Climbing French Beans - too early?

[hamsterqueen]

Bought 3 varieties of heritage climbing French Beans from Walmer Castle. Mr’s Fortune, Blacksmith’s and Major (Someone).
I’m on East Kent Coast. Bean sticks are up and raised bed ready. Is it too early to plant them do you reckon?

[Penellype]

You are probably fine to plant them - its always a bit hit and miss at this time of year as a clear night with no wind can lead to a late frost, but if you are on the coast it will be warmer than inland.

[Nicos]

Agreed!..just make sure you have some fleece handy
Do you actually need to get them planted out yet?….a few more warmer nights undercover would keep them happier.

[hamsterqueen]

Was going to sow them direct (I’m running out of space in my conservatory/lean to.)
I’m normally much later with planting but the house is over run with builders and I’ve been faffing in the garden to try and avoid the noise & dust. Might shove a couple in this week and the rest at end of month.

[Nicos]

Sounds like that should work.
Over the years I’ve done several sowings of both types of French beans ( slug food) and found that the later sowings do tend to catch up.
Probably the cool nights slow the earlier ones down?

Sounds like you have a lot going on…Just make life easy for yourself with whatever you choose to do!

[smallblueplanet]

Start them off in pots/rootrainers, put them on the raised bed, and just bring them in at night?

[hamsterqueen]

I feel an experiment coming on!

[Nicos]

Indeed…let us know how you get on!…nothing like learning from other people’s experiences!

[ChingfordHarry]

I think the answer is to have a look at the weather forecast for the next week or ten days. If it's forecast to be warm (say, every day expected to be >~17-18°, nights no lower than ~6-7°) and dry, with no chance of frost, then it's not too early to sow French beans. Once they're started they should cope with lower night-time temperatures but as the days roll on towards late May that is less likely.

I direct sowed mine in London/Essex borders on 4th May and they're just starting to appear now (the forecast then was for at least a week of maximum daytime temperatures over 20°, from memory).

I treated mine this year as a slightly hardier version of sweetcorn when it came to sowing and (until the molluscs intervene) it looks like it might have worked.

[ChingfordHarry]

Just to add - mine are Cosse Violette.

I just checked the forecast for Broadstairs (a random East Kent location...) and compared to my local forecast; it looks about 4 or 5° cooler there than here over the next 10 days. I guess that's what those cold winds off the North Sea do for you. Brrrr....

[gardenhistory2]

the varieties you listed are mrs fortune,
Blacksmith’s and Major Cook.
here i huge listing of the name of heirloom beans.
https://localfoodconnect.org.au/comm...ean-varieties/

[hamsterqueen]

Thank you! I had no idea there were so many varieties.

[gardenhistory2]

that is not even a complete list bean variety names the USDA has
an even longer list.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/se...ng-for-variety
there is a zip file on this page that list just about every vegetable variety
name in use! under the heading Variety Name Lists
it list over 50,000 vegetable variety names.

[rary]

Possibly a bit late (again) but I would sow direct, or if you are worried about snails plant them in pots outside, that way they can go into the ground once you think they are big enough, saves you having to harden them off, as a general guide, if you have ash trees nearby village you and they are in leaf there is just a small chance of frost, and if you do get frost on your plants, wash the frost off with a spray of cold water then shade the plants with newspaper to keep the sun off them

[ChingfordHarry]

After being very optimistic about my French beans, which were appearing in abundance, I had a look this morning and found that molluscs have been out and eaten all but 4 of them. I guess they were encouraged out by a couple of showers... oh, the joys of vegetable gardening!