Mum has been telling me for some times to sowing ‘running beans’ so that was happened today. A batch was sown previously, but as the seeds were too cold and wet; these have more or less rotted away to pulp. A fresh batch has been sown, and placed onto a warm and well lit window sill. These are

• Cobra Climbing French beans
• Blue Lake Climbing French Beans
• Scarlet Emperor runner beans

I have sown all three of these previously and with fair success, so I am sowing them again this year. I think we have only just finished the last of last summers runner bean crop.

I have observed that the Climbing French Beans are far more productive then the dwarf varieties. The dwarf varieties, in my experience, get munched on by slimers. They eat the crop, before you do. I have sown these today, which means I will have to construct the supporting structures for them to grow up. In the past, I have use two types of structure. Climbing french and runner beans, have been grown up either wig wams, or criss-cross frames. The wig wams are meant to be space saving. I can see how the criss cross frames might take up more space. All being well, these will germinate, the seeds won’t get too damp and rot away.

One thing that is certain, is that once you have grown your own climbing french beans, you will see supermarket produce in a different way. Especially, when they don’t grow straight, but curly as the dwarf beans do.  They all crop abundantly, when you have the appropriate conditions for them to grow productively.