Time to plant tender beans

Time to plant tender beans Half-hardy varieties can be planted out now, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

YOU know that summer is here when gardens and allotments start filling up with teepees of French and runner beans.

Half-hardy plants, they are started undercover, then hardened off and planted out when nighttime temperatures are reliably above zero and the weather is more settled.

We have grown ‘Lady Di’ runner beans, which crop heavily, and are full of flavour and stringless, and ‘Cobra’ French beans that have mauve flowers that turn into tasty stringless pods.

We are growing them in raised beds in a sunny, sheltered area of garden, and I supplemented the beds’ soil and compost with chicken manure pellets before planting.

Beans need sun and fertile soil that is free draining yet also moisture retentive. Grow them up tall canes – I find that teepees are the most space efficient – and give them plenty of water, with added liquid tomato feed when they start to flower.