Growing Beans - dwarf, also French beans, Bush beans

Phaseolus vulgaris : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
        P P            

(Best months for growing Beans - dwarf in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 61°F and 86°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 2 - 6 inches apart
  • Harvest in 7-10 weeks. Pick often to encourage more flower production.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Sweetcorn, spinach, lettuce, summer savory, dill, carrots, brassicas, beets, radish, strawberry and cucumbers, tagates minuta (wild marigold)
  • Avoid growing close to: Alliums (Chives, leek, garlic, onions) Sunflower

Your comments and tips

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26 Jan 10, Chris (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Jim, snails will eat all the leaves off a bean plant overnight. Various bugs and grubs will eat into the beans themselves. Have you checked the plants at night with a torch to catch what is eating them?
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11 Feb 10, Hellbelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
My bean plants were growing really well, but now the leaves seem to be dying off just as they're starting to flower. The ends are going brown - they look like they're burnt but i'm sooo careful when i water to make sure the leaves stay dry....any tips???
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13 Feb 10, Rikkyurk (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I have tried growing from seed twice and only one from 40 seemed to germinate. I am sowing in rows 1.5 - 2cm deep. As directed on the packet I didn't water for 3 days after sowing. They were a fresh packet of seed too. Any tips?
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01 Oct 10, Monty (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
A tip I saw on a TV show for getting beans and peas to germitate suggested soaking the seeds overnight in water with a pinch of epsom salts. The magnesium is supposed to activate an enzyme in the seed which triggers sprouting. I have done this once with dwarf beans and once with braod beans and have got 100% (8 out of 8) germination both times.
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16 Feb 10, Liz (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
Rikkyurk, Water the ground well before sowing the beans, then you can leave them for a few days to germinate. But if the weather is very hot and dry, it might help to water after a day. Have you tried a different variety? Some seem easier than others.
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20 Mar 10, monique (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
my beans are really hard what is wrong with them and they are a bit brown
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21 Mar 10, george (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Can anyone help I have tried twice to get my dwarf beans going but by the time they rreach 6 leaf stage they are being eaten by something. or may be sucked by something.
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21 Mar 10, Diane (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
My bean plants were also growing very well, they flowered and produced a few beans but now the leaf ends are going brown and look burned (just like Hellbelle 11 Feb post). I would appreciate some feedback about possilbe causes.
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17 Apr 10, brian palfreyman (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Soon after the bean sprouts comes out of the ground they need to be sprayed against the bean fly which stings the newly exposed stalk and lays eggs in the stalk and a grub developes which eats the inside of the stalk and the plant dies I spray mine as soon as the bean emerges from the ground and get a good crop,if I forget to spray them I loose them
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22 May 10, dan (Australia - tropical climate)
can you tell me the name of the spray to use as we have the same problem.
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Showing 11 - 20 of 156 comments
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When and if you plant your beans too closely together (or if you plant in the shade) - they will REACH for the light, becoming very leggy. Planting too close together stops the light from hitting the sides of the plant (plants in the middle are effectively in the shade with exception to the top portion), only the top portion of the plant gets sunlight and therefore the plant reaches that way.... "up". You could, if you were planting only one row provided the row ran N/S plant closely together because 2 sides get full sun (if rows run W/E the plants in the same row tend to shade each other -- plant large plants on the North side of rows that run N/S; this is Northern Hemisphere). That's why spacing is usually given as, between plants (within a row that runs N/S) and then the distance between rows (running W/E). Of course if you are planting on a steep slope, than run your rows parallel to the slope as a general rule of thumb This is the above ground portion of plant spacing. There is also the below ground portion of plant spacing: roots, water and nutrition. If you were to just look at the root (and ignore for a moment the above ground portion): tap rooted plants can be planted closer together than fibrous root plants, because the tap root goes DOWN, and fibrous spreads out and down. Companion planting takes root and sunlight requirements into account: for example: you can plant carrots AROUND a tomato plant ; because carrots don't need much light (and the tomato does), and carrots being a tap root don't interfere with the fibrous roots of the tomato plant, which just go around the carrot. Mind you when you pull the carrot you do disrupt the tomato a little; but not so much that I would be concerned. You can get more vegetables in a smaller space when you learn which plants can work as "understory" plants to others. When it comes to plant nutrition; spacing ensure there is enough soil to source the appropriate vitamins and minerals a plant requires. When planting tightly; or using companion planting you need to take into account that you are planting tighter than the recommended spacing and therefore increase the nutrition (manure/compost) in areas where tight planting is happening.

- FaithCeleste Archer

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