Gardening Guide - Tips to Growing Backyard Green Beans

One of my greatest joys in life is walking into thefrost, in peat pots. Do not use pots that requireyou
garden and picking a bucketful of beautiful,to remove the plant from the pot to transplant. The
freshgreen beans. Then taking them directly to a potpeat pots can be planted directly in the
of boiling water in the kitchen. Nothing like it.gardenwithout disturbing the roots.
Three days later, I can do it again. And so can youPrepare the soil by adding compost (I prefer
with these tips.well-aged manure) as soon as you can work the soilin
First, you need to decide what to plant. The twothe spring. Most important!!! Plant your beans in a spot
main choices are bush beans or pole beans. Ithat gets at least 6-8 hours of directsun each day.
preferpole beans because they are easier to pick,Beans love the sun.
have better flavor and have less problems fromAs the beans send out long shoots, train them to
pests anddisease.climb the poles if they do not do it own their own
Pole beans, of course, require something to climb on(generally, they will). Keep them watered but not
and, therefore, tend to take up space.soaked. Fertilize once when the plants startclimbing
But, if you think limited space prevents you fromthe poles.
having pole beans, guess again. You can have enoughThere are many varieties that thrive in practically any
beansfor a family of four in a six square foot area.summer climate, as long as you haveabout six weeks
A method I use is to take three six foot longof over 70 degree days. I like the "bluelake" for it's
wooden poles (don't use metal) and place them in aease of growth, goodflavor and high yield.
tripodarrangement, tying them together at the top. ItSo, give it a try this year. Then when you smell
only takes about a three foot area, so you canthose fresh beans that you grew, cooking in the
havetwo of them in a six foot plot.kitchen,you, too, will experience one of the great
Plant the beans indoors 4-6 weeks before the lastjoys of life.