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Botanical Name
Phaseolus vulgaris
Grown as
Toxicity
Sun Exposure
Water Needs
Height
Spread
Soil pH
Bloom Time
Special Features
Plant Type
Planting
Beans grow best in well-draining soil with normal fertility and an acidic to neutral pH (6.0–7.0). They don’t typically need supplemental fertilizer because they fix their own nitrogen in the soil. However, particularly poor soil should still be amended with aged manure or compost in the fall prior to planting (or about a week before planting in the spring).
Beans don’t like having their roots disturbed, so set up any supports for pole beans prior to planting.
When to Plant Beans
- Beans grow best when direct-seeded outdoors. Sow any time after the last spring frost date, when the soil has warmed to at least 55°F (12°C). Don’t plant too early, as cold, moist soil will delay germination and could cause the seeds to rot.
- Tip: To get a head start on planting, place black plastic or landscaping fabric over your garden beds to warm the soil prior to sowing seeds.
- Do not start green bean seeds indoors. Due to their fragile roots, they may not survive transplanting. Plus, they’re such fast growers that there’s no real advantage to starting them early indoors.
How to Plant Beans
- Sow bush beans 1 inch deep and 2 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart.
- Sow pole beans 1 inch deep, placing them around supports.
- Tip: Plant pole and bush beans a little deeper in sandy soils, but not too deep. Seedlings cannot push through soil that is too deep, heavy, dense, packed, and/or mulched; they will break their “necks” in trying to emerge.
- For pole beans, set up trellises, stakes, or other supports prior to planting so that the plants’ fragile roots are not disturbed.
- One option is to create a teepee: Tie three or four (or more) 7-foot-long bamboo poles or long, straight branches together at the top and splay the legs in a circle. Then, plant three or four seeds around each pole. As vines appear, train them to wind up the poles. For more stability, wrap string/wire around the poles about halfway up, encircling the tepee; this gives the vines something to grab.
- Another easy support for them is a “cattle panel”—a portable section of wire fence—16 feet long and 5 feet tall. The beans will climb with ease, and you won’t have to get into contorted positions to pick them.
- For a continued harvest that lasts all summer, sow seeds every 2 weeks. If you’re going to be away and unable to harvest, skip a planting. Beans do not wait for anyone!
- Practice crop rotation (planting crops in different areas each year) to avoid the buildup of pests and diseases in one spot.
How to Grow Beans From Planting to Harvest
Growing
- Mulch soil around bean plants to retain moisture; make sure that it is well-draining. Beans have shallow roots, so mulch keeps them cool.
- Water regularly, about 2 inches per square foot per week. If you do not keep beans well watered, they will stop flowering. Water on sunny days so that foliage will not remain soaked, which could encourage disease.
- If necessary, begin fertilizing after heavy bloom and the set of pods. Avoid using high-nitrogen fertilizer, or you will get lush foliage and few beans. A side dressing of compost or aged manure halfway through the growing season is a good alternative to liquid fertilizer.
- Weed diligently but carefully to avoid disturbing the beans’ roots.
- Pinch off the tops of pole bean vines when they reach the top of the support. This will force them to put energy into producing more pods instead.
- In high heat, use row covers over young plants; hot weather can cause blossoms to drop from plants, reducing the harvest.
Growing Green Beans in Containers
You can also grow green beans in containers! An 8-inch-deep, 8-inch-wide container will hold one bush plant, while a 5-gallon pot will hold up to three bush or pole plants. For pole beans, plan to provide support in or immediately outside of the container. Fill the container with potting mix and rich compost.
Beans grow best when direct-seeded (not transplanted) into the soil, whether it’s in a container or the ground. After all danger of frost has passed, sow into warm (55°F or higher), moist soil. Put two beans into each hole between 1 and 1-1/2 inches deep. Eliminate the weaker one after germination by cutting the stem. (Do not allow two plants to coexist in one hole; neither will thrive.)
To care for your container of green beans, provide 6 to 8 hours of sun per day. Whenever the soil is dry, water to a depth of 1 to 2 inches. Fertilize with a low-nitrogen formula (5-10-10) diluted to half-strength to avoid excess foliage growth. Apply at planting time and when plants begin to flower.
Types
When it comes to green beans, the options are endless. Here are several types and varieties to consider:
- Chinese (aka Asian) long beans (aka yardlong or asparagus beans): slender, 1- to 2-foot pods. Try ‘Orient Wonder’, ‘Red Noodle’, or ‘Yardlong’. All pole.
- French green beans (aka filet or haricots verts): thin, tender, 3- to 5-inch pods. Try ‘Calima’, ‘Masai’, or ‘Maxibel’; in a container, plant ‘Mascotte’. All bush.
