How to Grow Beans
Time is running out to sow your beans – as soon as you’ve read this article you should pop outside and get planting. Dwarf beans have a much quicker turnaround time, so at this point in the season they might be the go if you’re a cool-temperate grower like me. Warm temperate growers such as Melbourne-based folk can plant runner beans as well as dwarf beans at this time of year.
I find beans a fickle crop to grow. I seem to only ever go through boom and bust cycles with beans. They’re either sulking or producing so many pods that I can’t keep up. In a way, they remind me of citrus. Once you can overcome their sensitivities they’ll reward you with abundance.
Beans are delicious. I love eating tender young pods raw, right there in the patch. The key to harvesting tasty beans is to harvest often. Picking every second day ensures that the pods are harvested before they start to develop seeds inside. Once the seeds are developing, the pods tend to become tough, stringy and not as sweet. Beans are great steamed, and you can even blanch and freeze them to use later. If you leave some beans on the vines to dry at the end of the season, you can use the seeds for soups and stews.
Runner or bush, broad or perennial beans?
What a huge choices we have when growing beans. There are so many different varieties. I’ll write about some of my favourite varieties towards the end of this guide. But for now, let’s look at the four different categories.
Runner beans (climbing beans)
These are my favourite type of beans to grow as they maximise the use of space and I love watching them as they reach for the sky. These are the high achievers of the legumes. You’ll need a trellis to support them. Runner beans are great for establishing bean tepees for the kids to play in.
Bush beans
Also called dwarf beans. These have a shorter growing season than runner beans. This means that they will generally produce pods a bit earlier in the season than runner beans. And you can plant them later in the growing season and still harvest pods. Bush beans don’t need a trellis, but that means you’ll have to bend over to harvest them if you are growing in the ground). I find they produce a glut over a shorter harvest period than runner beans and also seem more prone to viral diseases.
Broad beans
Also known as faba or fava beans, broad beans grow best over the winter period. They’re very different from runner and bush beans – so different that I’ve dedicated a separate How to Grow Guide to growing them.
Scarlet runner beans
These are a perennial bean, and for that reason they’re also known as seven year beans. During their first growing season they establish a large tuber under the ground. Provided the soil is free draining, the tubers will overwinter and re-shoot the following spring. The scarlet red flowers provide a spectacular display. They can produce massive pods, but I find you need to harvest the pods when they are quite small, the size of a pencil. Otherwise, they are too tough and stringy to eat.
Common problems when growing beans
As I alluded to above, I encounter all sorts of problems with beans. Most of these problems can be overcome through careful choice of varieties, as some seem more susceptible to each of these problems than others.