All You Need To Know About Growing Beans

You have all sorts of questions about growing beans at home? Great!

Stick with me since I will show you all the answers to your questions about growing beans in the following chapters.

Time & Duration

When to grow beans from seed?

The best time to grow beans is in late spring. In most moderate climatic zones of our planet, this is between May and the beginning of June.

At this time of the year, you don’t have to worry about frost anymore but it is still early enough that your plants will have enough time to grow so that you can harvest them in late summer or autumn before it gets too cold outdoors.

Do beans grow year-round?

You could also try to grow beans year-round and harvest multiple batches of beans per year.

For instance, you could start with the first batch in spring and also plant one additional batch in summer.

However, make sure that your plants are ready to harvest before the first strong winter frost hits.

Do beans grow fast?

Compared to most other garden plants, you will be able to grow beans relatively quickly.

While it can take you 4 to 6 months to grow plants like melons or pumpkins from seed to harvest, it will often only take you around 2 months to grow beans at home.

How long does it take to grow beans?

The average time to grow beans from sowing to harvest is around 60 days.

However, this also greatly depends on the conditions you provide to your plants and also on your level of experience.

For instance, experienced gardeners will be able to grow beans much faster than newbies.

Do beans grow back every year?

Beans don’t grow back. Instead, you will have to plant new seeds every single time to get additional harvests for many years to come.

Also if you want to harvest multiple batches of beans per year, you would also have to plant multiple batches of seeds per year.

How long do bean plants live?

Bean plants live for one growing cycle. For instance, if you start growing beans in May, you will be able to harvest beans between July and August.

You will also usually remove the plant material at this stage. If you don’t, you can expect your plants to live until the first winter frost hits.

How long does it take until beans flower?

Bean plants will flower between 6 and 8 weeks after sowing the seeds.

However, this also greatly depends on the lighting conditions you want to grow bean plants.

The better the conditions, the faster your plants will grow and the sooner they will produce flowers.

Can you grow beans in fall?

Growing beans in fall is also perfectly doable as long as you make sure that you plant bean seeds in early fall so that your plants will have enough time to mature before the first strong winter frost arrives and your plants will decay.

Can you grow beans in winter?

You should not grow beans in winter since you would have to do so indoors.

However, this would imply several issues and you would also not be able to provide natural growing conditions.

In turn, your plants would not grow well and also your yields would be much lower.

Location & Climate

Will beans grow in shade?

While it is possible to grow beans in relatively cool climatic zones, you should still not grow beans in full shade since your plants need a certain minimum level of sunlight to grow well and you should make sure that you choose a site where your plants get at least a few hours of sunlight per day.

Will beans grow in partial shade?

Partial shade is a great environment to grow beans since you will provide your bean plants with some hours of sun but will still protect them from excessive sun exposure, radiation and heat that could greatly harm the growth of your plants in the long run.

Do beans grow best in full sun?

While beans need a certain level of sunlight to grow well, you should still not grow beans in fully sunny environments since your plants would just be exposed to excessive levels of heat and radiation and bean plants don’t like that at all.

Will beans tolerate frost?

While beans grow well in cool climatic zones, you should still not expose your plants to excessively cold climatic conditions.

Hence, only plant beans outdoors if you don’t expect frost anymore to protect your sensitive small plants from the cold.

Do you have to protect beans from the sun?

While there is no need to actively protect bean plants from the sun, you can do so in a completely natural manner by just growing beans in partially shady spots in your garden or on your balcony so that your plants get a healthy mix of sun and shade.

How much space do you need to grow beans?

While bean plants grow big in the vertical, they will not need that much space in the horizontal.

Thus, it will be enough to provide each plant with around 5 square feet of space so that your plants don’t have to compete for nutrients and sunlight and can grow in an optimal manner.

Will beans grow indoors?

While you could grow beans indoors, you will still run into several issues.

For instance, you will just not be able to provide that natural growing conditions to your plants.

Moreover, you will also have to clean your home more often and your plants will also take away lots of space from you.

Consequently, don’t grow beans indoors if you could also grow them in your garden or on your balcony since your plants would just grow much better outdoors and also your yields tend to be higher.

Can you grow beans without a garden or balcony?

If you don’t have a balcony or a garden, your only option to grow beans would be to do it indoors.

However, there are several issues with growing beans indoors and I therefore suggest you wait with growing beans at home until you move to a place where you have access to a garden or at least a balcony.

Can you grow beans in small flats?

