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Plant runner beans
Now that the weather has warmed up, it's the perfect time to plant out your runner beans. It's not too late to sow some – you can do it until the end of June and still get a good crop.
Runner beans do not like cold, damp weather and will be set back or even killed by late frosts. Planting too early in the season often ends in failure so it’s much better to wait until the weather is warmer and the danger of frost has passed.
When the ground is warm and moist, runner beans will grow fast and quickly catch up and overtake struggling plants that were planted when
the weather wasn’t
really suitable.
If you haven’t sown yet, don’t worry as you can sow as late as the end of June and still get a good crop. In fact, some growers make several sowings from May onwards to extend the cropping season.
In very hot summers, the best beans are often produced early in the season and early autumn when the weather isn’t as hot and the humidity levels are higher. A late June sowing will produce a crop of young tender beans from late August onwards.
If you have already started your beans off from seed in pots or cell trays, now is the perfect time to plant out into the garden.
I grow mine up wigwams of bamboo canes, but they can also be grown on a single or double row of canes. As well as the climbing types, dwarf bushy varieties can be grown in the garden or containers.
Once planted, runner beans should be watered to help their roots establish. Pot grown beans will need to be kept constantly moist at all times.
Step one
To make a wigwam with garden canes, insert six or eight canes into the ground in a circular shape and pull and tie the tops of the canes together. Then plant one bean plant at the base of each cane. Click on image to enlarge
Step two
'Hestia’ is an ideal choice of dwarf runner bean for pots. Use multi-purpose compost and plant the beans about 15cm (6 in) apart. Click on image to enlarge
