Harvest
When to pick runner beans and French beans
The short answer
Pick runner beans young, tender and stringless, at about 20 to 25cm long, while the pods still snap and the beans inside are small and pale. Pick every two or three days. French beans are ready at 15 to 20cm, when they snap easily and before you can see the beans through the pod.
Beans reward the gardener who picks them before they look ready. A pod left to swell turns tough and stringy, and the plant stops flowering. Regular picking keeps a row cropping for two months or more.
When it's ready in the UK
RHS says runner beans crop from around mid-summer for eight weeks or more if they are picked regularly, depending on the variety and when they were sown. French beans are sown after the last frost; dwarf types crop for a few weeks, climbing types for much longer.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner Bean: sow indoorsApril to May | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: yes | May: yes | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Runner Bean: sow outsideMay to June | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Runner Bean: harvestJuly to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
| French Bean: sow indoorsApril to May | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: yes | May: yes | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| French Bean: sow outsideMay to July | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| French Bean: harvestJuly to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
Months from Vercro's crop catalogue, the data the Vercro app plans with. It allows about 9 to 11 weeks from sowing to the first harvest. Weather, variety and where you garden move every one of these.
How to tell it's ready
How to harvest
- Pick every two to three days. RHS calls regular picking essential.(RHS, Garden Organic)
- Look carefully among the leaves. Slender French bean pods are easy to miss.(RHS)
- Cut French bean pods when they snap cleanly in half.(Garden Organic)
What moves the date
If you leave it too long
- Mature pods stop the plant. Once pods are left to ripen, plants stop flowering and no more pods form.(RHS)
- Long pods are tough and stringy.(Garden Organic)
- French beans you can see through the pod are past their best.(RHS)
After picking
- For dried beans, leave some pods on the plant until they turn brown.(Garden Organic)
- For seed, let a few pods fully mature at the end of the season, pick once dried, and store the seeds in a paper bag somewhere cool and dry.(RHS)
Where the sources differ
Two good sources, two answers. We show both rather than picking the convenient one.
| Question | RHS | Garden Organic |
|---|---|---|
| Runner bean pod length | 20 to 25cm. | 15 to 20cm; longer pods are tough and stringy. |
Keep a record of what each bed gave
Log what you pick, and how much, bed by bed. Vercro keeps the record, so next year you know what worked where, and Today shows what your crops need next.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Runner beans: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Runner bean growing sheet, Garden Organic. Read 19 September 2026.
- How to grow French beans, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- French bean, Garden Organic. Read 19 September 2026.