Beans in Spain: choose the crop for the heat

The archive version of this page is titled runner beans but describes something else, so it is worth being clear from the start. Runner beans are Phaseolus coccineus. The dwarf and climbing green beans most people actually grow, sometimes called French or snap beans, are Phaseolus vulgaris. Both come from the Americas, both are grown for their pods and in a Costa Blanca garden they behave very differently.

French beans are the reliable crop

Dwarf French beans are the easiest. They need no support, crop in eight to ten weeks and tolerate heat far better than runners. Climbing French beans give a longer, heavier harvest from the same ground if you provide canes or netting. Both come in green, yellow and purple podded forms. Sow after the last frost, from April on the coast, into warm soil enriched with compost. Successional sowings every three or four weeks keep pods coming.

Runner beans need cooler flowering weather

Runner beans are the traditional British favourite and they will grow here, but flower set is the problem. Very hot weather, especially hot nights, and dry roots interrupt pollination and pod formation. Misting the flowers was once recommended but has not been shown to help. The better tactics are to use a sheltered structure with some afternoon shade, keep the roots consistently moist with mulch and a drip line, and time the crop so flowering avoids the height of summer.

A second, autumn sowing

The Costa Blanca has two useful bean windows, not one. A sowing in late July or early August can come into pod through the cooler, still-warm weather of September and October, after the midsummer heat has passed. Local frost risk and autumn daylight decide how late this second crop can run.

Support, spacing and picking

Climbing beans need a firm structure at least two metres high, sited to avoid casting shade over other crops and braced against the wind. Space plants around 15 to 20 centimetres apart. Pick pods young and often. Once a plant is allowed to mature seed it slows flowering, so regular harvesting extends the crop.

Water, soil and rotation

Beans want steady moisture through flowering and pod fill, and a mulch to hold it. They are legumes and obtain some nitrogen through root nodules, but that does not make the bed self-fertilising. Start with soil improved with organic matter and avoid excessive high-nitrogen feed, which produces leaf at the expense of pods. Rotate beans rather than growing them in the same ground every year.

Pests and problems

Blackfly cluster on the growing tips in early summer; pinch out the tips of dwarf beans once cropping and wash colonies off climbers. Red spider mite causes fine mottling and bronzing in hot dry spells. Halo blight shows as angular spots with a pale ring and is carried on infected seed, so buy fresh seed if it appears. Snails take seedlings, especially after irrigation.

Saving seed

French beans are mainly self-pollinating, so seed from an open-pollinated cultivar often comes reasonably true if no other variety is growing close by. Runner beans are visited by insects and cross readily, so saved seed may not match the parent where several cultivars share a garden. Leave selected pods to dry fully on healthy plants, then shell and store the beans somewhere cool and dry.

Sources and review

This guide was reviewed in September 2026 using the Kew Plants of the World Online records for Phaseolus vulgaris and Phaseolus coccineus and the Royal Horticultural Society runner bean, pod-set and French bean guides.