Wanting to grow beans but don’t know where to start? We’re going to teach you everything you need to know about how to grow green beans in your backyard garden. From bush beans to pole beans and everything in between.
Pin For Later!
This post contains affiliate links
How To Grow Green Beans
Green beans are one of the easiest things that you can grow when you are a brand new gardener, they also have a big reward for a little bit of time. How to grow green beans begins with deciding on what type of green beans you want to grow. There are all kinds, but some of my favorites are Cherokee Trail Of Tears and Roma Beans.
Preparing Your Garden Plot For Green Beans
The first step in how to grow green beans is preparing your garden bed, it will need to be free of weeds and it’s best to amend your soil with well-rotted manure or compost. There are lots of ways to prepare a garden bed you can read about some of them in this post about preparing your garden for spring.
Do You Need A Trellis To Grow Green Beans?
The next step in how to grow green beans is deciding if you want to grow pole beans or bush beans. Bush beans do not require a trellis or arbor but they also don’t produce as much as a pole bean. If you grow pole beans you will absolutely need a trellis of some sort. We like to grow ours on a cattle panel arched trellis. You can find 16-foot x 50-inch cattle panels at Tractor Supply for $20 or so (they do come in other sizes, this is just what we prefer). We’ve found it to be a good investment and something that lasts for a really long time, so in the long run, you are saving money.
How Much Sun Do Green Beans Need?
Green beans need all of the sunshine you can give them, to get the best harvest from your plants they should be kept in the full sun. If you don’t have a lot of sunshine, try growing bush beans in a pot in what sunshine you have and twisting the pot a bit each day so a part is always in the sun.
Beans can stop flowering in extreme heat, but don’t panic. Keep your green bean plants well-watered and it should be enough to pull them through. Green beans like to be grown when the temperature is between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do Green Bean Plants Have To Be Fertilized?
Green beans are legumes, which means they can fix their own nitrogen supply, so fertilizer isn’t strictly necessary. This is one of the things when it comes to how to grow green beans (especially if you are growing bush beans) that are up to you.
Because pole beans produce so much they can benefit from side-dressing them with compost or manure about halfway through their growing season. I like to use a fish emulsion fertilizer lightly on my plants once every other week or every three weeks and I have seen good results with it.
How To Grow Green Beans From Seeds
The next step in how to grow green beans is, planting from seeds. You can either direct sow them in your garden beds (we tend to do this in our raised bed garden) or sow them in pots in a greenhouse or warm window until it is time to plant them out in the garden.
A good rule of thumb when it comes to sowing seeds is always to plant them as deep as they are big. Gently poke a hole in the dirt and drop a seed into the soil. Cover over gently, continue this process until you have planted the amount you want. Make sure you label where you planted them so you don’t forget. Keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout and poke their heads above the soil.
If you decide to sprout your beans in pots, keep in mind that they are very fast-growing plants. Usually, after the first week to two weeks, ours are ready to transplant out into the garden.
The Best Way To Grow Green Beans
Though growing green beans is fairly easy there are still some things that you can do to help your plants thrive and get the best harvest you can:
How To Grow Green Bean Plants
Bush beans can be planted in a single row (keep in mind they get about 2 feet tall and a foot wide), or by spreading seeds in a wide row with roughly 4-6 inches between each plant. Bush beans are a great option for container gardening, how to grow green beans especially bush beans is something that is pretty flexible which means you can squeeze them in almost anywhere. Bush beans tend to start producing before pole beans do and usually come in all at once. To ensure a continuous harvest sow bush beans every two weeks.
Even when it comes to how to grow pole beans you have a lot of options, from teepees to trellises, to growing them up tall and stalky plants like corn. Make sure what you plan to trellis your green beans on is in place before you seed them. Pole beans take a little bit longer to start producing but last much longer than bush beans. One planting will usually last us all season. Plant 6-8 seeds every six inches apart.
Protecting Your Green Beans From Pests
Green beans are susceptible to a number of bests including slugs, Japanese Beatles, Aphid’s, and the Mexican Bean Beatle just to name a few. They are also in danger from deer or groundhogs getting in your garden and helping themselves so when it comes to how to grow green beans it’s important to plan ahead.
- Crushed eggshells at the foot of your beans to help prevent slug damage.
- Use an organic spray like Neem Oil to keep away pests, mites, and fungus. Have a big problem with Japanese Beetles, try these natural methods to get rid of them.
Tips For How To Grow Green Beans
Here are some of our best tips on how to grow green beans in your backyard garden:
- Always plant your green beans after your last frost, beans can’t take cold weather. If you happen to get a really late like we did this year try mulching over them gently with straw and then covering them with a fleece row cover.
- Beans have very shallow roots, so it’s important to keep them well watered.
- Beans do really well on a soaker hose or drip hoses.
How To Harvest Green Beans
How to grow green beans is a pretty straightforward process, we hope we’ve equipped you with the knowledge to get started in your garden operations. If you have any questions that we didn’t answer drop them below and we will do our best to answer them!
Before you go, check these out!
