Growing Beans
Seeds can be sown outdoors anytime after last spring frost provided the soil temperature is at least 58 degrees, although 72-degree soil is preferred. Plant 1 inch deep, a little deeper for sandier soils. If you want an earlier start, you can cover your soil with plastic or black fabric in early spring to increase the soil temperature.
Bush beans grow best in well drained, organic material rich soil. They need full sun to produce best. Before you start planting bush beans, you should consider using a bean inoculant, which have bacteria that help the bean plant produce better. Your bush beans will still produce if you do not add bean inoculants to the soil, but it will help you get a bigger crop from your bush beans.
Plant bush bean seeds about 1 1/2 inches deep and 12 inches apart. If you are planting more than one row of bush beans, the rows should be 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm.) apart. You can expect the bush beans to germinate in about one to two weeks. No trellis is needed for bush beans.
If you would like a continuous harvest of bush beans through the season, plant new bush bean seeds about once every two weeks.
For pole beans set up trellises, or “cattle panels,” and plant 3 inches apart. Thin to 9-12” spacing. There are many types of trellis designs available; a google search should give you some good ideas.
Beans are quite easy and need little fertilization. Harvest beans as soon as they are ripe as harvesting promotes new flowers to form.
Growing pole beans gives you the advantage of maximizing your space, and the beans grow straighter and are easier to pick. Bush-type bean plants need no support, require little care, and can be picked whenever you are ready to cook or freeze them. They typically produce an earlier crop too, so successive plantings may be necessary for a continual harvest. Growing beans, regardless of type, do not need supplemental fertilizer but they do need consistent irrigation, especially while budding and setting pods. Water bean plants with an inch of water per week depending upon weather conditions. Water in the morning so the plants can dry rapidly and avoid fungal disease.