Growing beans in small flats is not a good idea at all since your plants will take away lots of precious space from you and you will also not be able to provide natural growing conditions to your plants.

In turn, your yields will be much lower compared to growing beans outdoors as well.

Can you grow beans in an aquarium?

Instead of using conventional pots, you could also try to grow beans in aquariums filled with potting soil.

However, this is usually a bad idea since you will often not be able to make sure that water will run off properly and the roots of your plants may rot.

Can you grow beans in a terrarium?

Similar to growing beans in aquariums, you should also not grow beans in terrariums since waterlogging will become an issue.

Moreover, you will also be quite inflexible when it comes to moving terrariums since they get quite heavy once filled with soil.

Can you grow beans in buckets?

Buckets are a great alternative to conventional flower pots.

You just need to make sure to make some holes into the bottom of those buckets so that water can run off properly and you will be able to grow beans in those buckets in a decent manner.

Can you grow beans in bags?

Growing beans in bags is rather exotic, yet it will work if you use fabric bags where water can run off properly and your bags are also big enough to accommodate big bean plants so that your plants get enough nutrients and sunlight to grow well.

Can you grow beans in hanging baskets?

While it is possible to grow beans in hanging baskets, it is usually not a good idea since your plants will get quite big in the vertical and this means that your bean plants will become quite unstable in those hanging baskets and may even collapse in the long run.

Can you grow beans in rainy climatic zones?

It is perfectly doable to grow beans in rainy climatic zones.

If you want to do so, make sure that your plants can use every precious hour of sunlight by selecting a site where bean plants will be exposed to the sun in rare cases the sun will actually shine.

Can you grow beans in tropical climatic zones?

Growing beans in the tropics is not that easy since many bean varieties will not grow well with those most climatic conditions.

Hence, if you really want to grow beans in the tropics, make sure to choose a variety that is suitable for those extreme climatic conditions.

Can you grow beans in regions with permafrost?

Since bean plants are quite sensitive to frost, you should not grow them in regions with permafrost outdoors.

Instead, you would have to grow beans indoors or in greenhouses if you live in one of those extremely cold regions and would also have to deal with many issues in this regard.

Do beans grow on vines?

Beans don’t grow on vines. Instead, beans grow on plants that get quite big in the vertical.

If you haven’t seed bean plants before, make sure to check out one of the videos in this article to see how a bean plant actually looks like.

Do beans grow underground?

Beans never grow underground. Instead, the whole plant as well as the crops will develop above the soil surface and this will make it pretty easy for you to harvest beans once the time has come since you can always see how big beans are and what color they have.

What is the best orientation for growing beans?

To provide your bean plants with a healthy mix of sun and shade, you should either grow them in east or west orientation.

You could also try growing beans in south orientation if you want to provide your plants with more sunlight while you should never grow beans in north orientation.

Can you grow beans with indirect sunlight?

You will also be able to grow beans with indirect sunlight.

For instance, you could just grow beans in greenhouses and get decent results.

However, from my personal experience, it would still be best to grow beans with direct natural sunlight outdoors to get the highest yields.

Where do beans grow best?

Beans grow best if you provide them with a healthy mix between sun and shade and you should also make sure that your plants get sufficient space so that they don’t have to compete for sunlight and nutrients with each other and can grow in a perfect manner.

Where to grow beans in pots?

In case you grow beans in pots, you should select a protected spot around your home where your plants get sufficient sunlight but are still protected from heavy winds at the same time.

Where to grow beans indoors?

Growing beans indoors can be a valid option if you provide as much sun as possible to your plants.

If you don’t, your bean plants will just not grow well and may even decay sooner or later or will just not produce decent yields.

Can you grow beans in water?

You will not be able to grow beans in pure water. Instead, make sure to choose a proper soil mix so that bean plants get sufficient nutrients and can get strong enough to deal with pests and also to produce decent yields at the same time.

Can you grow beans with LED lights?

You could also try to use artificial lighting for growing beans indoors.

However, from my experience, this is just a waste of energy and money and you should therefore rather grow beans outdoors and utilize all the precious natural sunlight instead of relying on LEDs or other forms of artificial lighting.

Can you grow beans in dark rooms?

If you want to grow beans indoors, you should never grow them in dark rooms since your plants would just not get enough sunlight and would not be able to grow well.

In turn, also your yields would be quite limited and your plants might even decay.

Soil Requirements

Can you reuse soil for growing beans the next year?

