It could be your weather rather than you. Runners don't seem to mind it cooler and wetter (as long as there are enough gaps in the rain for the pollinators to visit). French beans seem to need more heat and we've not had real hot weather here in late summer in recent years, except 2014 - when I had a great crop of french beans. Hence my suggestion that it may be a weather related problem. I may be jumping to conclusions - I don't have many years of experience to base it on.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
It could be your weather rather than you. Runners don't seem to mind it cooler and wetter (as long as there are enough gaps in the rain for the pollinators to visit). French beans seem to need more heat and we've not had real hot weather here in late summer in recent years, except 2014 - when I had a great crop of french beans. Hence my suggestion that it may be a weather related problem. I may be jumping to conclusions - I don't have many years of experience to base it on.
Could well be. It wasn't just a poor crop - the plants themselves grew very badly and some just died for no obvious reason.
This year I'm planning to stick to dwarf beans in pots after they did so well last year. Very productive and cropped for a long time. Just sown the first batch of seeds a few days ago. I'd plant some in the raised beds as well but I think I'll keep the space for other crops (will plant runner beans on canes as usual).
Dwarf beans are very reliable. Definitely down to weather for runners and climbing beans each of which prefer different conditions, as someone already said. For french beans, I grow Cobra and Sultana which are the most reliable ones I've ever tried but without some warm waether and a good bit of sunshine even those struggle. The worst bean I've ever tried was 'yard long' which failed to get more than a few inches tall and succumbed to what I think was rust, even though they were grown in a polytunnel. I sowed 3 different batches a few weeks apart too.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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It could be your weather rather than you. Runners don't seem to mind it cooler and wetter (as long as there are enough gaps in the rain for the pollinators to visit). French beans seem to need more heat and we've not had real hot weather here in late summer in recent years, except 2014 - when I had a great crop of french beans. Hence my suggestion that it may be a weather related problem. I may be jumping to conclusions - I don't have many years of experience to base it on.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
My climbing French beans always do well, but this is in south Devon and the veg beds are in a sheltered, sunny spot. Weather could be the key.
Could well be. It wasn't just a poor crop - the plants themselves grew very badly and some just died for no obvious reason.
This year I'm planning to stick to dwarf beans in pots after they did so well last year. Very productive and cropped for a long time. Just sown the first batch of seeds a few days ago. I'd plant some in the raised beds as well but I think I'll keep the space for other crops (will plant runner beans on canes as usual).
Dwarf beans are very reliable. Definitely down to weather for runners and climbing beans each of which prefer different conditions, as someone already said. For french beans, I grow Cobra and Sultana which are the most reliable ones I've ever tried but without some warm waether and a good bit of sunshine even those struggle. The worst bean I've ever tried was 'yard long' which failed to get more than a few inches tall and succumbed to what I think was rust, even though they were grown in a polytunnel. I sowed 3 different batches a few weeks apart too.