How To Grow Green Beans in Your Garden

Learning How To Grow Green Beans will add a very productive vegetable to your backyard garden.

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Growing Green Beans

Learning how to Grow Green Beans is a super important garden skill.  Green beans (sometimes called runner beans or String Beans) are one of the highlights of a summer garden. Beans are high in fiber, low in calories, and are a good source of vitamin C. But beyond the nutritional benefits of homegrown beans is their superior taste!!

The beans you buy in a store (whether fresh, frozen, or canned) are bred for one reason, and that reason is to allow them to be processed easily! Commercial plant breeders are not really fussed with taste, they just want them to ship and process easily!!

Not so with garden-grown beans. Fresh grown beans are the best green beans, you just can’t beat the amazing taste.These are one of the tasty high points of the summer garden for me!! Although you usually hear them called “green” beans, the colors definitely don’t have to be limited to green!

There are several shades of purple available out there along with several different colors of yellow (often called wax beans). Varieties include slender French-style beans, string-less varieties, even yard long beans! So the sky is the limit with this fantastic summertime crop!

Let’s take a look at what types of green beans there are out there and how to grow green beans!

Varieties of Green Beans

There are two primary types of green beans: pole or bush. Let’s talk about each.

Bush Beans

When learning how to grow green beans, bush beans may be the easiest to grow.  Bush beans are compact plants that grow between 1 to 2 feet tall. The main advantage of bush beans is how quickly they produce. Many varieties will start producing in as little as 60 days.

This is great because you can plant very late in the year and still get a harvest! Many years I plant bush beans as late as July 15th (that’s only about 75 days before our first frost) and still get a super good harvest. The average bush bean variety will produce 10 to 14 days sooner than a pole bean.

Another advantage of bush beans is the huge variety of colors and sizes they come in! There are easily 50 different types of bush beans in colors ranging from green to yellow to purple! It is very easy to tuck a few bush beans into an out-of-the-way (but sunny) corner of your garden. Some years we have been scattered all over the place.

The biggest disadvantage of this type of bean is how much you can harvest from them. Expect to get only 60% of the harvest in the same space from bush beans than what you would expect from a pole variety. The harvest from bush beans also doesn’t last nearly as long either. Only about 3 weeks per plant.

Pole Beans

Pole beans get their name from the fact that they need a “pole” to grow on. These beans grow vines that can be as long as 8 to 10 feet and those vines need support or stakes. The traditional method is to use tall wooden poles that the beans will climb up, hence the name pole bean.

Any form of a trellis will work well for growing pole beans.  To learn more about growing beans on a trellis check out this post I wrote about, that also includes a video.  Learn how to make a simple one for under $15 and it also works well for beans or cucumbers.

The main advantage of pole beans is the increased harvest per plant. As I stated earlier the ration is around 60% for bush beans. So a spot that grows 10 pounds of pole beans, would grow around 6 pounds of bush beans.

Pole beans not only produce more beans but they are ideal for a small space garden and they grow well in pots too! Pole beans are also easier to pick, which I know those of you with back problems will appreciate.

I also think that having trellises of pole beans adds a huge amount of visual interest to a garden. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love to see a pretty trellis covered in vines, flowers, and beans. They can turn a otherwise bland garden, into a fun, interesting feature of your yard.

Planting Beans

The best soil for beans is fertile well-drained soil with a PH of between 6 and 7, but don’t let your soil conditions stop you, beans are pretty hardy and will do well in most soil types. However, I would suggest amending the garden beds beforehand with some organic material, like a good rich compost.

Beans are a warm-season crop and cannot tolerate frost. Keep track of your last spring frost date and watch the weather to make sure you plant them at the right time. It is important to hold off on your planting time until all danger of frost is gone.

Beans also need a soil temperature of at least 60 degrees to germinate but would prefer 70. If the soil temperature is too cold then this will affect your green bean germination. You can test this by purchasing a simple and inexpensive Soil Thermometer . Covering your bed with plastic for a week or two before planting can quickly bring the soil temperature up as well.

Both bush and pole beans do best if you directly sow the seeds in the soil. You can start your seeds indoors and transplant seedlings out, but in all but the coldest climates, this is overkill. Beans do just fine being planted directly in the soil and allowed to germinate outdoors.

Full sun is a must for beans. Choose a sunny spot that gets at least 8 hours of sun, but they will do much better if you choose a spot with 10 to 12 hours of sun in the summertime.

Plant seeds 1inch deep to 1-1/2 inches deep and roughly 2 inches apart, once the seeds are germinated it may be necessary to thin bush beans to about 4 inches apart and pole beans to about 6 inches.

It is the perfect crop to succession plant bush bean seeds and pole bean seeds! Planting a small number of beans every 2 weeks until mid-summer (About 60 to 75 days before your first fall frost) will ensure a continuous supply of fresh beans all summer long!!  This article will help you figure out the latest date you can plant beans and still expect a harvest. 

Beans are also a great crop to consider inter-planting with other crops. Try radishes, carrots or even lettuce to help utilize the extra space.

How to care for green beans?

Beans are fairly easy for most of us to care for. Once the plants are up a few inches, it is a good idea to thin if needed. Usually, around 4 inches between plants is sufficient, I have found a few places that recommend 6 inches for pole beans, but I have found four inches to be plenty.

