Master green beans with our complete planting and care guide
Finally, the Perfect Garden Seeds—From the trusted Old Farmer’s Almanac!
Non-GMO, open-pollinated, high germination, sourced from American farms.
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.
Catherine Boeckmann
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You don’t identify the type of beans you’re growing, but generally speaking, if your beans seemed to be bursting out of their casing/pod, you waited too long to pick them. The beans come soon after the flowers and you have to check at least every other day to check their progress. Then, when the beans form, you can harvest at almost any time. (There are no hard and fast rules. Your seed packet sometimes gives a suggested mature size.) Small, “immature” beans will be tender; older ones—like those you picked—not so much. They are still edible, though; you can just cook them a little longer.
As for the white coloration, that sounds like disease, possibly white mold. It’s not necessarily your fault, especially if your garden/area has experienced a lot of rain and temps have been cool. (You do not say where you are.) The plants may be a bit too close together, inhibiting air circulation, but the mold is due to rain, there’s not much you can do. Discard the plants and beans in trash, not compost.
I am the first american born on my father's side of the family. My American grandmother worked at a dairy, my French grandparents were dairy farmers. I visited my French grandmother who is about to be 97 yrs old and brought back two varieties of flageolet beans, Flavert and Flajoly this year. My family in France lives in the NE, Lorraine, which is the same North wise as the USA-Canadian border(I live in South Carolina). The soil in Lorraine is the most fertile soil in the world (naturally without any help). I planted my beans here in SC on July 16 2017 in the evening and the Flavert beans were up this morning (July 20 2017). I use a furrow blade and dug trenches for each row and filled the rows with organic garden soil from California before planting. The beans state that they are to germinate in 5-8 days. So the Flavert are early. Because these beans normally grow in Lorraine, France I decided to grow them at the end of their advertised window so that they might grow and produce a yield versus just vines due to the heat here in SC. I know that French flageolet beans require rich soil, which I tried to provide, but that is all I know. I am an fiber farmer raising alpacas, angora goats, pigs, rabbits, poultry so I do have manure I could add but have not this year because I do not want a nitrogen over kill. I do have enough beans of the 2 varities to try again 3-5 times. If anyone has any info for growing beans in SC, growing flageolets outside of France or any other suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Joel Simon (Sgt USMC, veteran)
J&E Homestead LLC, owner operator
Yum! These are called “the caviar of beans” in some circles. We’ve not grown them but now want to! Thanks for posting, Joel, and for your service. We hope someone will share their experience with these beautiful beans.
when should I harvest them ? my step-father would bring in the bushel basket and my mom and I would shell them . that was in the 70's . I planted some but have no clue when to harvest them
a few weeks before the standard United States school year for elementary and middle school would be the beginning of the standard harvesting time for most crops
I planted a packet of bush type wax beans and 2 packets of bush type green beans. Both the wax and green beans have long runners growing upward like pole beans. should I vine them up on trellises or can I trim them back. would they still produce beans?
Hi Susan,
Bush varieties of beans (both wax and green) will spread about 2 feet. They may grow some runners, but they do not require any trellising or trimming.
Help!
What is wrong. Too much water? or not enough? or ??
There are several reasons why bean leaves yellow. It could be root rot which is due to overwatering. Or, it could be lack of sunlight as beans need at least 6 hours of direct sunshine. Or, it could be lack of nitrogen in your fertilizer. Another common reason for yellowing leaves is bacterial blight which is introduced to a field by infected seed. A fungicide spray can sometimes halt the disease. Finally, yellows leaves can mean mosaic virus. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do. Remove infected plants and purchase only disease-resistant seeds. See more about bean diseases: http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/vegetables/edible-bean-disease-and-disorder-identification/
I have the prettiest vines, but no blooms. I planted them the last week of April. Am I not being patient enough?
