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Three little pleasures in life

• one spring afternoon, sitting in my allotment, watching Joe (not his real name) working hard at preparing a bed; carting manure, digging, building a superb bed for his runner beans.
• sitting in my allotment on an afternoon in early summer, watching Joe, again.   He's been scrabbling around in the scrub at the end of the site for hours.   He's frustrated and the language drifting over shows it.   He's found four long poles for his runner beans, but he needs two more.   He's been round asking everybody if they have any to spare, and they don't.   It's taken a week to find all 6 poles, long and straight enough to build a wigwam, and now he's got to tie his sprawling plants in.
• having a chat with Joe, several weeks later - he's bemoaning the fact that his recent picking of runner beans were so stringy that his kids wouldn't eat them on Sunday.   "After all that effort .  .  .  "

And a fourth pleasure?   Growing French beans - easier to grow, better in the kitchen.   I have thought about turning the tables one year - Joe's keen to try the French Beans (great crop, for little effort), while I would struggle with Runner Beans; but I've never got round to it.   Life's too short!

Growing French Beans

• French Beans will grow in almost any soil - best of all in a sunny bed, not exposed to high winds, well-dug and manured the previous autumn.   I add a good load of compost to the bed a couple of weeks before sowing.
• Choose your varieties; I choose bush types - the yield per plant is smaller, but they don't need any support.   I usually choose three varieties -
  • a dwarf French such as Slenderette or Aramis;
  • a dual purpose bean -which can be used as slim, tender, tasty haricots verts; and if left a bit too long, can be used as flageolets (green beans out of their pods); and if left to mature, can be hung up to dry, and give me dried beans for the winter; probably Brown Dutch next year;
  • and one for fun - a yellow waxpod type (supposed to have outstanding flavour), or a purple one, or a red spotted borlotti.
• I sow my seeds about 9 inches apart each way, in blocks the width of my beds - this helps the plants pollinate themselves.   A better yield than growing in rows.
• Don't start them too early - if the soil is cold or wet, the seeds will rot, and the young plants are susceptible to frost damage.   I usually wait until around mid-May; if I wanted an earlier crop, I'd sow in pots indoors in April, and transplant in May.   I usually make a couple of sowings again at three-week intervals - it means that I don't have one huge glut to freeze at once, just three smaller gluts!
• And immediately string garden twine along and across the bed - birds love these beans as much as peas.   Slugs are also very partial to French Beans - if you have a lot on your plot, it's worth a few midnight trips, slug traps, or slug-busting bran.
• If the weather turns dry at or after the flowering period, these beans will need lots of water regularly to ensure a good long harvesting period.
• Harvesting - don't let the pods mature too far.   As soon as they snap easily, and before the beans bulge in the pod, start picking - and pick regularly to prevent pods maturing.
• Alternatively, let some of the pods mature for a harvest of dried beans.
• If you sow indoors in April, or under cloches, you can start picking in June.   Otherwise, expect a crop late July through to September.

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Storing and Uses

French Beans freeze very successfully.   Slice them, blanch them briefly in boiling water, and freeze (as fast as you can) on trays; store in freezer bags.

Mature French Bean plants can also be hung up in bunches to dry, until the pods are black and beginning to "pop" - shell the beans, and store in an air-tight jar.

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