Green beans are a beautiful thing to have in your garden, and you can eat them fresh or store them for later. You can grow pole beans, which is a great way to start vertical gardening, or bush beans, which will grow faster. Green beans are great for any vegetable garden because they can grow in raised beds, ground beds, or pots.
Growing your own green beans is easy and rewarding when you follow some simple raised bed gardening tips With proper planting techniques, you’ll be harvesting tender, snap beans all season long from just a small garden bed.
In this comprehensive guide I’ll walk through everything you need to know to successfully plant green beans in a raised bed garden. From picking the best varieties to ideal planting times, depth spacing, supports and more. Follow these steps and you’ll be enjoying fresh green beans right from your backyard.
Selecting Green Bean Varieties for Raised Beds
The first step is choosing which type of green bean you’d like to grow. There are a few main varieties that all thrive in raised garden beds:
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Bush beans – The most popular home garden green bean. Bush beans grow as compact, upright plants around 2 feet tall. They do not require trellising. Good bush bean varieties include Contender, Provider, and Blue Lake.
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Pole beans – Grow 8+ feet tall as vining plants. Require trellises or cages for support. Pole bean varieties include Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder, and Romano.
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Runner beans – Similar to pole beans. Grow rapidly on tall vines with showy flowers. Scarlet Runner is a common variety.
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Yard Long beans – Vigorous climbers that can reach over 10 feet tall! Known for very long, slender pods. Red Noodle is a yard long bean cultivar.
For raised beds, I recommend bush or pole green beans. Both are heavy producers in a compact space with the right support. Yard long and runner beans require more room for their extensive vines.
Choosing the Ideal Raised Bed Site
When planting green beans, choose a raised bed site that receives full sun – at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Anything less will result in reduced yields.
Make sure your raised beds have rich organic soil that drains well. Green beans need consistently moist soil. Adding compost to your beds helps improve drainage and water retention.
If you live in a windy area, situate your raised bed against a fence or wall. This gives your bean plants protection while growing.
And don’t forget to add trellises or fencing to support pole bean varieties! Install these before planting if possible.
When to Plant Green Beans
Timing is key when planting green beans from seed. Check your regional frost dates and plant after the last expected spring frost.
Green beans prefer warm soil, around 70°F (21°C). Use a soil thermometer to check the temperature 4 inches below the surface before planting.
Most gardeners sow green beans in late spring to early summer for a summer harvest. In hot climates, you can often plant an early spring and fall crop as well.
How to Plant Green Bean Seeds
When your raised bed soil is prepped and the timing is right, it’s time to plant! Follow these steps for success:
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Moisten soil – Water your raised beds well the day before planting to pre-hydrate the soil. Proper soil moisture helps seeds germinate.
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Sow seeds – Plant green bean seeds 1-1.5 inches deep and 3 inches apart in rows. For bush beans, space rows 18 inches apart. Cover seeds gently with soil.
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Label – Mark your planted rows with seed labels or plant markers so you remember what and where you planted.
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Water – Gently water newly planted seeds to settle the soil. Then water regularly to keep soil consistently moist, not soaked.
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Protect – Cover seeded beds with gardening fleece or floating row covers to maintain warmth and moisture. Remove after sprouting.
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Support – Once sprouted, install trellises, fencing or cages for pole bean varieties to climb.
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Harvest – Once beans reach your desired size, pick often to encourage more pod production.
Raised Bed Care Tips
Caring for your green bean plants properly is key to a bountiful harvest. Here are some raised bed care tips:
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Water 1-2 inches per week. Increase water if plants wilt on hot days.
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Weed carefully around plants to reduce competition. Mulch also helps suppress weeds.
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Fertilize every 3-4 weeks with a balanced liquid plant food. Avoid high nitrogen blends.
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Monitor for pests like bean beetles, aphids and spider mites. Remove by hand or use insecticidal soap sprays.
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Harvest beans frequently as they size up. Frequent picking encourages more pod production.
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At end of season, pull up finished plants by the roots and compost or discard.
Avoid Common Green Bean Problems
With proper raised bed conditions and care, you can avoid most potential problems with green beans:
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Rotten seeds – Planting in cold, wet soil. Wait for soil to warm up and dry out slightly.
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Poor germination – Planting too deep or soil crusting over seeds. Sow at proper 1″ depth and gently water.
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Flower drop – Extreme heat over 95°F or water stress will cause flowers to abort. Provide shade and consistent moisture.
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Wilting plants – Can indicate underwatering, pests, diseases or very high heat. Check soil, look for pests, water more.
