French Filet Green Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

French Filet bean or haricot verts, Image taken from https://www.botanicalinterests.com/

First, to be honest, I have grown this bean before and it is tender, long and slender, and does NOT have to be started indoors! In fact, I am pretty positive it will grow in any condition, other than snow! This bush bean is frost tolerant and has a 58-day growing cycle. It is best to plant this seed after the average last frost date to be safe, and then seedlings will emerge within 6-12 days. They are good for small spaces, with seed spacing 1 every 4 inches with no thinning required. Water requirements are the same for any other bean...a deep watering every 2-3 days or so. You can successionally (not successfully as my brain keeps trying to say!) plant these until it gets hot (> 80 degrees), so you can have beans all summer! I found my Botanical Interests seeds at Fort Collins Nursery, but you can order them directly from Botanical Interests©. I will be putting these in the ground in the middle of May and will see how they do this year! I will do my best to include pictures as they grow.

As for the rest of my starts, I have transplanted the Colorado Red Star Artichokes and the Purple de Milpa Tomatillos (I've never grown them but why not, right? They are just like tomatoes, so I thought I would give it a go!). I only got 5 tomatillos to grow and two died after being transplanted. I would have had them in the greenhouse, but it collapsed...disintegrated...imploded...well, it did all those things in the wind! For now, I am building cold frames and hoping to be able to get plants outside, but we shall see! Also, my tomato starts are growing like weeds (good ones, I assure you!). I will be transplanting them in the next week so they can develop solid root systems.

Remember!!! The Laramie County Master Gardeners Plant Sales is May 9th at the M & K Building in the Archer Complex (3801 Archer Parkway). The sale starts at 8:00 AM and keeps going until they run out of plants. BE EARLY!!!!! They sell out pretty quick!!!

Thanks for reading and I hope your early spring plants are growing well! Happy Gardening!