A simple guide to planting and growing bush beans

No longer limited to baked bean dishes, beans are in demand for use in soups, stews, and vegetable dishes. Bush beans are usually smaller and tenderer than the pole variety.

Plants, which grow to about 45 centimetres (18 inches), mature in about 60 days (or sooner when planted in midsummer) and yield for two or three weeks. Because they mature in such a short time, you can make succession plantings for a constant supply during the summer. There are several good bush varieties of snap beans in a number of colours:

• 'Provider' and 'Jade' are top-quality green beans.
• 'Royal Burgundy' is a purple bean that turns dark green when cooked.
• 'Carson' and 'Rocdor' are yellow, or wax, beans.
• 'Romano Gold' grows flat pods.

Make sure that the soil has become thoroughly warm and is no longer soaked from winter rains and snows. If you want to be on the safe side, delay planting until the time of the last expected frost.

• For best results, space your rows approximately 60 centimetres (25 inches) apart, with furrows three centimetres (one inch) deep. Plant a seed every five to eight centimetres (two to three inches).
• Because bush beans need only about 10 centimetres (four inches) of space between plants, thinning will not be necessary unless every seed germinates. Furrows for midsummer sowings should be five centimetres (two inches) deep, thus putting the seeds closer to the soil moisture.
• Whether you are sowing in spring or midsummer, however, never cover the seeds with more than three centimetres (one inch) of soil because too much overlay may prevent seedlings from pushing through.
• As bush beans have a fairly short harvest period, plan to make succession plantings every three weeks, until about eight weeks before the first fall frost is expected. If possible, do not plant later crops of beans in the same place you grew them earlier in the year.

When plants are 15 centimetres (six inches) tall, water them with a seaweed solution to supply a range of micronutrients.

• Keep the soil well moistened, but never water from above — and never touch the plants when the leaves are wet, as this may spread any diseases that the beans may have.
• Mulch to conserve moisture and to keep down weeds.

Pick bush beans before they are mature — while they will still snap when you bend them, and before the seeds inside the pod swell visibly.

• To keep each plant productive for two to three weeks, be sure to remove any pods that have grown large and tough. Ripe beans left on the vine will certainly cause the plant to slow down production.
• It is very important to be gentle when harvesting the beans. Hold the fruiting stem with one hand while you carefully pull off the bean with the other, or you may also pull off some of the plant.

So there you have it -- a simple guide to planting and growing bush beans in your backyard garden. Now these delicious and healthy little snacks can be just a few steps from your backdoor.