This is the ultimate growing guide on everything you need to know to successfully grow green beans, bush beans, and pole/vining beans. Green beans are by far, one of the easiest crops to grow. They produce an abundance of pods in about 2 to 2.5 months from seed, with very little care or attention. Therefore, I recommend this crop to all beginner gardeners.
Cultivar Selection
There are two main categories of beans - bush and pole aka vining beans.
⦁ Bush beans - are small compact plants usually staying at no more than a foot tall. They are a great choice for smaller gardens or container gardening. I especially love to grow them underneath taller plants like tomatoes and peppers to really maximize my food growing space.
⦁ Pole or vining beans - grow long vines and require a trellis for support. They do take up more space but one of the benefits is you don't need to bend down to harvest the beans like with bush beans. Depending on the cultivar, vines can get 5 to even 8 feet tall. They will require something to grow vertically upon.
⦁ Color - Most common color is green, like Harvester bush beans. But beans also come in a wide range of unique colors like yellow, purple, red, and multi-color streaks.
⦁ Flavor - There really is no difference between flavors across the different cultivars, in my opinion. If you found a cultivar with a noticeable flavor difference, please comment below because I would love to try growing it.
⦁ Shape - Some other terms you will see when deciding on which bean seeds to buy refer to the shape of the pods. Green beans, string beans, wax beans, and snap beans mean the same thing. Its a standard green bean. Then you have Romano style beans which are flat and wide (like this Qing Bain Romano bean). There are Haricots Verts (aka French Green Beans or Filet Beans) which are pencil thin. None of this really affects production or flavor. Its more your preference and maybe some shapes are more suitable for certain recipes than others.
When To Sow Seeds
⦁ Direct sow seeds after your last spring frost date has passed. You can also get a fall crop by direct sowing seeds at the end of summer. Just back track 4 months from your first average winter frost date to make sure there is enough time for them to grow and for you to harvest everything.
⦁ If your having issues, like critters are digging out the seeds, poor germination because the soil is too cold/wet, or you simply want to get an early start on your bean season - you can sow 1 seed per cell of a 72 cell seed tray and basically make your own "plug" transplants. If your going to do this, make sure to pop the plugs out at the 3 week mark and transplant into the garden. You will notice that they have a perfectly preserved root system in the shape of a plug so this eliminates transplant shock. Plants easily get root bound after growing for 3 weeks in these tiny cells.
⦁ If you are in zones 7 and below, you probably can grow green beans straight thru the summer since you have mild summers. However, if you have very hot summers (many days over 90F) like in the southern united states zones 8 and up, green beans really don't do too well. So I don't recommend them as a summer crop in that case. Your better off growing a crop in spring and another in fall. And they definitely are not a winter crop.
How to Sow Seeds
⦁ Some gardeners like to soak bean seeds overnight to help soften up the shells. Honestly, I don't do that with beans because they germinate so easily. I soak seeds overnight if its something with a hard shell and known to be difficult to germinate like luffa or moringa for example. So its up to you to decide.
⦁ Spacing - A good general rule is the square foot gardening guidelines that say you can plant 9 seeds per square foot. To be honest, I do this and then some, I just cram them in. Bean plants are very thin and don't have large root systems so they can be planted close together and not compete for nutrients. I like to dig a long trench, throw some beans in, cover with soil, and then keep it moist so they germinate quickly.
⦁ If you went the 72 cell seed tray plug route, dig a trench, and lay each plug side by side in a line. Cover with soil and keep moist.
⦁ Beans are nitrogen affixers. The plants pull nitrogen from the air, and their roots affix it into the soil. That is why some bean crops are used as cover crops. Its also another reason why they are great companion plants as they add extra nitrogen into the soil which neighboring plants can use. Some gardeners like to inoculant their bean seeds by dusting them with some beneficial mycorrhizae. It is said to help them grow better and affix more nitrogen. I have tried it and didn't notice anything different. So in my opinion, its not necessary and not worth the added expense. But if you noticed a difference please comment on this blog post.
⦁ Fertilization - There is no necessity to fertilize green bean crops. Too much fertilizer, specifically nitrogen reduces yields because the plant will focus more on leafy green growth instead of flowers which produce pods. There is some research indicating that an initial application of fertilizer and then none thereafter, helps increase yields. This season I sprinkled in some organic granular fertilizer (Espoma Tomato Tone) into the trench, then sprinkled in my seeds, and I do think it helped increase yields a little bit.
Plant Requirements
⦁ Sun Requirements - 8 hours of full sun.
⦁ Soil Requirements - They will grow great in soil heavy with composted organic matter but does ok in poor soils. Grows well in raised beds or larger containers. The root systems are not that deep or big so it can grow well in shallow situations.
⦁ Water - They need consistent amounts of water. Allow the soil to dry in between watering. Yellowing leaves are a classic sign of overwatering.
⦁ Pruning - It is not necessary to prune bean plants. I do like to prune the growth tips off pole or vining types ONLY, to force them to branch out more, which means more flowers, and more green bean pods. You can remove dead, old, diseased leaves because it helps prevent spread of diseases and deters pests.
Common Pests
⦁ Bean leafroller - If you notice the leaves look cut along the edges and then rolled up, you have bean lefrollers which is actually the larvae stage of a type of moth. If you notice holes punched into the leaves, or just in general chewed up leaves, it can be any number of type of worm or beetle. If it gets really bad, spray with BT (bacillus thurigensis) organic spray which I get from Amazon HERE.
⦁ Aphids - They tend to attack the young growth located at the tips. Blast them off with water from a hose. Usually aphids are an ant problem so treat for the ants. Spray with peppermint, rosemary, or neem oil. Plant lots of trap crops like nasturtium, southern peas, and kale.
Diseases
⦁ General leaf diseases - I usually get some rust but powdery mildew, blight, or yellowing spots are also common. Spray with 1C hydrogen peroxide (3%) per gallon of water to clean and disinfect the leaves. Treat about once every 5 days (if your experiencing a lot of rain), to every 10 days.
Harvest
Hopefully in about 2 months you will start to harvest beans. If you want to consume the entire pod, its best to harvest before the beans inside start to swell and you can clearly see a defined shape thru the pod. At this stage the pods become fibrous and stringy. Allow the pods to get as big or long as possible but harvest before the seeds swell. I have to harvest about every other day to keep up with them. Also, the more you harvest the more the plants produce. Harvesting doesn't allow the plants to go to seed which signals that they are near the end of their life cycle. Frequent harvesting forces them to continue growing and producing more pods. If the pods get too swollen, you can decide to harvest and throw them out OR just leave them to dry out on the vine to save seeds. For many cultivars, you can harvest the seeds and store away as dried shelling beans.
Freshly harvested green beans will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks. You can preserve your harvest by blanching them which locks in their texture, flavor, and nutritional content before freezing. Or you can preserve via canning for long term storage.