You don’t have to dispose of used garden soil. Instead, you can use it for multiple bean growing seasons as long as you loosen the soil a little bit after a season is over and you should also add some natural fertilizer to the soil to make it rich in nutrients again.

Do beans grow well in waterlogged soil?

Like most other plants, beans don’t grow well in waterlogged soil at all and this means that you should always make sure that excess water can run off properly so that the roots of your plant don’t rot and your beans can grow in a decent manner.

Do beans grow best in acidic, neutral or alkaline soil?

Beans grow well in acidic soil with an optimal soil pH of 6.0 – 6.5.

However, you should not worry about those technicalities at all. If you get a decent soil mix from the garden center, you will be perfectly fine to grow beans in it in a decent manner.

Will beans grow in sandy soil?

You should not use sandy soil to grow beans.

Instead, rely on a soil mix that is more balanced since your plants would just lack precious nutrients and this would lead to slower growth of your plants if the fraction of sand in the soil mix would be too high.

Will beans grow well in clay soil?

Clay soil is not a good option to grow beans since it is quite solid and water will often not be able to run off properly.

Moreover, also the roots of your plants would not develop well and you should therefore use a looser soil mix instead of relying on solid clay soil.

Will beans grow in compost?

Compost is great to grow beans since it is rich in nutrients and still loose enough so that the roots of your plants can develop in a healthy manner.

However, you may still want to add some potting soil to the compost to get the best results from your bean growing project.

Plant Care

Do bean plants need a lot of water?

Beans need lots of water to grow well. The bigger your plants get, the more water they will need.

Hence, make sure to water your plants quite often so that bean plants will not dry up and that you get decent growth behavior and yields.

Do you have to water beans on a regular basis?

How often you have to water bean plants greatly depends on the climatic conditions outdoors and also on whether your plants have access to rainwater or not.

For instance, if you grow beans outdoors in your garden, you would not have to water your plants at all during rainy periods of the year since they would be able to get all the water they need from the soil.

Therefore, make sure to adjust your watering schedule and don’t stick to it blindly so that you account for changing conditions outdoors.

Should you use filtered or unfiltered water to water bean plants?

There is no need for filtering water for bean plants. Instead, just use unfiltered water and you will be perfectly fine.

It is just not worth the effort to filter water for your plants since you can use your time for more important things that could have a much bigger impact on the growth of your plants instead.

Should you use rainwater to water beans?

Rainwater is great for watering beans since it is fully natural and you can also store lots of rainwater in rainwater tanks in your garden.

You just need to collect this rainwater in rainy periods of the year and will have more than enough water during dry periods to water your bean plants.

When to stake bean plants?

You should stake bean plants when they reach a size of around 5 inches in height.

At this point, beans will become quite vulnerable to winds and it is therefore a good idea to stabilize your plants so that they will not collapse sooner or later.

What to stake beans with?

The easist and yet most effective way to stake and stabilize bean plants is to just anchor a stick next to each plant and tie your plants with cord to those sticks.

This will give your plants lots of additional stability and they will therefore become much more resistant to all sorts of issues outdoors.

What to do when bean leaves turn yellow?

Yellow bean leaves often indicate that you should alter your watering behavior.

You should also add some additional fertilizer so that your plants get enough nutrients.

By taking these measures, you should see the leaves of your plants turn back green again within a few weeks.

How to protect beans against wind?

You just need to tie your plants with cord to sticks to protect bean plants from heavy winds or even storms.

Just make sure that you anchor those sticks deep into the ground so that wind will not blow those sticks away together with your bean plants.

How to protect beans against heavy rain?

You should wait with transplanting bean seedlings outdoors until they reach a minimum height of at least 2 inches.

At this point, bean plants will be strong enough so that heavy rain will not hurt them anymore and you will therefore not need to take any additional measures in this regard.

How to protect beans against hail?

You can just protect your bean plants by moving them to protected areas around your home in case you plant them in pots.

If you grow beans directly in your garden and can’t move them, make sure to use some foliage cover from the garden center to minimize the adverse impact of hail.

Should you pinch out beans?

While some gardeners claim that pinching beans is a good idea, I personally don’t pinch out beans.

Instead, I just let my plants grow in a fully natural manner and have seen great results by just letting nature do its work instead of intervening in this regard.

Where to pinch beans?

If you really want to pinch out beans, you should pinch your plants outdoors so that you don’t introduce and pests inside your home and also keep away all the dirt that comes along with pinching plants out of your home.

