the container of potting compost, 5cm (2in) deep and 15cm (6in) apart. With climbing beans, you can sow two seeds at the base of each cane, then thin out to leave the strongest seedling.
Related RHS Guides
Vegetables in containersPlanting out
Wait until after the last frost before planting indoor-raised or bought young plants outside.
Harden off to acclimatise them to outdoor conditions for a couple of weeks, either by putting them in a cold frame or placing them in a warm, sheltered spot, covered with fleece.
Make sure your planting site is ready – see Preparing the ground and Putting up supports above.
If planting in a container, choose multi-purpose or loam-based compost. Containers should be at least 75cm (30in) wide and 45cm (18in) deep for climbing beans, and 30–45cm (12–18in) wide for dwarf beans.
Plant one climbing bean at the base of each bamboo cane and water well. Loosely tie the stems to the canes to get them started.
When planting dwarf beans, space plants 30cm (1ft) apart.
Related RHS Guides
Vegetables: transplanting5
Plant Care
Sowing
Pruning and Training
Guide Start
Section 5 of 8
Watering
Beans are thirsty plants and crop best when watered regularly, especially once they start to flower and form pods.
Regular and generous watering is particularly important for plants growing in containers, which dry out quickly. Mulching
Spread a mulch of well-rotted manure or mushroom compost around plants in July to help hold moisture in the soil.
Top tip
Why add mulch? An organic mulch, such as garden compost or well-rooted manure, is a great way to add nutrients and valuable micro-organisms to your soil. It also holds in moisture and deters weeds.
Weeding
Keep the growing site weed-free. Consider planting through weed-suppressing membrane – this reduces the need for weeding and prevents the pods of dwarf beans being damaged by contact with the soil.
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 -
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’
Related RHS Guides
Runner beans: failure to set pods6
Pruning and Training
Plant Care
Harvesting
Guide Start
Section 6 of 8
Once climbing beans reach the top of their supports, cut off any extra growth. This should encourage side-shoots lower down, keep the crop within reach and help to stop plants becoming top-heavy.
Tie in any stems that come loose from the canes.
7
Harvesting
Pruning and Training
Problems
Guide Start
Section 7 of 8
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, tender and stringless, 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.
8
Problems
Harvesting
Guide Start
Section 8 of 8
Runner beans are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, but they are tender, so must be kept indoors until after the last frost. If a late cold snap is forecast, cover your plants overnight with cloches or fleece.
Seedlings and young plants are vulnerable to slugs and snails. Keep watch, too, for black aphids on the shoot tips and under leaves – squash them or wash them off with a jet from the hose before they get established.
These large, vigorous plants also need plenty of moisture to crop well, so water them regularly, especially during dry spells. Hot weather can also hinder cropping.
Occasionally, fungal or bacterial diseases such as rust or halo blight can develop, while in warm, dry conditions red spider mites can cause problems.
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.
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How to Grow Runner Beans
Plant runner beans from late spring and these vegetables will thrive in the warm, moist soil and quickly twine up their supports.
At this time of year you can still sow seeds, which will produce a good harvest of succulent pods, or you can buy young plants. Either way, you’ll get a delicious crop that tastes much better that the out-of-season beans from supermarkets.
To get the best runner bean harvest, make sure you plant them in a sunny spot with moist, well-drained soil.
Runner beans are hungry plants, so grow them in a rich soil, incorporated with plenty of well-rotted compost or farmyard manure.
Related content:
- Runner beans – Grow Guide
- How to plant out French beans
- How to sow broad beans indoors
Follow our step-by-step guide to growing runner beans, below.
You Will Need
- Runner bean seeds or young plants
- Trowel
- Seed tray or small pots
- Multi-purpose, peat-free compost
Step 1
Sowing bean seeds in pots
If you’re growing runner beans from seed, sow a few extra as a back up in case some plants die.
Either sow these directly in the soil or into modular seed trays or pots of peat-free, multi-purpose compost to germinate indoors.
Step 2
Runner bean plants with roots exposed
Water the young plants regularly as they grow. They will be ready to plant out when the roots of the plants are well developed, but not pot-bound in the container. Before planting out, wait for all risk of frost to pass, and acclimatise them to outdoor temperatures for a week, by taking them out during the day and bringing them in again at night.
Step 3
Planting out runner beans
Water the plants thoroughly before planting out. Erect a wigwam of bamboo canes or sticks over well-prepared soil. Using a trowel, dig a hole at the base of each cane and set plants with the top of the root ball level with the surrounding soil. Fill around the roots with soil and firm the plant in, using your fingers.
