Beans would have to be one of the best crops to grow in your vegetable garden. The good thing about growing these beans in garden is the fact that it can be done by anyone, irrespective of their experience. There are just few principles you would have to adhere to when it comes to growing beans.
Garden beans are often referred to as ‘green beans’. If you are a planning to start a garden or just started, growing legumes is an amazing way to improve nutrients in the soil. When you talk about legumes, beans are a great representation of it.
How to Grow Beans
As I have earlier stated, beans are relatively easy to grow in gardens. You just have to follow certain laid down principles to get it right.
To begin, you have to:
- Choosing a Suitable Bean Variety
There are several varieties of beans you can grow in your garden. While they may all fall under the legumes classification, they have their relative differences – flavor, temperature, light, planting, and methods of harvesting.
- Choosing a Suitable Location
One of the most important requirements for beans is sunlight. When we talk of sunlight here, we are talking about lots and lots of it. In practice, professionals often advise the beans are able to get sunlight for at least 6 hours a day. In other words, it is important that you locate the garden in an area where there is direct exposure to adequate sunlight.
Although they require an unfiltered access to sunlight, beans ironically still needs a certain level of shade. The shade would help prevent harsh sunlight on the beans during the hottest period of the day. This would also directly prevent wilting of the bean plant.
- Soil Preparation and Planting
You should expect that beans have a natural symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria. This means you can expect them to provide enough or necessary nutrients in the soil for themselves. For this reason, try to avoid over-fertilization.
With the soil prepared, get your chosen variety of bean seed ready for planting. You would only need a depth of 5cm max. You can push your finger into the soil to create an adequate depth and place the seed in it. Tamp down gently on the soil to cover the sown seed and apply a little water. Most of the bean varieties would require a form of support for the leaves because they are twining plants.
- Watering
Beans require an optimum supply of water. It is best to avoid over-watering or under-watering the beans. It is best, if possible, to stick to a watering schedule. At best, you should water them at least once every day and a couple more times if the soil is dry.
Multiplying Your Beans through Bee Pollination
Pollination is an important part of agriculture. These bees actually help multiply and increase crop production over the growing season. If ever you want to be a great gardener, you would have to understand the symbiotic relationship between bees and plants.
Start thinking of it as a win-win situation and you would absolutely have a garden you will forever be proud of. When dealing with bees, it is important to know there are different types of pollinator bees – honey bees, bumblebee, and wild bees
- It’s all about the Planting Time
When looking at planting time, you would have to take season, temperature, wind, and rainfall into account. All of these parameters have a direct influence on bee activity. Bee activity tends to decrease or ultimately cease at low temperatures, heavy winds, and during rainfall. Bean pollination will be greatest when planted at times of the year with higher temperatures.
- Increased Bean Population
The more bean plants available for bees to take up pollen from, the greater the number of bees that would visit. This ultimately increases the effect of pollination and directly increases bean yield.
Sources:
http://www.heirloom-organics.com/guide/va/guidetogrowingbean.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Beans-and-Peas
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/beans/tips-for-growing-beans.htm
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/117110/bee-faba-bean-pollination.pdf
http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/bee-pollination-explored.html
James G. Craig is a gardening enthusiast who splits his spare time between growing vegetables, preening his flower gardens, and blogging about his experiences at the Gardener Corner.
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I planted my first crop of beans this past summer. They were incredibly easy and forgiving plants, even surviving a week without water when we went on vacation! I did, however, severely underestimate just how tall they would grow! I bought supports that went about waist-high, but they quickly outgrew those and I had to get creative. Might not have been pretty, but they did great! Thanks for stopping by the Homestead Blog Hop. See you again next Wednesday!
HI Lauren,
So glad to hear that you had such good luck with your beans – they are usually one of the easier vegetables to grow and can be great producer of tasty tender vegetables that are filled with nutrition. Thanks for stopping and commenting. Always glad to be part of Homestead blog hop. Have a healthy, happy & blessed day!