Phaseolus vulgaris var. vulgaris
Pole bean
Common names: Climbing bean, Snap bean
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 10 cm, rows 60 cm
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Sowing
- May–Jun
- Harvest
- Jul–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 2 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Rasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The pole bean climbs several meters high on stakes or twine, producing pods from July until frost. It requires more space and a support structure than bush beans, but yields over a much longer period. Like all beans, it fixes nitrogen in the soil and is toxic when raw, only cooked beans are safe to eat.
Care instructions
Before sowing, set up a sturdy stake or bean trellis. From mid‑May (week 20) plant four to six seeds at the base of each stake. Initially guide the young shoots counter‑clockwise toward the support. Water evenly and harvest pods young and regularly to encourage continued growth.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMay–Jun
HarvestJul–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 12 °C, ideally 22 °C
- Days to sprout
- 6 to 12 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 3 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
Climbing French beans need a deep, loose and humus-rich soil, ideally loamy-sandy with good drainage. The bean does not tolerate waterlogging and compacted soils. Loosen the soil deeply before sowing and work in mature compost; the pH should be slightly acidic to neutral (6.0 to 7.0).
Legumes fix nitrogen through nodule bacteria and are an ideal preceding crop for heavy feeders. They themselves need a break of around 4 years on the same spot.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Apr–May
In spring before sowing, work mature compost shallowly into the soil. That is enough as basic feeding. An additional nitrogen dose is not needed and is even counterproductive, as the bean fixes atmospheric nitrogen itself through nodule bacteria; only with visible deficiency at flowering, help along with some mature compost or nettle liquid. Avoid fresh farmyard manure.
Overwintering
Climbing French beans are annuals and die off at the first frost. Nothing can be overwintered. For seed, leave a few pods on the plant to ripen until they are brown and dry, take out the seeds and store them dry, cool and dark until the new sowing after the Ice Saints.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
You propagate climbing French beans by sowing only. Vegetative methods are ruled out for this annual plant. Sow outdoors only from mid-May after the Ice Saints, once the soil temperature is permanently above 10 °C; about 18 to 20 °C is ideal. In soil that is too cool, the seeds germinate poorly or rot. Put four to six seeds around each climbing pole, about 2 to 3 cm deep, no deeper, otherwise the seedlings struggle. Keep the distance between the pole groups at about 50 cm. If you want to save your own seed, choose open-pollinated varieties (not F1 hybrids, which do not pass on their characteristics stably). Beans are self-pollinating, so the variety is reliably preserved. For this, leave individual pods to ripen fully on the plant until they are brown, dry and rustling. Then take the beans out of the pods, let them dry off further and store them cool and dry. This way the seed stays viable for several years.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
cabbage family (Brassicaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example White cabbageRadishKalebroccolicauliflowerBrussels sprout and 40 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
Peas and beans provide carrot and celery with nitrogen and grow as shallow-rooted plants without competition next to each other.
For example CarrotCeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCoriander and 20 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)
Beans and peas enrich the soil with nitrogen, which cucurbits, as heavy feeders, can make good use of.
For example PumpkinPickling cucumberButternutHokkaidoPatissonSpaghetti squash and 13 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
Rather not
amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
particularly well establishedAllium species inhibit the nitrogen‑fixing rhizobia of legumes through their root exudates, which slows their growth.
For example ChivesWild daffodilRed OnionShallotWinter Oniongarlic chives and 6 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop‑rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
6 varieties‘Blauhilde’
With ‚Blauhilde’, one of the most reliable pole beans for the home garden: The violet, round pods shine clearly in…
‘Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco’
An Italian Borlotto bean that you mainly grow as a dry and seed bean.
‘Cobra’
You’ll enjoy ‚Cobra’, a high‑yielding green pole bean that starts early and stays long.
‘Fortex’
The ‚Fortex’ bean is a filet or princess bean that you can harvest for a long time without the pods becoming stringy or tough.
‘Neckargold’
The wax bean among the classics: its bright yellow, slightly curved pods are easy to spot in the green foliage and look particularly decorative on the plate.
‘Neckarkönigin’
A proven classic that has stood in many gardens since the 1960s.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Pole Beans: Support, Varieties and the Harvest That Never Stops
Pole beans use the airspace nobody else plants into. How to build a sturdy bean tepee, why beans always climb anticlockwise, and how steady picking keeps the harvest going for weeks.
Bean variety: bush, pole, runner, broad and lima at a glance
Five bean types, five roles in the garden and the kitchen. Which bean goes in when, which one climbs, why they feed the soil and why you must never eat one raw.