Focus on... French beans

Climbing or dwarf, flat or pencil shaped, French beans fill every plot with rainbow coloured crops. Lucy reveals how to make sure your pods have a bit of ooh-la-la

- Lucy Chamberlain

PICKED when young and tender, there are few crops finer than homegrown French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), available in both dwarf and climbing varieties. Given the right conditions and treatment they'll yield at an astounding rate, and now is a great time to sow them.

Being a tender annual, compost/soil temperatures at sowing are important; at least 10°C (50°F) is needed. For early crops (pods in late June), you could start sowing dwarf varieties in late March under glass, then transplant seedlings into growbags and slide them out in late May. But if soil is light and free-draining, and you live in the south, sow under rigid cloches now; wait until May in the north.

Choosing a sunny, sheltered spot is important for these early crops. Come June, we can all sow outside, setting seeds 112-2in (4-5cm) deep into a free-draining soil in full sun. Work in a little superphosphate if you can, avoid very windy spots, and protect seedlings from slugs. Climbers yield continually from one sowing, whereas dwarf varieties produce pods in flushes and often benefit from early and late sowings, with the latest in July.

French bean flowers are self-pollinating, so early undercover crops don't need to be accessible to bees. This trait also makes seed-saving easy.

Pick pods every day

French beans are annuals, and so the flowering rate slows a lot once seeds start being produced. Picking pods while they are young and 'beanless' ensures massive yields, so do this daily in high summer. Spacing and watering also impact the crop - so leave 8in (20cm) between plants and cultivate sizable plants with strong root systems to boost flowering. Water well during flowering and pod production to maximize yields.