How to Grow Bean
Bean At a Glance
Difficulty
Easy
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Full Sun, Partial Sun
Frost Tolerance
Frost Tender
Cold Hardiness
Survives to 2°C
Plant Family
Fabaceae
Growing Season
Warm Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Sow about 1 week after your last spring frost, once the soil feels warm, because beans rot in cold, wet soil. Push each seed 3 cm deep and 15 cm apart, and cover it. They sprout in 7 to 10 days. Put up poles or a trellis for climbing beans at sowing time, so you do not disturb the roots later.
Beans are one of the easiest crops for a first garden: big seeds, quick sprouts and pods in about 50 days. Bush beans stay short and give most of their pods over a few weeks, while pole beans climb and keep going until frost. For beans all summer, sow a few more bush beans every 2 to 3 weeks until about 60 days before your first fall frost.
When To Start
First chance to plant
7 Days After Last Frost
Last chance to plant
60 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Bean?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Bean Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Bean Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow beans outdoors now that the soil is warm
1 week after your last frost· every year
Pick beans every 2 to 3 days to keep them coming
55 days after your last frost· every year· optional
Did you water your bean seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Time to thin the bean seedlings: snip the extras at soil level so each one has room to grow.
About 20 days after you plant it
Your beans are growing fast! Water the soil, not the leaves, and keep it evenly moist as flowers come.
About 27 days after you plant it
Bean pods are on the way! Pick them young and often, and the plants will keep making more.
About 43 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your bean.
About 50 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Bean's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 1
Prepare Your Space
3 cm
Seeding Depth
15 cm
Plant Spacing
45 cm
Row Spacing
4
Plants / Sq Ft
Vertical Growing
Yes: Trellis.
Method: Trellis.
Succession Planting
Yes.
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 7–10 days
Growing Tips
- 1Grow beans in full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours a day.
- 2Mix a little compost into the soil before sowing, but skip rich feeding, since beans make much of their own plant food with the help of tiny bumps on their roots.
- 3Water deeply at the base about once a week, more once they flower, because dry soil makes the flowers drop.
- 4A thin layer of worm castings around the plants when they start to flower is all the feeding they need.
- 5Climbing beans need poles or a trellis about 2 m tall, while bush beans need no support at all.
- 6Stay out of the bean patch when the leaves are wet, since that spreads leaf diseases, and wash aphids off with a spray of water.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~50
Days to Maturity
35 cm
Mature Height
45 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
45 days
When to Pick
Pick pods when full, before toughening
How to Harvest
- 1Start picking about 50 to 60 days after sowing, when the pods are firm, crisp and about as thick as a pencil, before the beans inside make bumps.
- 2Hold the stem with one hand and snap or snip the pod off with the other, so you do not pull up the plant.
- 3Pick every 2 to 3 days, because the more you pick, the more pods the plant makes.
- 4Keep fresh beans unwashed in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.
- 5For dry beans to cook in winter, leave the pods on the plant until they are brown and rattle.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Beans are one of the easiest seeds to save, because each flower pollinates itself and rarely crosses with other beans, so seed from a variety that is not a hybrid grows true. To be extra safe, keep different bean varieties about 3 m apart. Leave a few healthy plants unpicked and let the pods dry on the plant until they are brown and crisp, then pick them before the fall rains. Shell the beans and let them dry indoors for another 1 to 2 weeks, until a bean shatters when you hit it with a hammer instead of squishing. Store them in a labelled jar somewhere cool, dark and dry, where they keep about 3 years.
Seed Production
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