Water the plants well before applying a 5cm-deep mulch of damp compost around the base of the plants to help conserve soil moisture.
Watering effectively
Make a shallow dent in the soil near the plants, fill it with water and it will soak down to their roots, rather than running off the soil surface.
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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 / YouTube This 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 / Shutterstock On 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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How to grow green beans - Summer advice
Green, French, asparagus, green beans ... as soon as our gardeners call these tender beans. Many of us adore this mega-healthy vegetable, grow it easily, naturally and with pleasure, managing to collect unprecedented harvests from several bushes. And someone does not give beans at all. It seems to be planted and watered, but as a result, disappointment: again something has grown that does not look a bit like green beans.
How to grow green beans without complaining about the harvest? We reveal all the secrets of growing truly wonderful pods!
String beans
String beans come in several varieties: green, yellow, purple, white with purple streaks, sometimes even with pink pods. But for us, gardeners, it is much more important that green beans are divided into curly and bush.
Both bush and climbing beans have their advantages and disadvantages. So, for example, bush beans are less thermophilic than curly beans, do not require support and, as a rule, give the crop together (it is harvested in 2-3 doses). But curly beans give more pods, due to constant growth, it grows up, so it can take free space between other plants, it can be planted along the fence (or instead of it) as a hedge.
We advise you to plant several plants of each type as a test in order to decide which one is easier for you to take care of, which one will be more productive, etc.
The only thing is that for the northern regions it is better to choose early-ripening varieties that begin to bear fruit two months after planting. Summer residents of the southern regions can afford late varieties.
Planting green beans
Green beans are a heat-loving crop, so they are planted quite late when the ground warms up well and frosts are no longer expected. Usually planting is done in late May - early June.
String bean is a thermophilic crop, so it is best grown in sandy soils. This is especially true of the northern regions, where in cold summers, green beans may not produce pods at all. So we add sand to the beds, place them in a well-heated place or build a warm bed for the beans.
String beans are a heat-loving crop, so a couple of weeks before planting, it is recommended to cover the bed with foil to warm the ground. If you want to plant your beans in a warm bed (which is exactly what you need), soak them with an EM solution and then cover with foil.
In well-warmed soil, beans will sprout earlier.
String bean seeds must be soaked before planting. At least - for two hours, as a maximum - before the appearance of seedlings. Beans planted with germinated seeds will sprout quickly and amicably.
The bed is laid out according to the scheme: 8-10 centimeters between bushes, 30-40 centimeters between rows. For curly beans, you can increase these distances and immediately put the supports. Green beans are planted two seeds in one hole, then to choose the strongest plant. The optimum sowing depth is 3 cm.
After planting, the bed is watered and mulched with humus, straw or grass. Do not be afraid to mulch the beans (many worry that the soil warms up more slowly under the mulch), we warmed up the bed well beforehand, and the mulch perfectly retains the moisture vital for seed germination. If you are not a fan of mulching, you need to ensure that the bed is always damp (but not overflowing).
In two weeks (maybe earlier) the first shoots of green beans will appear.
String bean care
String beans or green beans do not require special care. It is not even necessary to feed it, especially when grown in warm beds under organic mulch. The only thing that this plant desperately needs is heat. We repeat and remember once again: green beans are a thermophilic culture. It grows best at a temperature of + 20-25 ° C.
So, as the seedlings grow, we choose the strongest ones, and pinch their neighbors under the root (no need to pull out, why disturb the root system once again?). For those who do not want to mulch, it would be nice to spud the beans when the bushes grow up to ten centimeters in order to create all the conditions for the development of the roots.
In the future, we are required to provide the plants with moisture either through regular heavy watering, or through mulching and watering during especially hot periods. A couple of times during the season, you can water the beans with infusion of ash.
When the curly beans reach two meters in height, boldly pinch the top to stop the growth of the stem and direct all the juices to fruit set.
Harvest of green beans
Harvesting of green beans must never be delayed. As soon as the beans are finally formed and ripened in the pods, the bush will stop developing. When the plants are "sure" that they have produced seeds for procreation, they stop growing. Our task is to track the appearance of pods. Yeah, we started ... in a week we are harvesting the first crop. The more often you cut the pods, the more ovaries the bush will give out. Therefore, after 4-6 days, we again examine the plants - most likely, we again have something to collect.
By the way, the best time to harvest green beans is on a cool morning. This way the blades stay fresh longer. String beans are usually stored frozen. Immediately after harvest, the pods are cut into several pieces, placed in bags and placed in the freezer until winter.
