This post describes planting out runner bean plants (often known as stick beans) in ten easy steps.

This is the second lot of runner beans to be planted. To provide a sequence of cropping, two lots of runner beans have been planted, four weeks apart.

The early beans have almost reached the top of the poles.

The ten steps for planting out runner bean plants are:

1. Prepare a stale seed bed, because this reduces weed growth and makes weeding easier.

2. Find the poles or sticks for the beans to climb up. Two sorts of poles (or ’sticks’) have been used:

• metal tubes covered with plastic, which are more expensive and last for ever

• hazel sticks cut from our own stock. The hazel benefits from this ‘coppicing’, as it readily produces more shoots to replace those cut. To find long, straight hazel poles, we had to venture into the heart of the wood, where the tree canopy was dense, and the hazel was pushing up tall, strong shoots to find the light.

3. Mark out the positions of the sticks/poles, using a tape measure. The poles were spaced out to 12″ between poles.

 

4. Push the poles into the ground, & tie the top to a horizontal support. The poles have been placed nearer the footpath, so that the beans are easy to reach when picking.

5. Make a slight trough to plant the beans in, so that watering is easier, and the water will stay around the bean plant, and not run away.

6. Collect up the young bean plants to be planted out. Our beans were grown in root trainers, to allow the roots to develop.

The roots have started to grow through the bottom of the trainers

The root trainers can be opened up, to free the plants. The mass of soil and roots must stay together when opened up, so they need to be watered well before opening.

The bean roots have developed and grown well inside the root trainers, except the one on the left, which is a poor plant. This may be due to uneven watering.

The trainers can be used again - so they are a good investment.

7. Make a planting hole in the prepared trench & place the bean module gently in the hole.

The trench and planting hole is well away from the poles. The plants will find the poles and start to climb them naturally.

9. Cover the bean module with soil.

 

10. Water the runner beans liberally, as soon as they have been planted out.

These ten easy steps for planting out runner bean plants (or stick beans) will give the plants a good start in the vegetable garden.

french beans hazel plant runner bean vegetable garden