BEAN - GOLDEN GATE

 Organic French Climbing Bean Golden Gate

    10 Seeds Pack    

 Climbing French Bean Golden Gate is a standout variety that has earned the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit, a testament to its exceptional reliability, outstanding performance, and ease of cultivation. This variety, part of the Fabaceae family, is a climbing, deciduous plant that adds both ornamental and culinary value to any garden. Although native to the UK, Golden Gate has gained popularity worldwide for its high yields and superb eating qualities.

One of Golden Gate's defining features is its flat, golden-yellow pods, which are both eye-catching and practical. The beans are stringless, ensuring a smooth, pleasant texture, and their buttery flavour makes them a favourite among gardeners and chefs alike. When harvested young, the pods offer a tender bite and are perfect for steaming, sautéing, or adding to salads and stir-fries. Their pale yellow hue also brings a splash of colour to the plate, making them as visually appealing as they are delicious.

This vigorous climber can reach impressive heights, so it requires a sturdy support structure such as a trellis or poles to thrive. Its lush green foliage is complemented by delicate white flowers, which attract pollinators like bees, adding biodiversity to the garden. With proper care, Golden Gate produces an abundant crop over an extended season, making it a highly productive and rewarding variety to grow.

PLANTING & GROWING

Soaking needs to be done at least a few hours before planting, and preferably overnight. To prevent damping off when starting seeds indoors, it’s essential that you disinfect all of your plastic grow trays, seed cells, and seedling tray covers before you reuse them. 

French Climbing Bean can be grown against a trellis, up netting or up canes set 100cm (3ft) apart. They can be interplanted with peas or runner beans. They are an excellent variety to grow in cold greenhouse or polytunnel.

Also can be grown in pots. Choose pots at least 45cm (18in) in diameter and make sure there are plenty of drainage holes. Fill with a mixture of equal parts loam-based compost and loam-free compost. 

Seeds germinate best at 18 to 25°C  and prefer pH in the 6.0 - 6.8 range. As with all crop families, rotation is recommended. Beans and others in the Fabaceae family should be grown in the same area only once in three years . Beans capture nitrogen from the air, so make sure the soil contains the other essential ingredients, phosphorus and potassium.

Water the plants frequently especially as the seed pods are setting and swelling. Remove any leaves that might show signs of yellowing. 

Climbing beans require little effort to produce good yields of pods. Matures in 60 days.

Pick daily, early in the morning for the best flavour, they are best picked often and before you can see the bean seed shape inside.

Beans, peas and tomatoes are self-pollinating and do not need bees for fruit production. Their flowers have all the needed reproductive parts and can transfer and accept their own pollen for the development of their edible fruits. You may notice bees and other insects visiting their flowers, collecting nectar and spreading pollen as they fly between other flowering plants in the landscape.

 While green beans thrive alongside many herbs and vegetables, some plants make poor companions. Broccoli can struggle with the extra nitrogen beans add to the soil. Garlic and onions can stunt bean growth, while peppers might get crowded out by vigorous beans. Sunflowers are especially incompatible, as they compete for nutrients and release chemicals that inhibit bean growth.