Growing Green Beans At Home

The cave men lived a healthy and care free life as they lived in nature and supported afforestation. With the advance of technology, even children in recent times do know that plants give out oxygen, which is essential to humans for survival, and humans give carbon dioxide for plants.

If you are a garden enthusiast, you would have definitely known about green beans. Famers for their easy maintenance and good produce prefer them. They are also known as snap beans or string beans in western and northeastern United States. Mexicans prefer to call this vegetable as ‘ejotes’. Vulnerable to weather conditions, water should be provided regularly, but you can easily have a good harvest in both summer as well as fall.

The green bean plants are of two types – bushy type and pole type. This article on how to grow green beans gives you vital information on the requirements and needs for a good yield.

As the names suggest, bush types tend to grow horizontally while the pole bean types grow vertically. Some of the popular varieties of bush beans are Bountiful and Bush Blue Lake while pole types are Kentucky Wonder and Fortex.

All plants need basic conditions such as light, water, soil and nutrients for healthy growth. Akin to other plants, chose an area in your garden that can receive maximum sunlight. You have to ensure that the seeds are not planted in very moist soil. If you have planted the seeds under other trees or plants, the shade can make the soil sustain moisture for long periods.

How To Grow Green Beans?

Providing Basic Amenities

The suitable soil type for growing green beans is loamy soil. So before beginning, check your garden soil – if you find sandy soil or clay soil, you can change the content by mixing organic manure. Ensure the space is free from stones, chemical waste, trash and weeds. These plants seldom need nutrients, but you can add a little fertilizer to get a better yield.

The minimum temperature required in soil is 48 degrees Fahrenheit for green bean seeds. The temperature should be consistent or else the seeds will not germinate properly. The best temperature that has been recorded for better yield is 55 degrees. Once the plants begin to sprout, the plant has the ability to withstand heat up to 77 degrees.

For growing bushy type of green beans, you do not need a trellis, but for pole beans, a support is mandatory. The best trellis would be the cattle panel – the length will be 16 feet and height will be five feet. You can plant the fence near the area where you planted the seeds. Without support, the plants can become entangled and limit produce. Bush beans seeds are the first to sprout and they can be raised in container gardens.

Bush bean plant seeds can be placed two inches from one another while pole beans can be planted at a distance of three inches from one another along with cattle panels. The depth of the hole the seed is planted should be 5 cm.

Since the seeds need certain temperature, you can apply three inches of mulch (made of wood chips) over the soil to prevent the soil from getting cold or warm. Mulch can also be prepared from lawn clippings and weathered straw. It can also help prevent weeds and provide shelter to the earthworms.

The planting or sowing of green bean seeds can be continued every fifteen days. The yield can continue till the last month of summer.

Water is an essential component for growth of plants. You can skip the practice of holding garden hosepipe with water on rainy or cloudy days. Water or sprinkle regularly on sunny days as the plant should not get dehydrated for the pods to fall down before time. The plant seeds should not be soaked in water prior to planting or after planting the seeds in the soil. In case of extreme moisture conditions, the seeds can crack and break. The pH of the soil should be in the range of 6.0 to 6.5. In case of basic or acidic soil, you can add either organic manure or fertilizer to maintain the equilibrium of soil pH. For sandy soil, the fertilizer to be applied should have nitrogen in plenty.

Weeds can destroy the crop you have so carefully tended to. They can strangle the about-to-sprout green beans small plants. You can clear the weeds but make sure that you do not dig the soil too deep as the shallow roots of bean plant might get damaged. Weeds should not be cut if there is moisture in the soil or mulch to prevent outbreak of any disease.

For prevention against common diseases of green beans, you can spray organic insecticides or fungicides. For cutworms, you can use insecticide and for fungicides, you can use sulfur and neem oil. Consult your local nursery for information about prevention.

If the pods are firm, then the green beans can be easily taken from the plant. The duration of harvest is fifty to sixty days from the day of planting the seeds.

You can keep the green beans in a refrigerator for further use. They also can be canned/pickled for certain time.

Growing Green Beans (Bush Beans)

They are shorter compared to pole beans and the easiest way to produce a crop within fifty days.

Pole Beans

This bean should be checked very three days for the plants to undergo the natural stages of flowering but you should let the beans grow to its full size before the harvest.

Gardening can be a great team building activity for both adults and children to bond well with each other. Pole beans can be grown near the window for keeping the house cool during summer. You can let children water the plants. Gardening has been found, according to medical studies, to reduce depression and anxiety along with stress. In children, gardening helps promote responsibility and enhance knowledge along with practical skills.