Green Beans: Learn How to Plant, Grow and Harvest

Phaseolus vulgaris is known as green beans. Green beans are young and unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean. They are a tender, annual vegetable. It also known as string beans or snap beans. Green bean plants can grow easily in vegetable garden and often produce large quantities, which are easy to care for or harvest. It is both easy and quick to grow, which also makes the perfect vegetable for novice gardeners. Here’s how to plant, grow and harvest green beans and learn the upsides or downsides of bush versus pole varieties.

How to Plant

Green beans grow out in a compact space, while pole beans grow on climbing vines. After the winter season, sow green bean seeds 1 inch deep and 2 inches apart in rows 18 to 24 inches apart. Sow green bean seeds directly into the soil, rather than starting the growing process indoors. This plant has fragile roots, which makes them difficult to transplant.

Ensure that soil temperature is at least 50 to 60°C before sowing green bean seeds to prevent slow germination or rot. Beans don’t need a long growing season, but for the longest harvest, succession plant bush bean seeds every two or three weeks or until about two months before the first expected fall frost.

Harvest

Green beans are picked young and tender before the seeds inside have proper developed. Bush beans are generally ready to harvest within 50–55 days, while green beans can take 55 to 60 days. The bean pods are ready to harvest when they’re 4-6 inches long and slightly firm, and before the beans protrude through the skin. Snap or cut the beans off the plant and being careful not to tear the plant. Gently pull the beans from the plant, taking care not to tear the blooms. Harvest often to promote more sprouting plants.

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