Growing Beans: Tips and Tricks

Types of Beans and Their Characteristics

Beans, glorious beans! Beans come in several varieties, each with its own unique characteristics:

• Shelling beans: Harvested for their seeds. They can be eaten dried or fresh, depending on the variety.
• String beans and stringless varieties offer a tender texture without the hassle of unpleasant strings.
• Snap beans: The entire pod is edible, making them a popular choice for their ease of preparation.
• Spanish beans: Known for their large pods and their beautiful flowers, they can be used as shelling or green beans.
• Dwarf beans and pole beans: Distinguished by their growth habit—dwarf varieties are more compact, while pole beans require support to climb.

Where to sow beans?

Choose a sunny spot, but not scorching and sheltered from the wind. Undemanding, beans adapt to all soils, even average ones, but prefer light, fertile, slightly acidic and well-drained soil. Avoid overly wet or rich soils, which would encourage foliage growth at the expense of the pods.

When to sow beans?

Sowing beans is done directly in the ground after the last frosts, from May to mid-August, in warmed soil, starting from April in southern regions or from May further north. Sensitive to cold, they require the soil to have reached at least 15°C before sowing. Under cloches or in a polytunnel, bean sowing can begin as early as mid-March.

How to sow beans?

To prepare the soil for sowing, start by loosening the ground without turning it over, using a broadfork or a digging fork. Then remove weeds manually or with a rake and level the surface of the bed. You should have previously enriched the soil with well-rotted compost or manure. Its large seeds can be sown directly in the ground, in rows or in clusters.

Direct sowing in open ground

• The day before sowing, soak the bean seeds in lukewarm water to facilitate germination.
• Draw furrows 3 to 4 cm deep, spacing them 40 cm apart for dwarf varieties and 70 cm for those requiring supports.
• Water generously along the furrows with a watering can.
• Sow the seeds in rows, spacing them 5 to 7 cm apart, or in clusters of 4 to 5 seeds at 40 cm intervals.
• Cover the seeds with soil and use the back of a rake to lightly firm the surface.
• After germination, resume regular watering.

Sowing under cloches

Ensure the soil temperature is at least 15°C, necessary for bean development, as this vegetable is sensitive to cold. Position your cloches so they face south or west to maximise sunlight exposure. Ventilate the cloches during the warmest hours of the day to promote good air circulation, while being careful not to remove the protection until the risk of frost has completely passed.

Caring for Beans for a Bountiful Harvest

Watering

Beans require no special care apart from occasional watering during dry spells. Water at the base of the plants using a watering can.

Hoeing and Weeding

It’s beneficial to earth up the plants from the stage of the first two leaves. A shallow furrow can be formed along the ridging line to facilitate and conserve watering, which is best done with a watering can. Once the plants are well established, we recommend mulching the soil. If you leave the soil bare, you’ll need to carry out regular hoeing and weeding to prevent the appearance of weeds.

Staking Climbing Beans

Climbing or pole beans such as ‘Phénomène’ or ‘Melissa’ require supports: these can consist of stakes 2 to 3 metres high, trellis netting, a tepee structure, or even maize plants to which they will cling as they grow. Any tall structure can serve as a support for these beans, making their cultivation both practical and visually appealing.

To learn more about staking techniques, consult our advice sheet.

When and how to harvest beans?

Harvesting

The first harvests take place approximately 60 days after sowing and continue until the end of October. Don’t hesitate to stagger your bean sowings every 15 days for a continuous harvest until late autumn. Harvesting is done every 2 or 3 days for fine or extra-fine green beans (at the young or very young stage), simply by detaching the pods. For fresh beans, harvest should take place when the pods are firm and well-formed, before they become fibrous and start to dry out. For shelling beans, wait until the seeds are fully formed and the pods have become brittle. For dried beans, harvest by cutting the entire plant and hanging it in a dry, well-ventilated area.

Storage Tips

For beans intended for dry storage, allow them to dry completely in the open air or in a well-ventilated area before storing. Place the beans in airtight containers, such as glass jars or zip-lock plastic bags, to protect them from moisture and pests.

• For fresh beans, store them in the refrigerator where they will keep for about a week. They can also be blanched (briefly immersed in boiling water then quickly cooled) before freezing, which helps preserve their texture and flavour for long-term storage.
• Dried beans can be stored in a cool, dry place away from light for several months to a year.

Disease and pest control

Beans generally grow without any issues in most cases. Broadly speaking, mangetout beans are less susceptible to diseases. However, among possible pests, you may encounter aphids and the bean weevil. While aphid infestations can easily be controlled by spraying water mixed with black soap (20% dilution), dealing with bean weevils is more challenging. However, there’s no need to worry: this insect overwinters in grains, and commercial seeds are cleaned, so the risk is low.

Diseases are quite rare, and when they do appear, they are most often fungal: powdery mildew, bean rust, anthracnose, white mould… To avoid them, avoid watering the foliage and respect planting distances.

To prevent mosaic virus, control aphids that weaken the plant and choose particularly resistant varieties, such as ‘Argus’, ‘Castandel’, or ‘Delinel’.

Beneficial Plant Combinations

In the vegetable garden, beans are good companions, getting along with almost all vegetables. Beans pair very well with squashes and corn, but also with aubergines, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, and radishes, as they protect each other while reducing the risk of diseases. However, avoid planting them near alliums such as leeks, garlic, onions, shallots, fennel, and other legumes like peas and broad beans.