Difficulty Easy

Where Sunny spot

Soil Free draining, any PH

When Mid October or Mid February

Preparation handful of fertilizer well dug in 2 weeks before planting. Push a cane into the soil at each station before planting

Planting from seed Fill empty toilet roll tubes with loose compost and push a bean down until it is 2-5cm from the top. Put the filled tubes in a tray on a north facing window sill and plant out a month later in early November (for early summer crops) or mid-March.

Planting out Dig holes 20cm apart as deep as the toilet roll tubes and put the entire tube in the ground, filling in round the edges with loose soil

Care If the beanstalks are tall, loosely tie them to the canes with twine to keep them upright

Feeding None needed

Harvest Can be eaten raw when immature, but best harvested when the pods start to develop a speckled brown rust. Pods will ripen over the course of a week or two starting from the bottom of the beanstalks upwards

Storage Eat (lightly steamed) within an hour of picking. Freezes well removed from the pods

Saving Seed Wait for the pods to turn brown and readily fall off the stalks. Shell the beans and dry out on kitchen roll on a dry window sill for a couple of days. Plant within a year

Varieties Crimson-flowering is really pretty when in flower. Red Epicure gives vibrant pink beans which turn a light purple when cooked. Suttons Dwarf are good flavoured and don’t need staked in

Pests expect some damage from slugs while young. Aphids can wreck a plant, so pinch off the top shoot once the stalk starts flowering