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Bridgewater Climbing Beans

mcpbowmanmcpbowman Posts: 22
in Fruit & veg

Hello everyone.

My Mum has given me some Bridgewater climbing beans that I would love to grow this year.

The issues I am facing are:

- Not knowing anything about these beans (I've seen online that they are a variety of French Climbing bean and are named after the place, but I don't know much more than that). If anyone knows any more info about them it would be great to hear!

- I don't have a veg plot but I can dedicate a large pot to them, do you think that these sort of beans will perform well in a pot if they are provided with a decent size wigwam to grow up?

I'm a complete veg growing novice so any other advice would be gratefully received! :)

Thank you in advance!

Posts

  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,657

    I don't know that type, but generally French beans will grow in a very large pot - 18 inches deep or more. They are greedy plants so have a rich mix of compost and rotted manure with some grit to keep the drainage good. Sow them in Spring - April or May. Keep the soil damp but not wet until you see green shoots appear and then water them every couple of days or so, even if it's been raining (the leaves will probably stop water getting to the soil in the pot). When flowers begin to appear, you'll need to start regular (fortnightly) feeding with a good potassium rich food (tomato feeds, or comfrey extract). 

    And then hope for some warm sunshine - they do best in a hot summer. Oh and pick the beans as soon as they look big enough to bother eating. They will stop producing new beans if you don't pick them.

    ETA forgot to say - yes - a good sturdy wigwam will be exactly what they need image

    Last edited: 02 February 2018 14:12:31

    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • mcpbowmanmcpbowman Posts: 22
    raisingirl says:

    I don't know that type, but generally French beans will grow in a very large pot - 18 inches deep or more. They are greedy plants so have a rich mix of compost and rotted manure with some grit to keep the drainage good. Sow them in Spring - April or May. Keep the soil damp but not wet until you see green shoots appear and then water them every couple of days or so, even if it's been raining (the leaves will probably stop water getting to the soil in the pot). When flowers begin to appear, you'll need to start regular (fortnightly) feeding with a good potassium rich food (tomato feeds, or comfrey extract). 

    And then hope for some warm sunshine - they do best in a hot summer. Oh and pick the beans as soon as they look big enough to bother eating. They will stop producing new beans if you don't pick them.

    ETA forgot to say - yes - a good sturdy wigwam will be exactly what they need image

    Last edited: 02 February 2018 14:12:31

    See original post

     Thank you Raisingirl, your advice is exactly what I was looking for. Thankfully I can provide everything apart from the hot summer, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for that!

    There doesn't seem to be much information about the Bridgewater variety, all I know is that they came from a lady from a gardening club in Bridgewater (which makes sense!). Hopefully I will have some success with them and get their name out there a bit :)

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