Permapotes

Green beans

Green beans: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar

Green beans are valued for their whole, tender, fleshy pods and mild vegetable flavour. They are varieties of the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, in the Fabaceae family. The name mainly describes a culinary use: the pod is eaten with its seeds still small and undeveloped. Shelling beans, by contrast, are grown chiefly for their seeds. Some varieties are suitable for more than one use, so these categories are not always completely separate.

Common beans are generally grown as annual plants. Their developed leaves have three fairly broad leaflets, often with pointed tips. Small flowers may be white, pink or purple, depending on the variety. Pods then develop around the growing seeds. Fertilisation can usually take place within the same flower. Pod production therefore does not rely on precisely the same pollination pattern as vegetables that need considerable insect activity to set their fruit.

Two main growth habits occur in vegetable gardens. Bush beans form relatively compact, upright plants without long climbing stems. Pole beans develop twining stems that wrap around a support. This difference affects the space occupied and the pattern of production. Bush types generally have a more concentrated cropping period, while climbing types can continue forming new pods for longer. Neither habit determines the colour or shape of the pods.

Despite their name, green beans do not all have green pods. Yellow forms are often known as wax beans, and purple or striped pods also exist. Pods may be slender and cylindrical or broader and flat. The purple colour generally disappears during cooking, leaving green pods. Shape and colour alone do not tell you how the beans taste or whether the plants climb.

Texture changes as the pods develop. Young pods are juicier and more tender, while older ones can become more fibrous as the seeds swell. Varieties also differ in stringiness and the firmness of their walls. This explains the contrast between very fine beans and fleshier types without defining quality by a single standard length.

In the kitchen, the pods are eaten cooked as a side dish, in cooled salads or in mixed vegetable dishes. They pair with tomatoes, herbs and potatoes. Climbing forms bring a vertical presence to the garden, while bush forms make low rows. These different outlines offer a choice according to available space and the kind of crop you enjoy using.

Green beans
Green beans
Characteristics
  • Lifecycle : Annual
  • Exposure : Full Sun
  • Frost Hardiness : Frost Sensitive
  • Cultivation Difficulty : Easy
  • Mature height : 40 cm
Sowing & Planting
  • Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
  • Sowing Depth : 3 cm
  • Plant Spacing : 8 cm
  • Row Spacing : 40 cm
Maintenance
  • Maintenance : Low
  • Water Requirements : Moderate
Other characteristics
  • Soil Type : Humus-rich
  • Soil pH Preference : Neutral
  • Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Pollination : Self-pollinating
  • Propagation : Sowing