Beans & Peas

Beans & peas are perfect for beginners as they are so easy to grow. Whether you are planting up peas, broad beans, French beans or good old runner beans these are great to practise your grow your own journey with and they provide tasty treats straight from stem to table. You too can grow your own with this guide.

How to grow your beans & peas

• Take a look at your seed packets for individual planting instructions, but try and make sure you aim for a couple of sowings of each to ensure a steady crop.
• Start seedlings in a greenhouse or indoors and sow outside anywhere from early April to early July.
• Make sure when you are ready to sow, choose a sunny position with free draining soil, as plants will not do well in cold and wet soil.
• Your crop will thank you for prepping the soil a few weeks before planting with a nice well-rotted compost and a little general purpose fertiliser for good measure.
• Sow French and runner beans and peas and broad beans about 5cm deep.
• Start off in small pots and plant out into trenches of warmed soil once they have been hardened off.
• Make sure you support peas, beans and any climbers with the right supports such as bamboo canes, a frames or pea netting.

When should you harvest?

• French and runner beans – these are ready to pick from July depending on when you sowed them.
• Peas – early crops take around 16 weeks before they are ready to be picked.
• Harvesting – pick pods regularly to encourage more growth. 
• French and runner beans should be removed when measuring 10cm and 15/20cms respectively.

Protect from pests – slugs and birds love beans & peas so protect with deterrents.