Beans are fairly drought tolerant, but they will produce much better if they are kept moist while the plants are flowering and the beans are growing. So plan on giving them some water. Sometimes you will notice that your beans are a bit “stringy”, meaning that when you eat them they have long fibrous “strings” running through the bean.

Most modern varieties of beans are fairly string-less so if you notice stringiness that means the plants may be suffering from heat stress. Try increasing the amount of water you are giving them, and consider using a mulch around the base of the plants to help keep them cool.

Always try to water in the morning. This is especially the case if you are using overhead watering (sprinklers). Moisture on the foilage can promote disease issues, so if you water during the day the leaves will dry out faster.

Many soil-borne diseases can be transmitted when the soil “splashes” on to the leaves. This can be prevented (or at least minimized) by mulching around the plant.

That will keep splashing to a minimum and will also help keep the soil cool and help the soil to not dry out as quickly. Drip irrigation along with mulching almost eliminates soil splash, so if you can use a drip system.

Beans have a fairly shallow root system, so you need to be very careful when you are cultivating the soil around the plants. I would suggest pulling weeds by hand versus using a hoe around bean plants.

Beans really don’t need much in the way of fertilizer. If you are taking care of your garden soil each year by adding compost and other organic matter you really shouldn’t need to add fertilizer.

In fact, beans are legumes and they have the amazing ability from a soil bacteria to pull nitrogen from the air and “fix” it in their root system. Because of this I never pull up the roots of my bean plants.

At the end of the season, I simply cut the plants off at ground level leaving the roots in the ground. In most gardens, you will find the soil richer and improved after planting beans. Whatever crop I plant the year following a bean crop does extra well because of the added nitrogen in the soil.

Pests & Diseases

Green beans for the most part are pest-free, especially as the plant grows bigger. However, occasionally you may have issues with the following pests but this is rare:

• Aphids
• Leafhoppers
• Mites
• Mexican Bean Beetles
• Birds
• Slugs
• Snails
• Earwigs

The best organic pest control method to use for the last 4 pests on the list would be to cover your green beans with a light fabric row cover or bug netting. This will help protect your small bean plants

Green Beans can also be susceptible to diseases, like downy mildew and other leaf problems. These leaf diseases can be prevented by using crop rotation in your garden. It is also important to never handle wet plants and use a drip irrigation system.

Harvesting Green Beans

You know your harvest is on the way once you see flowers setting on your bean plants. Shortly after you see flowers you will start to see tiny little beans growing. Keep a close eye on them, they will grow quicker than you might think!

Pick beans while they are still young and tender. You should pick them before seeds start forming inside the pod, while they are still slender and tender.

Pick Often

The more you pick the more beans the plants will produce. Avoid letting any of your beans get too large and start developing seeds inside the pod. This seed development signals the plants to focus on growing the seeds, so they will stop producing additional flowers and more beans. I would suggest that you pick your beans daily, that way none of the beans get away from you and slow down your production.

Most bush beans will have a harvest period of around 3 weeks from the first beans to the last bean picked. Pole beans on the other hand if managed correctly will produce for as long as 8 weeks! So keep picking, the more beans you harvest (and the sooner) the more you will ultimately have!

Most of the official University sites tell us that you can expect 75 pounds of beans per 100 feet of plants from Bush beans and 125 pounds per 100 feet for pole beans. I’ve always found those types of numbers a little worthless because I don’t have 100 feet to plant!!! I have found that a 4 x 8-foot bed of bush beans will yield around 20 pounds of green beans, the same bed planted with pole beans will be around 30 pounds.

Freshly picked beans will last about 2 weeks in the fridge, which gives you a little time to eat them up or to build up enough supply to do some canning or freezing.  Part of learning how to grow green beans is also learning how to preserve them.

Preserving Green Beans

Freezing Beans

Our favorite way of preserving beans is freezing. It is much quicker and a lot less work to do it that way!! They also taste like they have been freshly picked! Your bean harvests will be worth all the work when you are eating them in the winter.

Here’s a link to our post on freezing green beans

Canning Beans

Canning is also a very popular method for preserving beans. However, it is a lot more work and you MUST use a pressure canner to preserve them. Here is resource for canning green beans:

https://www.simplycanning.com/canning-green-beans/

Drying Beans

Beans can also be dried in a food dryer or freeze dryer. Here are link on how to dry green beans:

https://www.simplycanning.com/dehydrating-green-beans.html

Are Green Beans Easy To Grow?

Green Beans and especially bush beans are quite easy to grow.  They like warm weather and rich well-drained soil but require little extra care and can provide an abundant harvest!

How long does it take for green beans to grow?

Bush beans can be ready in as little as 60 days.  Pole beans take longer to grow but still, they can be ready to harvest in as little as 75 days.

Do you need a trellis to grow green beans?

Needing a trellis for green beans depends on the variety you grow.  Bush beans do not need a trellis, but pole beans require some type of trellis in order to be their most productive.

What is the best way to grow green beans?

To get the most production out of your plants you should choose pole bean varieties and then grow them using some type of trellis system.  A trellis should be at least 6 feet high, taller if possible.