Bush Bean Seeds

Blue Lake Bush Bean Seeds (OP) Developed from the famous vining of Blue Lake, this easier to pick open pollinated produces a longer season. More >>

Item #V-2000 | 200 Seeds | Price: $2.50 Qty:

Kentucky Wonder Bush Bean Seeds (OP) Same quality as pole type open pollinated beans without the need for trellising. More >>

Item #V-2005 | 200 Seeds | Price: $2.95 Qty:

Provider Bush Bean Seeds Attractive, early, straight tender beans. Very productive. More >>

Item #V-2010 | 200 Seeds | Price: $2.50 Qty:

Hialeah Bush Bean Seeds Dark green bush bean with 6" pods. More >>

Item #V-2002 | 200 Seeds | Price: $2.50 Qty:

How to Grow Bush Green Beans

Sowing
Seed Depth: 1" (2.5 cm), 6-8 seeds per hill
Germination soil temperature: 75-85ºF (24-29ºC)
Days to Germination: 7-10
Sow indoors: Not recommended
Sow outdoors: When soil temperature reaches 60ºF (16ºC)
Growing
Watering: Low at planting, medium at flowering and then heavy through harvest.
Light: Full Sun
Nutrient requirements: N=low, P=moderate, K=moderate.

Rotation considerations: Because they get along with just about all vegetables except members of the onion family, bush beans, and green beans can go almost anywhere and be followed by just about anything.

Good companions: Beet, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, leek, marigold, pea, potato, radish, rosemary, strawberry and sunflower.

Bad companions: Basil, fennel, kohlrabi, onion family.

Snap beans are easy to grow in any warm, well-drained soil, but they must have warmth. Wait until after your last frost has passed to set out transplants, 8 to 10 inches apart ought to do it. A double row, in which 2 rows of plants are grown with 12 inches between the rows, will produce the most green beans per square foot. For a steady harvest all summer, set out a second set of plants 3 to 4 weeks after your first planting. Before setting out the plants, mix a 1-inch layer of compost and a light application of an organic or timed-release fertilizer into the soil. When given a little starter fertilizer and biologically active compost, beans usually need no further feeding. By teaming up with bacteria in the soil, beans create their own nitrogen – the most important nutrient plants require if they are to make strong new growth.

Keep green beans weeded, and mulch over the spaces between plants to conserve moisture and reduce problems with weeds. Mulch also helps keep the pods clean, which is a terrific convenience with green snap beans.You may pick snap beans when they are very young and serve them as baby snap beans, or you can wait until they reach full size for a more bountiful harvest. Use two hands to pick, because heavily-laden bean stems are easily broken. Don’t yank on the pods; hold the stem in one hand and pick with the other. Pick every other day when the green beans begin bearing to make sure that they produce to their full potential. Healthy bush bean and green beans plants will often rebloom and produce a second (or third) flush of green beans when growing conditions are especially good. Blanching and freezing is the easiest way to preserve a bumper crop of snap beans. Blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and then quickly cool them in ice water. This process brightens and fixes their color while preserving the crisp texture of the pods.

New garden beds made in areas that were previously covered with grass often host a hidden danger for snap beans: cutworms. These earth-colored caterpillars are active at night, and often kill seedlings by girdling their main stems, making them look like little felled trees. The easiest way to prevent cutworm damage is to encircle each plant with a rigid "collar" as soon as it is transplanted. To make cutworm collars, cut an 8- to 10-ounce plastic cup or similar size container into 3-inch-tall rings. Pop them around the plants, making sure you push them into the soil about an inch deep. Another easy way to prevent cutworm damage is to use small strips of aluminum foil to sheathe the base of each stem. After snap beans have been growing in your garden for a couple of weeks, their stems become so tough that cutworms can no longer damage them. Slugs and snails often make holes in green bean leaves, and Japanese beetles like to eat leaves, too. Slugs are easily trapped in shallow containers filled with beer or a mixture of sugar water and yeast, or you can treat the area with a slug bait approved for food gardens in order to bring serious infestations under control. Products that use iron phosphate as their active ingredient are considered organic. Use row covers to protect plants from Japanese beetles. Snap bean pods that dangle to the ground can rot, but mulch helps prevent this.