Whatever you do, plant the seeds in situ, don't propagate them in a greenhouse/in a seed tray/on a sunny windowsill.
According to the received wisdom (i.e. wisdom received through books and the Internet), pretty much all beans grow better if planted in the final growing site, rather than started off elsewhere and transplanted. This means that in theory I should have known better than to start mine off inside, but I was seduced into some early planting by the fact that runner beans will actually cope perfectly well with transplantation. Last year I had great success with a tray-load that had been propagated somewhere in Yorkshire and brought down as a present by my parents (we do exciting gifts in my family). I have now learnt that this cannot be applied to French beans. Plant 'em out where you want them to grow, and they will repay you with health, vigour and shiny green leaves. Move them around too much and they will shrivel up and die at the first sign of temperatures above 20 and below 5 degrees Celsius. Trust the French to be more awkward.
On a different note, this morning we discovered that even the most passionate eco-warrior might be tempted to drive a short distance if the alternative is to risk getting a lovely and little-worn white linen skirt covered with bike grease.
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2 comments:
huh. My cherokee beans are going great guns - apart from the three that burned, of course!
Haven't checked on the frenchies at the allotment... bu t I HAVE but myself some willow switches to run them up, currently drying on the hairdresser's conservatory roof. I'll keep you posted.
I started my French (and runner and broad) beans in the greenhouse this year and moved them to my outside plot about six weeks ago. To date they have done very well, and are growing at quite a pace. No flowers yet, but certainly lots of strong stems, and good leaf growth.
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