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(Best months for planting Dwarf beans in Australia - cool/mountain regions)

• Easy to grow.
• Harvest in 55-70 days
• 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: 5-15cm

Frost tender, die off in winter. Traditionally sown in rows, dwarf beans also grow well 'broadcast' or scattered over an area. Just scatter the seed (don't worry about the odd ones which are close up). Cover with soil, potting mix, or compost and firm down with the back of a spade or rake. Grown this way the beans will mostly shade out competing weeds and 'self-mulch'.

Keep watered and watch for shield bugs and green caterpillars Pick the beans regularly to encourage new flowers. Flowering will slow right down if you let the beans get too large (hard and stringy) on the plants. For a continuous crop, plant more seed as soon as the previous planting starts to flower. Protect against snails and slugs - they will completely destroy newly sprouted beans, and will eat the leaves off grown plants.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Dwarf beans

Can be used in salads when young, blanched and cooled.
Will freeze well.

Your comments and tips

13 Apr 09 Simone (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Last year I went to France and enjoyed the most gorgeous green beans everywhere we went - they looked just like the ones we buy here but they were sooooooo tender and sweet. Does anyone have any suggestions on what variety they might be and where I could buy seeds from locally - thanks for your help :) PS: I am a newbie at gardening but loving it!!

15 May 09 Chucky N (Australia - tropical climate)

hi bobby kamp, how are you? the best soil to use in NZ is pot peat mulch it is avaliable in all major (garden) shops in Wellington. have a fantastic afternoon, my friend

24 Oct 09 dani (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

why are my bean plants going yellow?

27 Oct 09 Liz (sent in by David) (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Dani, check www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/beans.htm for mineral deficiencies. Are you using compost or chicken manure which hasn't completely matured? That can cause nitrogen deficiency and yellow leaves.

18 Jan 10 jim (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

my beans are getting eaten by something i have no idea what can someone please tell wahat it is eating them?

19 Jan 10 Tam (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

JIM- slaters and earwigs.........is the leaf left like lacework ?

26 Jan 10 Chris (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Jim, snails will eat all the leaves off a bean plant overnight. Various bugs and grubs will eat into the beans themselves. Have you checked the plants at night with a torch to catch what is eating them?

11 Feb 10 Hellbelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

My bean plants were growing really well, but now the leaves seem to be dying off just as they're starting to flower. The ends are going brown - they look like they're burnt but i'm sooo careful when i water to make sure the leaves stay dry....any tips???

13 Feb 10 Rikkyurk (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I have tried growing from seed twice and only one from 40 seemed to germinate. I am sowing in rows 1.5 - 2cm deep. As directed on the packet I didn't water for 3 days after sowing. They were a fresh packet of seed too. Any tips?

16 Feb 10 Liz (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Rikkyurk, Water the ground well before sowing the beans, then you can leave them for a few days to germinate. But if the weather is very hot and dry, it might help to water after a day. Have you tried a different variety? Some seem easier than others.