How many dwarf bean plants....

...should I grow for a family of 3? I've got 12 growing in pots to transplant into a container soon but will this be enough? And should I be successional sowing, and if so at what point?

Thank you

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy, To feed our clan of four I grew them to stock the freezer too,and planted at least four dozen... it was amazing the amount of beans they produced.

 

And always plan for variety and succession. It's taken me forever to get the hang of this. Er, actually I'm still working on it.

 

Hi All
I heard a "gardening expert" on our local radio 2 weeks ago say, he was going to sow more beans about June as with our milder autumns he was hoping to extend his cropping . And as the first sowing are pretty exhausted by Septemberish he thought it was worth a try

 

Last year, I grew about 16 dwarf French bean plants for a family of 3. When the plants were at their most productive, we were having beans with our beans...and then some more beans for afters!

IMHO, the dwarf beans don't have as strong a flavour as the full size runners but they're so easy to grow and pick and they fit into raised beds very nicely.

 

Climbing french beans are a good alternative to dwarf french as you can get a bigger crop in a smaller space.

 

Thank you everyone. I think 4 dozen is possibly beyond me but I will try planting some french beans in June and combine Pamsdish's and Dave W's suggestions.

 

I like the flat climbing french Feans - like Suttons Limka. Similar to the style of a Runner bean, but no string (I mean NONE, not "maybe some" as with the so called "stringless Runner Beans") and taste more like a French bean.

Blue Lake seems to be popular too.

D.G. Hessayon says:

"Expected yield Dwarf Frecnh Bean 8 lb / 10 ft row; Climbing 12 lb / 10 ft row"

He says to sow then 4" apart, so assuming 100% germination that would be 30 plants for a 10 ft row.