A couple of years ago I was renting a house that only had a paved garden, it was April when I moved in and my dad asked if I wanted some runner bean plants.
I had never grown them in tubs/planters before and was a little dubious to say the least. By September I was very popular with the neighbours as I gave so many away, froze as many as I could, my teenagers were threatening me with violence if they had to eat yet another huge portion of beans, the runner beans were more successful than any I had grown in the ground before.
I bought a couple of rigid builders buckets 16″ tall, 22″ across which have useful rope handles, think I got them from Superbuys in Newport they cost about £3 – £4 and are still going strong.
Drilled some holes in the bottom for drainage, had a flash of inspiration and added 2 or 3 bottles of water to weight it down as I had no rocks or bricks. Filled them with a mixture of multi-purpose compost and a soil based one John Innes No 3. Bought a bundle of 7 or 8 ft canes and awaited the arrival of the young plants.
Dad arrived with the beans all 24 of them, eek! I had space for 16. In desperation I put the other 8 plants in 2 concrete planters that were lurking in the corner that I considered were far too small to use, being about 2′ 6″ long, 8″ wide and 8″ deep.
Next problem, only had 10 canes – solution, create a line of beans. Big tub with 4 canes at one end, 2 concrete planters between them, other big tub on the other end with 4 canes in it, tie 2 remaining canes together, bind each end into the top of the two cane wigwams. I tied 8 lengths of green hairy garden string to the cane that ran across the top and tied it around the planter. To get around the problem of only having 4 canes, I drilled 4 holes in the rim of the tub between the canes and tied lines with the hairy string again round a cane at the top and through the hole in the rim. Which also had the bonus of keeping the canes in the tub through that windy Wootton summer.
I seem to remember Bob Flowerdew on Gardeners’ Question Time (Radio 4 – Sunday 2pm) stating that runner beans did not grow as well or like having to climb up hairy string and to always use canes. Sorry Bob but I have to disagree with you on that one – there was no difference in amount of beans, height etc between the ones on canes.
The beans in the big tubs needed around a whole watering can of water each day during the peak of the growing season. I did not use one drop of fresh water on them, I started leaving the plug in the bath when I had a shower which baled out and kept near to them in an old swing top kitchen bin.
If you can afford lots of lovely matching or contrasting glazed/stone or terracotta pots, great but please don’t let lack of cash put you off. You can find/obtain containers to grow things in very cheaply or free, make wooden planters from pallets, and all sorts of imaginative items. I also grew cut and come again lettuce in a hanging basket right outside the kitchen door, spinach in an old stacking storage box, sorrel and landcress in a galvanised bucket that I found in a skip, strawberries in a bread tray lined with a bin liner, cherry tomatoes in cracked pots lined with carrier bags. You can always paint disguise scavenged containers. I will try and get some photos of the various containers that Ventnor Permaculture and IW Permaculture people use this year.
Growing runner beans and other vegetables is ideal if you are renting or only have a patio, you can grow a lot in a small space. Give it a go this year there is nothing better than being able to eat your own veg within minutes of them being picked and it is far cheaper than buying them.
Thank you so much for your ideas. I am growing now some yellow beans (string bans) in a big container hoping they will produce a lot. I do have a small vegetable garden but the containers provide additional space!
Thank you again!
Great! Glad you have been inspired. I hope your yellow beans do well. Even though I have a garden now I am still growing mine in tubs, they do so well in them and it keeps them away from some of the slugs and snails.
Thanks for the straightforward and informative ideas. I’m going to go out and get planting.
Hi Fiona
Hope your beans do well, they are one of the easiest things to grow. I am just finishing off a new bean arch and getting the pots ready for mine.
Angie
This is the best advice i’ve found on the internet so far, great money saving ideas. I’m giving it a go in my back yard! Thanks
how did the beans go in the small containers
Thank you so much for your piece on growing beans in pots.
I said to my husband thats what I wanted to do this year.
Won’t work was his comment.I put shredded paper in the bottom of the pot along with home made compost, the result? loads of runner beans, and a smile on his face as he eats them, he said he has not been able to grow beans as good as that in the ground.
Be encouraged you small garden owners you can save a bomb. I am also growing patio carrots, they are growing wonderfully well. Just call me green fingers I love it.
My husband who is 80 years old has decided to throw away his gardening books as I am so successful.May be that this is a scam so that I get lumbered with the gardening,( don’t mind)
To eat is a treat when you grow your own.
Keep growing.
Doreen Britton.
hi angie i usually grow beans in the ground because i thought it was the only way.after reading your message i am going to try lots of things as i have loads of pots doing nothihg.thanks ill keep you posted
it’s the first time i am growing runner beans out of the ground.all decking and concrete,growing in tubs sounds like a good idea.thanks for the tip.
i know i may have left it alittle late but having read the comments on this site i have rushed out and planted some runners. hoping the northern irish weather is kind regards john.
I’m surprised about the shower water. Wouldn’t the soap cause probems? Please email your response if your web site doesn’t email me to say there is a response.
Thank you very much.
Not with the products we use, I am allergic to all forms of fragrance so we only use natural unfragranced products. I use Suma Clear and Simple shampoo which is based on coconut oil and unfragranced vegetable oil soap. I certainly would not use water that had fragranced products in it, your average perfume used in normal soap and shampoos contains about 200 different chemicals, some of which have been linked to human infertility! Might kill slugs though. I only put shower water on the soil not the leaves and if I have enough rainwater I mix the shower water with it 50/50. You can usually save a bit of fresh water for plants by saving the water that comes out of the tap while you are waiting for the water to get hot for washing up etc The whole of the Isle of Wight is on water meters and most of us have water saving down to a fine art!
I am in south west France and miss runner beans so I am going to give this a go. Things seem to grow well here so fingers crossed. Many thanks, Caroline
Hi. Have you also tried planting bush beans?
I tried the bush variety ‘Hestia’ last year and did not think much of them, not many beans, straggly plants. Don’t know if it was the weather conditions or what but mine looked nothing like the picture on the packet. I you have had success with a particular variety please let us know.
Angie
[…] Sowing Runner BeansRunner beans can now be sown indoors! About growing runner beans in containers: http://j.mp/hG0xDB […]
Thanks for this article. Although I’m very attracted to perennials, dieback periennials, and reseeders, I wasn’t sure how they’d do in containers. My soil is thick with clay and hubby isn’t interested in putting in raised beds since we are at risk for flooding, so containers solve those issues. But I have to figure out which veggies and varieties are best. I’ll see if scarlett runner beans do better for me in a container than the one year of spindly vines LOL
Thank you so much for cheering me on. I planted snow peas and greasy beans in tubs just like your pic and I expect lots of results. I planted cucumbers and peppers too. Thanks for sharing your method.
hi angie, i am also giving this method a try, this is my first year of gardenening so im pretty much new to it all. the variety im am using is the ‘scarlet emperor’, but i was just wondering how many plants you use in a single pot? i am currently using two, they seem to be growing well, also another question is Should i wrap netting around the canes or will they just grow straight up anyway? thanks alot for any advice 🙂
Bought some seeds from the pound shop.Didn’t expect much but they are now huge in my pots and can’t wait to eat fresh runners!
Thanks for this. I’m going to try my runner beans in containers this year
Very interesting, what is the minimum depth container you can use. Would a rain gutter suffice?
Since the advent of grandchildren, my open-ground vegetable garden is suffering more than it would with a plague of slugs … nowadays it’s a battlefield for toy soldiers, trucks and diggers. So I am going to plant in all possible receptacles and ban the gkids from the area I put them in. Wish me luck. And thanks for the idea.