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Growing Climbing beans, also Pole beans, Runner beans, Scarlet Runners

(Phaseolus vulgaris, Phaseolus coccineus)

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

(Best months for planting Climbing beans in USA - Zone 5a regions)

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

Easy to grow. 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. (Show °F/in)
Space plants: 10 - 20 cm apart
Harvest in 9-11 weeks.
Compatible with: Sweetcorn, spinach, lettuce, summer savory, dill, carrots, brassicas, beets, radish, strawberry, cucumbers, zucchini
Avoid growing with: Alliums (Chives, leek, garlic, onions), Florence fennel

A few young Scarlet Runners
Purple climbing beans

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

15 Mar 09, marg (Australia - tropical climate): I have snake climbing beans all up side of fernhouse and very healthy........but no beans. Put potash on a few days ago. Have been mulched and well watered , with some seaweed fertilizer.
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12 Apr 09, mickey (Australia - sub-tropical climate): we are growing purple climbers but bugs have taken over with lava growing inside the stems,can anyone help...
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13 Apr 09, Cris (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Grubs are garbage collecters. You are missing a nutrient or the beans are not in the right climate, etc. Are you using town(poison) water? I found that just getting the minerals up with that balck coal ash they sell for drainage works well. I use sea minerals, fish, etc. as well now. Have very few problems. Any step you make towards better plant health will up the resistance to pests. Read "Science in Agriiculture" by Arden Andersen if you want to find out more. Cheers Cris
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04 Jan 10, Lean Lim (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Help! My scarlet runner beans are producing lots of flowers but no beans. Why are the beans not forming?
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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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15 Jan 10, (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Can I plant scarlet runner plants now , I live in hobart , tas
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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 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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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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23 May 10, roger cooper (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Where can I buy Runner bean seeds local to Melbourne ?
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Post a question, comment or tip about Climbing beans

Replying to:

Grubs are garbage collecters. You are missing a nutrient or the beans are not in the right climate, etc. Are you using town(poison) water? I found that just getting the minerals up with that balck coal ash they sell for drainage works well. I use sea minerals, fish, etc. as well now. Have very few problems. Any step you make towards better plant health will up the resistance to pests. Read "Science in Agriiculture" by Arden Andersen if you want to find out more. Cheers Cris

- Cris

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.

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