Bean and Pea Plants
There are peas and beans - and then there are home grown peas and beans. There’s nothing like picking armfuls of crunchy pea pods fresh from your own plot, then cracking them open and eating a few (dozen) raw before they even reach the kitchen. Our Lancashire growers nurture their pea and bean plants year-round to make sure they’re ready for you to plant out at exactly the right time. Easy to grow, space saving and with flowers to rival many ornamental plants, every garden should have some!
Which peas and beans should I choose?
Our bean plants are all prolific croppers - plant a few and you’ll be picking every day throughout the summer. Tendergreen French beans and Tom Thumb peas are dwarf varieties which can be grown in patio pots without support. Climbing beans like Enorma runner beans or purple Shiraz mangetout need to be trained upwards on a frame or a trellis, making them a brilliant space saving crop. The best pea plant variety? It’s got to be Hurst Greenshaft - the RHS (and generations of grandads) swear by it.
Growers' tips
Peas and beans don’t demand much beyond a sunny place in the garden and a well-draining soil, and can fit into a narrow space. Most need a trellis or support to scramble up, but you can also get dwarf varieties that don’t. Grow your young plants on in a length of guttering or rectangular planter, then when it’s time to transplant them outdoors, you can remove the whole lot at once and you’ve got a ready made row!
Using your peas and beans
Peas and beans are so versatile - slice and steam runner beans and french beans or add buttery, nutty broad beans to a classic cassoulet. For ramen, stir fries and Buddha bowls it’s got to be mangetout and don’t forget protein-packed sushi bar favourite edamame beans, simply steamed in their pods and sprinkled with sea salt.
Early cropping French bean that's perfect for patios
- Dwarf varietyonly grows to 45cm
- Early cropping variety–beans ready to eat from July
- Ideal for patios or small garden spaces
- A great source of plant protein and vitamin C
RHS Award Winner Runner Beans with pods that grow up to half a metre
- RHS Award Winner for fantastic cropping
- Grows pods up well over a foot long!
- Delicious, acclaimed buttery bean flavour
- Can grow up to 10ft high! Support required
Grow peas in the smallest spaces
- An heirloom dwarf variety with bright green full sized pods
- Sweet enough to eat raw - or simply steam
- Just 30 x 30cm - grow in pots, window boxes and small spaces
- Keep picking all summer long
An award winning exhibition favourite
- 10-12cm long pods with up to eleven peas in each
- Exceptional flavour - also freezes well
- Train up a wall, trellis or obelisk
- Harvest regularly from June to September
The most colourful mangetout you can grow
- Deep purple pods with attractive bicoloured flowers
- Eat raw, steam lightly or add to stir fries
- Train up a trellis - suitable for pots too
- Continuous pickings from July to October
Multi award winning, easy to grow plants
- Delicious beans with black and white flowers
- Plant out from May and harvest in August and September
- RHS Plants for Pollinators
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Grow beans and flowers on the same plant
- An heirloom variety with amazing bicoloured blooms
- Tender and delicious beans - harvest for months
- Grow up a trellis or frame in a sunny garden
- Easy to grow, super productive and freezes well
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