Beans, which come in many varieties, are very easy vegetables to grow.
| Name | Phaseolus vulgaris |
|---|---|
| Family | Fabaceae |
| Type | Annual vegetable |
| Height | 16 inches to 10 feet (40 cm to 3 m), depending on the habit |
| Exposure | Full sun |
| Soil | Light, not too moist. Never heavy clay |
| Sowing | April to August, once the soil holds 50 to 55 °F (10 to 12 °C) |
| Harvest | 2 to 4 months after sowing, depending on the type |
| Picking | Every 2 to 3 days. Picking is what keeps the plant flowering |
Caring for beans requires attention to details that will help you grow a bountiful harvest and avoid diseases.
Four things are sold as beans and grown almost identically, but they are picked at completely
different moments, and picking at the wrong one is the commonest disappointment in the row.
What separates them is not the plant, it is the stage at which you take the pod.
| Type | What you eat | Picked when | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snap bean also French, green or string bean |
The whole pod, seed and all | At half its final length, 4½ to 6 in (12 to 15 cm), before the seeds swell | Wait too long and it turns fibrous. Pick every two or three days |
| Shelling bean flageolet, borlotti |
The fresh seed; the pod is thrown away | When the pod is full and beginning to colour, but still supple | Cooked fresh, not dried. The window is about ten days |
| Dry bean | The dried seed, stored for months | When the pods are papery and rattle, all at once | Needs a dry spell at the end of the season. Never save seed from a row that had blight |
| Runner bean | Pod when young, seed when older | Pods at about 8 in (20 cm), before they go leathery | A different species, Phaseolus coccineus, with a perennial root and flowers that need insects to set |
Every type above comes in both habits, and the decision is not about space so much as about
how you want to eat.
| Dwarf, or bush | Pole, or climbing | |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 16 to 24 in (40 to 60 cm) | Up to 10 ft (3 m) |
| Support | None | Essential, and put in at sowing |
| Sowing to first pick | 8 to 10 weeks | 10 to 12 weeks |
| How long it crops | Three to four weeks, then it is finished | Eight to ten weeks, continuously |
| Row spacing | 16 in (40 cm) | 28 in (70 cm) |
| Best for | Succession sowing every three weeks, small plots, an early crop | One sowing that feeds a household all summer |
Beans are sown directly in the ground in spring and summer.
Wait for mid-May in northern areas, but if you live in milder climates you can start planting in April.
It is best to sow when soil temperature is above 60°F (15°C), ideally around 65°F (18°C).
Dwarf bean varieties are easiest to grow because they don’t require staking.
Pole bean, snap bean and shelling bean varieties
Ridge the base all the way up to the first pair of leaves about 2 weeks after sprouting.
Pole beans can reach 10 feet (3 meters) high, so giving them a frame to climb on and follow is important.
Best is to stake poles along rows, encasing 2 rows of beans between the stakes. Stakes should then be brought to meet at the top, where a long horizontal rod connects them all.
Stakes should also be 10 feet (3 meters) tall, and are best made out of bamboo or hazel branches to bear the weight and the moisture.
Place stake pairs every 16 inches (40 cm), so that beans can cover the entire area.
We have an excellent 2-minute video on how to grow beans:
| Period | What to do | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| April, mild areas | First sowing of dwarf beans | Only once the soil holds 50 to 55 °F (10 to 12 °C). Cold soil rots the seed rather than germinating it |
| Mid-May, northern areas | First sowing, and pole beans | The last frost must have passed. A late frost kills a bean outright |
| Every 3 weeks to early August | Another batch of dwarf beans | Each dwarf sowing crops for three or four weeks only. Succession is the whole trick |
| Two weeks after sprouting | Ridge the base up to the first pair of leaves, and hoe | Anchors a plant that will otherwise rock in wind, and clears the weeds while they are small |
| July to October | Pick every two or three days | A pod left to ripen tells the plant its work is done, and flowering stops |
| September to October | Leave the last pods to dry on the plant | For dry beans and for saved seed — unless the row showed any sign of blight |
How can you tell when to harvest the beans, so that they aren’t either too ripe or too young?
For other types of beans like snap beans, wait for grains to appear.
How often should beans be harvested
Ideally, harvest beans every 2 or 3 days to induce continued flowering and let the plant produce correctly.
Snap beans should be harvested slightly less often (every 3 days).
String beans don’t keep for very long, unless they are frozen.
Most often, the diseases that attack beans are black spot disease, rust and halo blight.
The best treatment against these diseases is to spray Bordeaux mixture preventively and routinely when the weather is warm and moist (for example, after it rains in summer).
As for parasites, you’ll possibly discover aphids, slugs, spider mites or the famous bean weevil.
I have learnt thank you so much
Thanks for sharing that! Feel free to ask if you’d like to know more or something else.