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Spotted leaves – Fungal diseases like anthracnose or angular leaf spot. Improve airflow and avoid wetting foliage.
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Curled leaves – Virus spread by aphids like bean mosaic virus or cucumber mosaic virus. Control aphids. Remove and destroy affected plants.
With preventative raised bed care and prompt troubleshooting, you can overcome most potential green bean issues.
The Joys of Raised Bed Green Beans
One of the best parts of growing green beans in raised garden beds is how easy it is to care for your thriving vines and harvest fresh beans. With proper planting techniques, your beans will produce heavily within just 50-60 days of sprouting.
I recommend recording your planting dates and varieties each season. This will help you plan ideal time frames in future years for successive plantings. Nothing beats walking out your back door to harvest crisp, organic green beans all summer!
Sample Companion Planting Guide
You can easily tuck compatible companion plants into your green bean beds to maximize space. Beneficial pairings include:
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Radishes
- Beets
- Lettuce & Salad Greens
- Swiss Chard
- Bush Zucchini
- Dill
- Marigolds
Aim to interplant lower growing companions within open spots among the beans. Taller trellised varieties like cucumbers and pole beans can grow along the back or ends.
When should you grow green beans?
Green beans prefer warm weather and cannot tolerate a frost. The seeds do not germinate well or grow in soil that is under 65 degrees. Waiting a week or two after your average last frost date is usually the best idea, but I will more often rely on taking the temperature of my soil to be certain. (To find my favorite soil thermometer, go to my Amazon storefront here.)
Green beans grow best in warm, but not necessarily hot, conditions. When it gets too hot (over 90 to 95F), pole beans often stop producing. If this happens, don’t pull them out; once the weather cools down, they will start producing again. When it’s 95 degrees or more, the plant almost stops making food, but it will start making food again in late summer or early fall.
Bush beans, in my experience, will continue to produce in heat, but the yield will be lower. Afternoon shade can help.
What type of green beans should you grow?
Now that we’ve talked about pole beans and bush beans, let’s talk about how they are different so you can pick the right kind for your garden.
Pole beans can grow up to 6-7 feet tall and need a trellis or support. Because they grow up nearby things, you don’t have to train them to climb the trellis.
Pole beans grow longer throughout the season and will continue to produce until a frost kills them. They do usually produce later in the season rather than earlier and will produce a greater quantity overall.
They are usually better suited for areas where pest pressure is heavy. Pole beans are sometimes hurt by pests like grasshoppers and bean beetles, but the plants usually grow faster and beat the pests, so they still produce a great harvest.
I like to grow pole beans on my A-frame trellis for easy harvesting. To find a free printable download for how to build yourself a trellis like mine, click here.
Bush beans take longer to grow than other types of beans. They only get about 12 inches tall and produce all of their beans at once. They produce earlier than pole beans and produce heavily for only a few weeks. Bush beans are great for succession planting because you can plant them and harvest them in two to three months.
Plus, bush beans are great for getting a big harvest all at once if you want to store a lot of green beans at once.
Many gardeners choose bush beans because the plants do not require a trellis or support.
(For more on pole beans vs. bush beans and how to decide which is right for you, read this article. ).
Planting Green Beans In A Raised Bed Garden ~ How To Grow Spring Beans
FAQ
Do green beans need a trellis in a raised bed?
What month do you plant green beans?
What not to plant next to green beans?
How do you grow green beans in a raised bed?
To grow green beans in a raised bed, fill your raised beds with rich, well-draining soil (avoid sandy soil). Use a silt loam if possible. Add compost and other organic matter as needed to increase drainage. Green beans require at least 12 inches (30 cm) of soil. Their shallow roots will spread out through the top 6–9 inches (15–23 cm) of soil.
How much soil do you need to grow green beans?
Green beans require at least 12 inches of soil in a raised bed due to their shallow roots. The soil to sow your green bean seeds should also be loose and well-draining. Here’s a 5-Step Guide on how to plant green beans in a raised bed.
How do you grow green beans from seeds?
To grow green beans from seeds, select a type of green bean seeds and plant them after the last average frost of spring. Prepare a location in your garden with six-foot-tall trellises and rich, loamy soil that drains well for your raised garden beds. Ensure the location gets 6–10 hours of full sun.
Why do green beans need a raised bed?
Raised beds help to improve air circulation and drainage of the soil. The other benefit of the raised bed is that it allows the soil to warm up faster than the ground so you can start your growing season earlier. The green beans love to grow in warm soil.