Growing green beans is something that I do every year because our family just loves them! They’re easy to grow, especially for the beginner gardener. You can also grow green beans in containers, making them a small garden favorite!
Green beans, also known as Phaseolus vulgaris, have hundred of different variations. However, the two main types of green beans boil down to pole beans and bush beans. Let’s break down the differences.
Best Green Beans to Grow
Pole beans are also known as “runners” and need support to grow. This can be accomplished in many ways , but most people use a teepee type structure for their beans, or you can trellis them.
For folks with limited area to work with, pole beans can be an attractive choice because they are grown vertically up to 6-7 feet!
Pole beans fair best in the cooler spring temperatures.
Pole beans take longer to harvest, averaging about 75 days. Once they begin to bear, you must be available to pick daily!
Bush beans are my personal favorite!
Bush beans grow best during the hot summer months and will easily give me two pickings from each plant.
I prefer getting most of my beans at one time, this allows me to pick and can them all in the same day. The second picking isn’t as large, but still substantial.
Every year I grow several rows of Blue Lake bush beans, and stagger them at about 7 days apart.
They are ready to harvest at about 55 days and the bushes are only 1-2 feet tall. Bush beans support each other when planted in rows of two that are close together.
How to Grow Green Beans from Seed
Growing green beans require that you wait until after the last frost for your area. Build your soil by adding well-rotted compost before you plant seeds.
Green beans also flourish in a sunny, well-drained plot or container. They couldn’t be easier to plant, and are perfect for children to learn how to garden.
The seeds need to be 1″ in the ground and watered regularly until they germinate. Once they germinate, they grow quickly! First, you’ll see pretty white blooms and then fruit will appear for bush beans at about 55 days and pole beans in about 75 days.
Green Bean Companion Plants
Companion planting is when you put certain plants in close proximity in the garden so they can mutually benefit from each other.
Companion plants like Marigold attract ladybugs to any garden, who will eat many non-beneficial bugs that like to munch on your vegetables! Marigolds also repel the Mexican Bean Beetle, so plant plenty of marigold in and around your garden.
Summer savory is also a companion plant for beans, improving their growth and repelling those nasty bean beetles.
Beans can be mutually beneficial to cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, beets, radishes and corn.
Beans are inhibited, however, by all members of the onion family.
What is Companion Vegetable Planting?
Green Bean Recipes
I’ll admit it, green beans are my favorite green vegetable, I could eat them every day.
Straight out of the jar. Yeah, I’m weird like that.
However, there are so many wonderful recipes out there to try with your garden-fresh green beans!
Green Bean and Tuna Salad with Basil Dressing
If you have a green bean recipe that you would like to share, please include it in the comments!
I hope that I’ve convinced you that you can grow a wonderful crop of green beans, even if you’re a beginning gardener! You really can’t mess them up!
