Green Beans: How to Plant, Grow and Care for the Vegetable

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Green Beans, as they are most often called are one vegetable that is easy to grow and practically everyone loves them.

If you want to have the fresh vegetable all summer, you can plant some at different times so they will not all be getting ready for harvest at the same time.

Planting the vegetable every three weeks until the middle of the season will allow you a supply of beans that will be enjoyed throughout the summer months.

Planting

• These beans are a warm soil plant. They should not be planted until after there is not a chance of frost. The soil should be consistently above 65 degrees when the bean plants go in the ground.

  Even better yield will be enjoyed if it 70 degrees or above. The beans can be started inside by planting them in peat pots.

• Letting them grow until they are about 4 inches tall before taking them outdoors is the optimum. Of course, this depends upon the condition that there will be no more frost.

• When choosing the area for planting your beans, choose a spot that has good drainage and the soil should be quite fertile.

It is a good idea not to plant where certain other vegetables have been planted recently. This would include beans, lettuce, potatoes or cabbage.

The beans should be moved every year to keep them from getting diseases from the soil that could cause root rot.

If you are planting the pole variety of beans, which is typically what the gardener plants, they should be planted on small mounds.

Make the mounds with about 3 feet between them and the rows should be about 3 or 4 feet wide.

A stake should be placed in the center of the mound and the seeds (about 3 or 4) pushed into the soil about an inch deep. If you keep the mounds watered the beans should sprout in approximately a week.

Fertilizing the area where you will plant the beans is necessary to help them grow. The fertilizer can be added as you dig the dirt up for planting.

They will need to be fertilized as they are growing as well. A half of a cup of fertilizer for 10 feet will suffice. Make sure and water well after spreading the fertilizer. This will allow it to wash into the soil.

These beans should be watered once weekly when the weather is very dry. The water should be directed at their roots rather than the plants.

The soil should not be allowed to dry out completely. The beans like the areas moist while they are growing. One of the main reasons for blossom drop is the lack of water.

Harvesting

It varies with the type of seed you choose to plant when it comes to green beans but the typical growing period is anywhere from 45 to 75 days. They should be picked before the pod begins to bulge.

The Beans should have a good crisp feel to them and when broken in two they should snap. The beans should be harvested using care not to damage the plant because it will produce more beans.

Hold onto the plant and pull the bean off and one of the recommendations is to pick the beans while the plant is dry.

Aerogarden: Green Beans Garden Seed Kit These beans are a delicious way to enhance and meal or salad, and are perfect for just snacking. Grow your own Green Beans using the aerogarden. These beans will be ready for harvest in 6 weeks and will keep for up to 4 months. Kit includes 7 pre-seeded Bio-Dome seed pods and plant nutrients for a full season of green beans.