FRENCH BEANS JE T'ADORE

“I always like to plant my climbing French beans with some sweet peas in between them; this is something that my grandad always used to do”

I remember many moons ago flying back from Kenya with 14 tonnes of French beans in the hold along with all the suitcases. That’s perhaps not as ethical as I would like with all the food miles, but it really does show you our love for these pencil-thin beans. Then again, China beats that number with ease, producing more than 15 million tonnes of French beans per year, most of which are eaten and not exported... that’s a few more than I grow in the garden!

TWO MAIN TYPES

Originally from South America, French beans (also called string beans because of the ‘string’ that runs down the length of many varieties) are a member of the