Beans from your own garden provide fresh vitamins. After a long winter, your fingers are itching to finally start growing. You have to wait until mid-May before sowing directly into the bed. Greenhouses and cold frames, on the other hand, offer the opportunity to start growing beans earlier.
How do you grow beans in a greenhouse or cold frame?
Beans can be grown in a greenhouse or cold frame by placing the seeds in pre-warmed, moistened soil from March onwards and ensuring a warm, humid climate. After 6-10 days of germination, the plants can be moved outdoors from mid-May.
Advance – an alternative to direct sowing
Cold frames and greenhouses are a good alternative for growing beans, even if the ground only warms moderately in spring due to persistently cool temperatures.
The soil temperature should be at least 10 to 12 degrees Celsius so that the soil seeds can germinate. The warmer the soil, the faster the seedlings develop and the young plants become more resistant to snails and diseases.
In the greenhouse and cold frame, the bean seeds find preheated soil and the humid climate provides an additional growth spurt. Preferring is suitable for the heat-loving pole and bush beans
Growing beans in the greenhouse
Both the cold and heated greenhouses are suitable for growing the beans. Bean sowing begins in the cold greenhouse at the end of March and sowing in the heated greenhouse takes place at the beginning of March:
- Loosen and moisten the soil
- Soak the bean seeds in water overnight if necessary
- Lay the bean seeds next to each other and cover them lightly with soil
- Make sure the climate in the greenhouse is humid and warm, 20 – 25 degrees Celsius is ideal
- Germination time about 6 – 10 days
- the young bean plants are easy to grip with your fingers, prick out and let them grow into strong plants
- Transpose outdoors from mid-May
Preparing beans in the cold frame
- possible from March
- Prepare soil, only mix in compost for beans
- Place seeds, possibly pre-soaked, approx. 1 - 2 cm deep in the moistened soil
- When sprouting, leave the cover on the cold frame if possible so that the warm, humid climate is maintained
- Protect with fleece or blankets in case of frost
- Isolate young plants and get used to the climate by opening the cover in sunny weather
- Moving outside from mid-May
Tips & Tricks
If you want to leave your beans in the greenhouse until harvest, choose a variety that does not grow too tall and therefore does not require long trellises. The “Rakker” variety from Sperli is well suited. “Rakker” is a green spaghetti bean with 40 to 90 cm long, slender pods and a mildly aromatic taste.
