Select your climate zone Australia - cool/mountain Australia - sub-tropical Australia - temperate Australia - tropical New Zealand - cool/mountain New Zealand - sub-tropical New Zealand - temperate United Kingdom - cool/temperate United Kingdom - warm/temperate What is my climate zone?

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
P								P	P	P	P

(Best months for planting Climbing beans in New Zealand - temperate regions)

P = Sow direct in garden where they are to grow.

September: sow after frost

• Easy to grow.
• Harvest in 9-11 weeks.
• Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 16°C and 30°C.
• Space plants: 10-20cm

Grow beans up fences, trellis, sweet corn, trees. Almost anywhere can be 'vertically productive'.

Keep well watered and pick regularly to encourage new flowers. Watch out for snails, as they will eat through the stems near ground level, and will completely eat newly sprouted beans. If you have nice new beans plants one day, and none the next, then it is probably slugs or snails.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Climbing beans

Use young in salads - blanch and cool. Will freeze well.

Your comments and tips

02 Jul 10 ken bryan (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

leaves are turning yellow at the bottom of the plants and falling off

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04 Jul 10 Natalie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Sounds like it is a nitrogen deficiency. treat plants with fish emulsion on foliage and roots. the other thing it could be is bean fly. usually affected plants stems become swollen and cracked and the plants may become yellow. So check for swollen and cracked stems. if it's bean fly, you could try making a batch of garlic and chilli spray and spraying the plants. hth

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14 Jun 10 Joanna van Kool (Australia - temperate climate)

When the scarlet runner beans die back in Winter, does one cut them back or just let them wither on the trellis?

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23 May 10 roger cooper (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Where can I buy Runner bean seeds local to Melbourne ?

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24 May 10 (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Diggers Club sell Melbourne-local runners.

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02 Apr 10 Lynne Brogan (Australia - temperate climate)

Scarlet Runner beans are perennial (3 to 4 years but loosing vigour each year). Do I let them die back or cut them back after they have finished bearing, and if I cut them back,how close to the ground do I cut them. back to ground level

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15 Feb 10 David Rickertt (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Can someone tell what gaudia beans like in the way of water & fertiziler i am growing them but don't know a lot about them david R

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22 Jan 10 Gladys Cutajar (Australia - temperate climate)

Can anyone tell me how to freeze beans properly. Mine seem to be really soggy when I cook them. I don't blanch them and cook in only a small amount of water.

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15 Jan 10 (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Can I plant scarlet runner plants now , I live in hobart , tas

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05 Jan 10 Kate (Australia - temperate climate)

Scarlet runner beans will only set when it is cool.... any heat at all will make lots of beautiful flowers but no beans. They will set beans in early autumn but always insist on coming up and flowering too early. Next year try covering them with very thick mulch to keep the soil cool so they come up later.

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