Can you grow beans without fertilizer?

You may be able to grow beans without the use of additional fertilizer if you provide high-quality soil for your plants in the first place.

However, if you want to maximize your yields, you should still add some fertilizer to the soil so that your plants can grow as best as possible.

Should you cover bean plants to protect them against frost?

Covering plants is never a good idea since those covers often alter lighting conditions and confuse your plants.

Hence, make sure to wait with growing beans outdoors until you don’t expect frost anymore and there will just no longer be the need to cover your plants in this regard.

How to get rid of moss when growing beans?

If you see moss on the soil of your bean plants, this is a clear indicator that the soil is too wet and that you should water your plants less often.

By reducing your watering behavior, moss will go away in a completely natural manner without any further intervention needed from your side.

Pests & Diseases

Can you grow beans without using pesticides?

Many gardeners are able to grow beans without using any pesticides.

However, this is only possible if you provide good growing conditions to your plants so that your plants can get resistant to pests quickly and will defend themselves without any human intervention needed.

Should you use natural or chemical pesticides for bean plants?

In case of serious pest infestations, you will have to use some measures to get rid of those annoying little companions.

However, never rely on chemical pesticides but rather use natural substances to get rid of pests on bean plants to protect your plants and also to make your growing project as organic as possible.

What are the most common bean pests?

Beetles, aphids and mites are just some of the hungry little friends you might have to deal with when growing beans outdoors.

Quite often, you will have to deal with multiple pests at the same time and you should definitely inform yourself on how to get rid of several garden pests in a proper manner.

How to protect beans against pests?

Make sure to check out my pest removal guides to get more information on how to get rid of garden pests in a simple but yet effective manner and also my guide on how to get rid of pests and diseases on bean plants.

Growing Difficulty

Should you grow beans with children?

While you could grow beans with children, you should note that it will take you around two months to grow beans from seed to harvest and your children may just lose interest in growing plants sooner or later.

Hence, you might want to grow carrots or other plants that can be grown much quicker instead of growing beans with your kids.

Are beans good plants for a school project?

Growing beans can be a great school project. Not only will school kids learn how to care for plants, but they will also learn some responsibility.

Moreover, they will also see how much work it takes to grow food and this will also make them appreciate their food much more.

Is growing beans difficult?

While growing beans is not that difficult, you still need some knowledge to grow beans in a perfect manner.

Hence, make sure to check out all the information in this article to get all the secret tips to grow beans in a simple but yet effective manner.

Harvest

What color do ripe beans have?

Ripe beans often have a green color. However, there are also bean species that look quite different.

Hence, make sure with harvesting beans until the beans have the desired color and size they should have to be on the safe side.

Can you save seeds from bean plants?

Saving seeds from bean plants just means harvesting bean pods from your plants.

Thus, you can get both decent harvests and also save lots of seeds for future growing projects at the same time.

Just make sure to dry those seeds in dry and dark places so that they will retain good quality.

Can beans get overripe?

Like most other garden crops, also beans can get overripe and will start to rot if you don’t harvest them in time.

Hence, make sure to harvest beans at the optimal point in time to get the most nutrients and the best flavor out of them.

What parts of a bean plant can you eat?

While most people only harvest bean leaves and dispose of the plant material, bean leaves are indeed edible.

For instance, you can make nice salads or pesto out of them if you don’t want to waste anything and want to make your growing project as efficient as possible.

Additional Questions

Is growing beans expensive?

Growing beans is fairly cheap. In fact, if you have a garden, you just need to get some bean seeds and you are good to go.

If you don’t have a garden, you just need to get some flower pots and some soil and this will not cost you a fortune either.

Is growing beans fun?

Growing beans can be quite interesting and also quite a lot of fun.

In fact, I really love growing beans and other plants at home since it gives me a feeling of peace and it also helps me unwind after a stressful workday or in other difficult situations that might occur.

Do beans grow on trees?

Beans don’t grow on trees but rather grow on plants that grow above the soil surfaces.

While bean plants grow quite big in the vertical, they will often still not need that much space in the horizontal and this means that you will be able to grow many bean plants in a relatively small garden.

Do beans grow from flowers?

Yes, beans grow from flowers. Hence, if your bean plants don’t produce any flowers, you can be sure that you will not get any yields from your plants and you should therefore figure out what’s wrong with your plants in such a case to at least get decent yields in future years.

How many bean plants should you grow per pot?

Since bean plants grow quite big, you should never grow more than one plant per pot.

