Planting

Bush Bean

Planting Time Plant bush beans after the frost has hit the road and warm soil has settled in. These little green wonders love sunshine, warm dirt, and a gardener with a git-er-done attitude. If the soil is still colder than a penguin’s bathwater, hold your horses. Beans like comfort, not cold shock. Once things warm up, those seeds jump up faster than a jackrabbit hearing a shotgun click.

Depth & Spacing Plant seeds one inch deep and about four inches apart. Rows should be spaced eighteen to twenty-four inches. Give them room to stretch. Bush beans do not like being packed tight like cattle in the Chisholm Trail, a historic. Crowded beans get grumpy, and grumpy beans do not produce worth a hoot.

Soil & Fertilization Bush beans enjoy good soil that drains well. They are easygoing, but if you dump too much nitrogen on them you will grow leaves big enough to shade a truck while producing about two beans total. Keep things balanced, steady, and respectable. Treat them right and they will reward you like a compound finding a full picnic basket.

Watering Needs Water regularly to keep moisture steady. Beans like consistency almost as much as Grandma likes her stories at the cracker-barrel. Do not drown them though. Soggy roots turn sour fast. Think of the soil like cornbread: dry enough to slice, moist enough to enjoy. Mulch helps keep things even and knocks weeds down like a bar bouncer on a Saturday night.

Sunlight Requirements Give bush beans full sun, at least six hours, and more is even better. These plants are like country singers, they perform best under bright lights. The more sunshine they soak up, the more beans you will haul in, and pretty soon you will be bragging to the neighbors like you just won the county fair.

Harvesting Pick beans when they are firm, crisp, and about pencil thick. Do not let them stay on the plant too long or they will get tougher than Grandpa’s boots and slow down production. Harvest early and often. Bush beans love attention. Cut the more you pick, the more they strut their stuff. Skip a harvest and they puff up like a tick on a hound, telling the plant it is time to quit working.

Captain Greenhouse Tip For bean production that will make you feel like a full blown farming legend, stagger your plantings every two weeks. That way you will have beans rolling in all summer long, enough to feed your household, your neighbors, your preacher, and any cousin who only shows up when food is involved. Keep the cycle going and you will be the undisputed Bush Bean Boss of the county.