Take care
Raw or undercooked dry or shelled beans contain a lectin that can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea — cook shelled and dry beans thoroughly.
Pole Bean
Phaseolus vulgaris
Sow outdoors 1 week after your last spring frost. Space plants 6 in (15 cm) apart.
Photo: Neil Palmer (CIAT), CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
When to plant
Timed from your frost dates, so it holds wherever you garden. Give yours and every step below becomes a date.
Optimal Direct Sow
From seedRecommended- Sow outdoors1 week after your last spring frost
- First harvestabout 65 days after sowing
Growing pole bean
- Spacing in the row
- 6 in (15 cm)
- Between rows
- 30 in (76 cm)
- Planting depth
- 1 inch
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Soil
- Well-drained, fertile loam
- Germination
- 6-10 days at 60-85°F
- Harvest season
- Summer, Fall
- Mature height
- 6-10 feet
- Support
- Trellis, poles or netting, 6-8 feet tall
- Life cycle
- Annual
Sow seeds 1 inch deep directly into soil after all danger of frost has passed and soil is warm.
Watering. Consistent moisture, especially during flowering and pod development. Avoid overhead watering to prevent disease.
Neighbours
The companion chart →
Corn
Radish
Carrot
Cucumber
Celery
Strawberry
Pea
Sunflower
Onion
Garlic
Fennel
KohlrabiFeeding
- Seedlings
- Not typically required if soil is fertile.
- Growing
- Low nitrogen, moderate phosphorus and potassium for pod development. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers.
- Flowering and fruiting
- Moderate phosphorus and potassium to support pod set and development.
- How often
- Rarely: beans fix their own nitrogen; feed once or twice in the season only if the soil is poor.
- Note
- Legumes fix their own nitrogen, so excessive nitrogen fertilization can reduce yield.
Your pole bean, planned to the day.
Canopy turns these timings into dates from your own frost data, places every plant at its spacing on your garden map, and tracks it all the way to harvest.