6 Essential Tips for Growing Green Beans in Your Garden

If I had to choose just one vegetable to grow in my garden, it would be green beans. And since this article is entirely dedicated to green beans, I just have to tell you about my favorite.

Green beans are wonderful plants, bringing benefits to our body and to the soil in our garden. During my many years of growing green beans in my own garden, I have discovered some useful tricks for growing green beans.

Discover below 6 essential tips for growing green beans in your garden:

1. Sow your beans directly.
   Green beans do not grow well in the form of seedlings or transplants. It is best to sow them directly into the soil of your garden in the form of seed. Green beans should be sown when the soil temperature (not the air temperature) is at least 16°C.
2. Sow your beans overnight.
   The day before you sow your green bean seeds, soak the seeds in room temperature water overnight. This will significantly speed up the germination process. However, if the weather forecasts rain for your area during your bean planting week, do not soak the seeds as they may rot.
3. Plant your beans where your crucifers were planted the previous year.
   Beans are a great plant for crop rotation because they help fix nitrogen in the soil. It’s a good idea to plant them where members of the Brassicaceae family (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts or cauliflower) were planted the previous year.

1. Enjoy planting companions
   The green bean is a pretty accommodating plant and gets along with just about everything else. The only plants you should not plant near are members of the allium family such as onions, garlic, leeks and green onions. The allium family can inhibit or stunt the growth of green beans.
2. Place a net or just a string on top of your green bean seeds.
   Birds are known to pull out new, young shoots. If you simply tie a string just 3-5cm above the row of young shoots, it will stop the birds from pulling them up. Once the beans are a few centimetres tall, you can remove the string.
4. Check if your green beans are a climbing or bushy variety
   The seed packet should tell you if it is a climbing variety or a bush. Dwarf beans do not need a support system and are quite bushy and lower to the ground. Rowing beans, i.e. climbers, send out runners and need something to climb on. You can use a post, a fence, or even run strands of string or wire between two posts to create a mesh system. Once the runners start growing, you need to give the plants something to climb on. They will not grow if they do not have their support system. After you put your climbing frames in place, beans grow very quickly overnight.