Also make sure to use big pots for growing beans so that your plants get sufficient nutrients to grow well and to produce great yields once the time has come.

Which animals feed on beans?

Rabbits, mice, squirrels and other rodents are just some of the animals you will have to protect your plants from when growing them outdoors in your garden.

Thus, make sure to install a fence around your garden plants to keep away those hungry intruders from bean plants.

Will your pets eat bean plants?

Also your pets may try to feed on beans. In fact, if you keep rodents as pets, you should definitely separate your pets from your plants to avoid any damage to your plants and that you don’t wake up one day and your plants will be gone due to some strange reason ;).

Are beans toxic for pets?

While bean plants are edible for most pets, you can never be sure that this is true for all pet species and you should therefore make sure to keep away your pets from your plants so that both your pets and your plants can grow and live in a healthy manner.

Why beans grow small?

If bean plants grow small, this usually indicates that you haven’t provided good growing conditions to your plants.

Hence, make sure to choose a better spot for your plants and also give them more space and high-quality soil so that your plants can grow better in future years.

What to grow with beans?

You should make sure to check out my bean companion plant article to learn what to grow with beans and what plants you should never grow with beans.

Can you grow beans from beans?

Yes, you can definitely grow beans from beans. In fact, this is the only way to grow beans since beans are equal to bean seeds in this regard and bean plants will just not produce any other seeds than bean crops.

Hence, there is no need to explicitly save seeds from bean plants since you will automatically do so by harvesting beans.

Can you grow beans from rotten fruits?

You can also try using rotten beans that you no longer want to use for consumption purposes to grow bean seedlings from.

While this might be a little bit unhygienic, it may still work and you might get bean seedlings for free.

Can you grow beans without seeds?

If you don’t want to grow beans from seed, you would have to get bean seedlings from the garden center.

However, I still recommend you grow beans from seed to just get the full growing experience since it is just more interesting than relying on a third party doing part of your work.

Do you have to pollinate beans by hand?

There is no need to pollinate beans by hand. Just grow beans outdoors and insects like bees and flies will do all of the work for you.

In turn, you can just sit back and relax while nature will do the work for and no intervention is needed from your side in this regard.

How to grow big beans?

If you want to grow really big bean plants, you also have to make sure to optimize growing conditions as best as possible.

This means providing a perfect location for your plants and also making sure that your plants have enough space and nutrients.

You may also want to add some fertilizer so that your plants can grow even bigger and faster.

Can you grow beans commercially?

While you might also think about growing beans commercially, it is not a good idea in my opinion since you would need lots of farmland and equipment to do so in a serious manner and this would imply huge upfront costs.

Hence, you should rather grow beans for fun instead of making a real business out of it.

Can you grow beans from fresh seeds?

It is perfectly fine to grow beans from fresh seeds.

You can just get some beans from the grocery store or you could also save your own seeds in summer and plant those seeds at the beginning of fall to get an additional harvest in later fall or early winter.

Can you grow beans from dried seeds?

You can also just dry bean seeds and use them for future growing seasons or you can just get some dried seeds from the garden center or from an internet vendor.

Both options are perfectly fine and you will see great results with both of them if you follow all the advice in this article.

Can you grow beans from cuttings?

While you could also try to grow beans from cuttings, growing beans is still just much easier and I recommend you go with growing beans from seed to avoid any unpleasant surprises in this regard, especially if you are relatively new to gardening in general.

Should you use a beans growing kit for growing beans?

Bean growing kits are perfect for beginners. However, if you want to grow beans and other plants in a serious manner for many years, you should not waste any money on those growing kits but rather get proper and durable gardening equipment instead.

Do beans grow in the wild?

Beans also grow in the wild. Yet, they will often look quite different from what you know from the garden center and also from the grocery store since they often mutate and alter their DNA sooner or later.

Should you talk to bean plants?

While you could talk to bean plants, I highly recommend you don’t waste your time in this regard and rather use your time for more important things that can really push your growing project further so that you can really improve your yields.

Should you plant beans at half moon or full moon?

It doesn’t matter whether you start growing beans at new moon, half moon or full moon.

Just do what’s best for your schedule and don’t believe in this ludicrous thesis that moon phases affect plant growth someone has invented many hundreds of years ago.

Now that you found the answers to the questions you have been looking for, also make sure to check out my bean grower’s guide to learn how to grow beans from seed to harvest step-by-step.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean

Own research and experience.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.