- Italian/Romano: wide, flat 6- to 8-inch pods even in the hottest summers. Try ‘Early Bush Italian’, extra-large-pod ‘Jumbo’, or ‘Roma II’. All bush.
- Purple beans: 5- to 6-inch pods are deep purple when raw and turn green when cooked. Try ‘Amethyst’, ‘Royal Burgundy’, or ‘Velour’. All bush.
- Snap beans (aka string or stringless): slender, 5- to 7-inch pods. Try ‘Blue Lake 274’ (bush), heirloom ‘Kentucky Wonder’ (bush or pole), or ‘Provider’ (bush).
- Yellow wax beans: 5- to 7-inch pods have a milder flavor than green varieties. Try stringless ‘Cherokee’ (bush), classic ‘Golden Wax’ (bush), or ‘Monte Gusto’ (pole).
If you are planting your green beans in containers, we suggest bush or pole beans. Many compact varieties are available, and many standard beans can be grown in containers as well. Here are some of our favorite bean varieties for containers.
- Phaseolus lunatus ‘White Dixie Butterpea’: 16 to 24 inches tall; three to four small lima beans per pod; excellent for hot weather climates.
- P. vulgaris ‘Derby’: tender, round, 7-inch-long pods form on 18-inch plants; resistant to bean common mosaic virus.
- P. vulgaris ‘Mascotte’: prolific producer; 5- to 6-inch fruit on 16- to 18-inch-tall plants; resistant to anthracnose, bean common mosaic virus, and halo blight; variety name is French for “mascot” and symbolizes good luck.
- P. vulgaris ‘Topcrop’: vigorous heirloom that sets heavy crop of pods 6 to 7 inches long on 15- to 18-inch-tall bushes; resistant to bean common mosaic virus.
- P. coccineus ‘Hestia’: dwarf runner bean; 12- to 14-inch-tall plants produce 8-inch-long pods; if desired, leave beans to dry on plant and harvest as dried beans for chili, soups, and stews.
- P. vulgaris ‘Rattlesnake’: heirloom; vines up to 10 feet long produce 8- to 10-inch-long green pods with purple speckles; drought-resistant; heat-tolerant.
Read more about some of our favorite varieties of green beans.
More Like This
For the first time ever I decided to plant veggies and flowers in our backyard, and I noticed today that there are actual green beans on the plant!!! Do I pick them now? Or wait? I don't want to prematurely ruin them. They're pole beans.
Pole beans pods are ready for harvest about 7 to 14 days
after flowering. You harvest before the pods are fully mature. The pods should be full size with small seeds, and firm, crisp flesh when picked. Pick regularly as the plant will flower and mature the pods for 5 to 6 weeks on pole types. Pole beans generally produce pods over a very long time period so only one or two plantings are necessary each year for continuous production.
all my pole bean plants look great but there are no beans even though there were blossoms. I am in Arizona with this super hot temp. Does that have anything to do with it? Same with my tomatoes...blossoms but no tomatoes
Beans like warm weather but when it gets really hot the blossoms may drop off. Can you shade the area from the hot afternoon sun? Water stress can also cause blossoms to drop. Same for tomatoes. You may also not have enough pollinators. Hand pollination is an option.
I am in Louisiana and was wondering if anyone knows if I am still able to plant pole beans in late may?
According to the Louisiana extension services the best time to plant pole beans is 2/15 to 5/15 for spring and 8/10 to 8/31 for fall. They take 60 to 66 days to harvest. If your climate, however, is cooler this year, you could probably stretch it.
I planted pole beans and used the cattle panels and fertilized with manure tea. My plants were beautiful and blooms bountiful. Grasshoppers started devouring my blooms and nothing I tried kept them away. I was unable to harvest any beans. Help!
We have a couple of guinea fowl that keep the grasshopper population down. They are very entertaining to watch too!
cats eat grasshoppers, if you have some around. Just a thought...
Oh, no! Grasshoppers are a gardener's plague. If there are only a few, you can/should pick them off by hand. And, if they are not too many in number, you can cover the plants; but it's not easy to cover pole beans growing upright. Maybe you could try hanging row covers in such a way as to stay in place and not blow around (their blowing around wouldn't serve much purpose).
If the grasshoppers are in migration, in swarms, there is almost nothing you can do.
Some sources recommend growing and maintaining tall grass of lush green plants around the perimeter of your garden as a diversion, or "trap crop." But you must let is grow untended/uncut, and do not water or the grasshoppers will flee to your garden.
It sounds like maybe you do not have swarms of grasshoppers. Try catching and eliminating them individually as well as the trap crop.
Best wishes!
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