Bean Planting

Best Season and Climate

• The best time to plant any variety of bean is at the beginning of a warm season, such as well into the spring after any frosts have come and gone. They are a warm-weather plant and are not hardy enough to handle cold climates. Even if spring arrives earlier than usual where you live, it's not a good idea to plant beans until a week after the last frost, as the ground may still contain partially frozen moisture. The best soil temperature for bean planting is approximately 60 to 70 degrees F.

  Additionally, beans need to be planted in direct sunlight. Ideally, what you should be aiming for is a late-spring planting, followed by tending and additional planting through the summer. Any fall planting will have to be done indoors in a warm room near a window with direct sunlight.

Planting Beans

• The soil in which you plant your bean seeds should be loose and well-fertilized with compost and/or manure. Bean seeds will need to be planted no deeper than 1 inch into your garden bed, a few inches apart from one another for adequate growing space. If you're pressed for space, planting parallel dual rows, separated by a foot of space, will utilize a cramped planting surface to maximum effect.

  Pole beans, on the other hand, need more room; plant pole bean seeds half a foot apart from one another, in rows that are up to 3 feet apart. It is also important to note that pole beans need a support to secure to, so that they can grow upward. These supports can be anything from a stake in the ground to a fence post to a wire fence itself. A well-tended pole bean planting can grow as high as 15 feet.

Tending To Planted Beans

• The soil in which your bean seeds are planted should be loose, fertilized and not overly moist. Germination of bean seeds becomes problematic when soil is too saturated with water, leading to deterioration of the seed before it gets a chance to sprout, and sometimes the saturation can lead to rot.

  Beans also sprout fairly fragile roots when they are growing, necessitating a more shallow weeding and hoeing process. To deter weed overgrowth without destroying your bean plants, make sure not to gouge too deeply or too closely into the soil around the plants.

  Bean plants should be watered once a week, though extremely hot and arid spells may require two waterings in the course of a week. A mulch pile of grass clippings, straw or leaves is excellent for keeping needed soil moisture in, without overly saturating the soil. Also, beetles love to infest bean plants and feed off the leaves. You will most likely have to pick these off by hand on a regular basis.

  It is best to pick beans when they are dry, as picking them when the supporting plant is wet from dew or rain can cause the plant to become infected with blight. Make sure not to twist or sever any stems on the bean plant, which--like the bean plant root systems--have a tendency to be fragile.