bean

When to sow beans?

Botanical name
Phaseolus vulgaris
Family
Fabaceae

Beans are sown outdoors from May to June, 3 cm deep. They are harvested from July to October.

Beans are annual plants. The edible parts are the fruit and seeds.

bean
Photo: Rasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0

Beans through the year

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Indoor sowing
Transplanting
Outdoor sowing
Harvest
15913172125293337414549
  • indoor sowing
  • transplanting
  • outdoor sowing
  • harvest

In short

Outdoor sowing
from May to June
weeks 21 to 26
the window opens a week after the last frost
Indoor sowing
from April to May
weeks 17 to 19
the window opens three weeks before the last frost
Transplanting
from May to June
weeks 21 to 23
the window opens a week after the last frost
Sowing depth
3 cm
Spacing in the row
5 to 15 cm
45 to 90 cm between rows
Germination temperature
16 °C
Days to maturity
55 days
Harvest
from July to October
weeks 29 to 40
Repeat sowing
every 14 days

The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.

Growing conditions

🪨
Soil
loamy
🧪
pH
5.5 to 6.5
☀️
Sun
full sun
💧
Water
moderate water
❄️
Frost
does not tolerate frost
🌱
Nutrients
a light feeder
🔁
Crop rotation
no sooner than the fourth year
📏
Height
0.45 to 3.6 m
⚠️
Toxicity
when raw, toxic to people, toxic parts: seeds

Companions in the bed

Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.

broccoli cited
celery cited
cucumber cited

Next to cucumbers the neighbours go to the edge of the bed.

kohlrabi cited

Kohlrabi is a quick catch crop.

pumpkin widely cited

The pumpkin is part of the Three Sisters. It holds for squash in general, so for the courgette as well.

radish cited
sunflower cited

The sunflower is a living support instead of a pole. It works only if it is sown a few weeks earlier.

sweet corn widely cited

Corn and beans are part of the Three Sisters, a practice thousands of years old. The bean has to be a climbing variety and the corn tall enough beforehand.

zucchini cited
  • “Widely cited” means the pair is named by three or more independent sources.
  • “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.

Pests and diseases

Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.

Powdery mildew

disease
Signs
A white, floury coating spreads over the leaves, first on the lower and older ones. The leaf under it yellows and dries up. The fruit stays small, because the plant loses leaf surface.
Prevention
Plant resistant varieties, leave an airy spacing and sun, and clear the debris at the end of the season. Unlike most fungi it is not helped by wet foliage, since it spreads in heat and high air humidity, in a dry summer too.

Keep track of your plants with Tendask

Log the task and set a reminder for the next one. Every plant keeps its own history, so there is nothing to guess at.

Get it on Android

Related plants

The plants below are in the same botanical family (Fabaceae).

Sources about the plant: Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau, Clemson Cooperative Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, KGZS Kmetijsko gozdarska zbornica Slovenije, KGZS Zavod Ljubljana, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Semenarna Ljubljana, University of Illinois Extension, University of Maryland Extension, Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: UF/IFAS Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.