Can anyone shed any light on why my french beans won’t grow this year, I have planted row after row but each time nothing comes up and when I investigate there is no sign of the bean at all, I also planted spinach but nothing came up…help, we love our french beans and spinach…everything else in the garden is growing.
Slugs for us. hot and cool nights mean condensation on the ground. Try sowing in pots and then transplanting when first leaves have appeared. Also having more trouble with moles so some plants are left with their roots hanging in a void.
I have also had major problems with mulots this year after 3 years with no problems. I’ve resorted to poison which seems to reduce the problem. Also, I have had problems with lettuce, beetroot and lettuce germinating. I think it was due to the very dry weather, as now we have had plenty of rain, I have some new seedlings, albeit very late.
Very good Kim have you bean taking lessons from James H 
The mullot has bean and gone then 
Hooray !! The beans are poking their way through, success at last, mind you we did find a dead mullots a few days ago he probably OD’d on our beans…
Thanks everyone for your input, have just planted another 2 rows so we will see what happens, I have planted them so thickly even the Mulots won’t be able to chew through them all I hope
Nathalie has just collected a load from our garden and she says there are loads left. Sorry 
Love it 
I have the same problem and with lettuce as well. It is usually birds or insects that have eaten the seeds before they sprout
Mice is a good start and another possibility is rat taupe, if you have them. They ruined our carrots this year.
Sarah I was told it might be a mulot (field mouse) which burrows underneath and eats them but I have tried to grow them in pots first and they still don’t grow so I am unsure what is happening
James that is very good for this time of day haha
I’d be interested to hear what others say, as I have had the same problem. I concluded I was planting mine too deep as last year I had about a dozen plants from a 5 or 6 metre row. I think when I was growing veg in small quantities my garden in the UK mice were partial to digging up the seeds. Holly twigs laid on top after planting seemed to fix this.
However, that doesn’t explain why none of yours come up or why you’re having the same problem with the spinach.
Maybe they did a runner?