[hogchops]

when is the best time to sow these in pots in my little plastic greenhouse?
have heard some people say its ok from now & others say leave it till may 

[Sadgit]

I stuck some runner seeds in the ground yesterday. Might be foolish of me but I am a chancer

[JayG]

Hmm! Under cover in the IOW versus outdoors in Northumberland!

In Sheffield I'm in the middle and will sow mine indoors at the very end of this month ready for planting out towards the end of May if it's warm enough.

It's obviously getting less of a risk with every passing week and who knows what this spring and summer have in store?

[Goosegirl]

I sowed my climbing French beans about a month ago and they are doing well, look good but are slow in growing. I have a mini greenhouse in my cold greenhouse which has helped me - it has its plastic cover and also a fleece cover. They will go in it if the night temps dip. I'd cover yours with fleece just to be sure. You still have time to sow some more if they get nobbled.

[green fingers]

They don't want to be sown outside until mid-late May.  So I dont usually sow under glass until the last week of April.

[rem858]

sowed fench beans today in the greenhouse will wait till the end of april for runners

[Sadgit]

It's obviously getting less of a risk with every passing week and who knows what this spring and summer have in store?

Snow? Blizzards? Monsoons? Tornado's? Who knows any more

[kingston boy]

I sowed a tray with 24 single pots with seed from my last years beans last Sunday. Some German sounding name but they took a kicking last year so i thought i'd try them now. They are in the polytunnel tho.

[plot6b]

Mine are in the Greenhouse sowed last weekend. No sign of germination as yet they normally take a couple of weeks

[hogchops]

ok, think im going to give them a go this weekend, if it all goes pear shaped then i guess i can do it again in a few weeks.
had lovely couple of days down here, big yellow thing in the sky & about 15 deg c !

[Rangerkris]

There was a guy at the plot putting his runner beans out yesterday they might have been 8 inch tall, he done the same last year and got away with it.  Ive only just sown mine this year last year mine were out on the 29th april.

[Kristen]

Is it just me that cannot believe all this French Bean sowing already?

I sowed French beans a couple of weeks ago, but that is for an early greenhouse crop.

French Beans for outdoors (likewise Runner Beans) are not mad about being planted out in cold conditions - they just stall. And trying to hold them back means that you have a huge  plant growing in a 1" cube module, and struggling and being pot bound.

Wait until a month before your pessimistic view of when the last frost is - for the middle of the country (excluding South cost and Cornwall etc.) I take the view that that is 1st June plant out - so sow seed 1st May.

For the North I expect that is somewhat later.

[mumofstig]

I have just set a few runner and french beans to chit, and when the are ready I plant them out with fingers crossed. The rest I will leave till the end of the month.

Sometimes the weather is kind to the early sowing so I get an early crop. If it is not then I have only lost a few seed, not all of them

All I can say is, that last year they were successful 

[Yorkie]

I'm not doing any sowing of tender plants until the next bank holiday - that's courgettes, beans & squash.

Tomatoes only got sown indoors this weekend.

I've learnt my lesson about starting things off too soon indoors, only for them to get too leggy too early