Green beans, snap beans, stringless beans, whatever you call them, green beans are a staple of many market farms, and eagerly awaited by farmers’ market customers. Phaseolus vulgaris comes in many different forms, most of which we have grown at some point, and they all have similar cultural requirements.

Beans were domesticated at least 7,000 years ago, perhaps simultaneously (or whatever passes for simultaneous that many years ago) in Mesoamerica and Peru. For thousands of years, beans, maize and squash – the three sisters – were the foundation of the diets of many civilizations. We still eat beans that are little changed – one of our favorites is Anasazi, which the Anasazi cliff dwellers would probably recognize. But the bean we fresh market growers grow so much of has changed radically.

The first beans to be eaten fresh – as opposed to dried – were probably running type beans with a string, being grown for a winter store of dried beans, that some enterprising farmer decided to try at a green stage, and discovered were good eating at that stage, too. Some of us still grow that type because of the full, “beany” flavor that a lot of customers prefer. But, in the 1950s, breeders got busy developing another type of bean. This bean was “stringless”, which appealed to the housewife typically preparing them, and determinate (or bush type) to help in harvesting them on a commercial scale. Today, we have a full gamut of fresh bean types to choose from: pole, semi running, bush, stringed, stringless, filet, round, flat, green, yellow, purple and striped! Fortunately, they all take similar growing techniques, so your hardest job is figuring out what your market will buy. For some years, we had a lot of Bosnians shopping our market, and they preferred flat (Roma) beans, but more recently, the shoppers have preferred round beans – and green, please, not weird purple or yellow ones! Still, you never know when you can convince folks to try something new.

Bean seeds germinate best at 77 degrees soil temperature, and grow best at 65 to 85 degrees air temperature. They are considered tender annuals – even a light frost can cause harm. That said, we must admit that we plant them before the soil gets to the optimum temperature. Our last frost is usually in late April, but our first planting of bush beans frequently goes into the ground by mid-April. We don’t get the BEST germination, but usually it’s sufficient, and we do get EARLY beans – which get a premium price at farmers’ market. We plant beans every 2-3 weeks during the season until mid-August. Frequently, our fall beans (again, bush beans) are really nice – and with our first frost about mid-October, mid-August gives them plenty of time to mature. Most bush type snap beans are ready to pick in about 50-65 days, although in spring and fall, you can usually add a few days to that.

Beans are legumes, so with the proper innoculant (bacteria), they will fix nitrogen from the air. There is a lot of controversy as to just how much nitrogen can be fixed – and how much of it is actually available to the crop as it is growing. Since we are harvesting a bean crop in the green stage – way ahead of “maturity”, it makes sense to supplement their nutrition. Recommendations say 60-120 pounds of N to the acres – a pretty broad spread. We broadcast about 10 pounds per 100 square feet of the 3-4-3 chicken manure product that we use for much of our vegetable production. That rate is about 120 pounds of N per acre, but slowly available. And, typically, we’ll follow those beans with at least one more crop on that application. If the beans are turned under to prepare for the next crop, and they have been inoculated, they can add some N back to the soil. The research we found suggested that 80-85% of the N is in the tops, so if you take the bean plants off for either composting or animal feed, not much N remains in the soil after the harvest.

Snap beans usually are planted about 2 inches apart in the row and about 1 inch deep. In the spring, when the soil is cool, we plant them a little shallower to get the most soil warmth, and in the middle of summer, when it can be very hot and dry, we plant them deeper, to keep them moist enough to germinate. We must admit that as to spacing, whatever our planter drops is what we live with. The beans don’t seem to notice! They are also more tolerant of a wider pH range than many of our vegetables, tolerating 5.5 to 7.5, but, like most veggies, preferring 6.0 to about 6.5.

As with most crops, looking at a manual on pests on this crop can scare you to death! We have to say that our greatest pest is not an insect but deer. Many times, deer graze our snap beans to the point of ruining the crop. We used to think it was because drought made our market fields a beautiful green oasis that drew them for miles around. But the past two years, we have had very wet summers – pastures very green all summer – and they still graze our snap beans. So, we have come to realize that they just like green beans. For us, the crop is not important enough to invest in fencing the deer out, but if you have deer, and snap beans are an important part of your offering, be forewarned.

As far as invertebrates go, we only have two major insect pests: Mexican Bean Beetle and Bean Leaf Beetle. The Mexican Bean Beetle looks something like a Lady Bug on steroids. It’s about 50% larger, and a dusty bronze color with black spots. The eggs are bright yellow, in clusters on the underside of the leaf. The larvae are spiny looking and yellow – nasty! If you catch it early, it can be controlled by hand picking the adults and smashing the egg clusters. There is also a parasitic wasp, Pediobius foveolatus, that can help in controlling it. The bean beetle adults overwinter in plant debris to emerge in spring, ready to eat your early planting, so cleaning up all the old plants in the fall will help diminish the population. We find that after 15 years of organic growing on this farm, it has all but disappeared. The other major pest that we see in beans is the Bean Leaf Beetle. You may be seeing it and not even know it. It looks so much like a spotted cucumber beetle that it’s uncanny! It can be redder or a little more buff in color, but the major difference is a black triangle at the junction of the head and body. Usually our beans outgrow the damage from this pest, but it can be controlled with several botanicals if the outbreak is major.

There are a lot of varieties of snap beans to choose from. Probably every market grower has his or her favorites. Which one to grow depends a lot on your market. Our market wants round or oval, green stringless beans. A few older people prefer “white half-runners” – which are still a round bean, just one with strings. So, in growing for our market, we choose Provider as our main bean, with a smaller planting of Roma II and whatever yellow wax bean struck our fancy when we looked at catalogs last December. Provider is a good tasting, handsome bean which is also a heavy producer. For our own table, we grow Contender, which we think is tastier, but its productivity is not as good as Provider. We find that whatever variety the customer is asking for – and many do ask by variety – if our quality is good, they’ll buy whatever variety we have.

Green beans should be harvested when the pods are tender and before there is any “bean” in them. (That said, we have a story about beans with “beans” in them. A man stopped by our booth and asked if our beans had beans in them. We were quick to assure him that no, they did not; we picked them before that happened. He then informed us that he liked his beans with beans in them and walked off. You just can’t please everybody!) Once there is a “bean” in the pod, it becomes a lot more fibrous. The window for that stage varies with the variety of bean. We try to pick our beans twice a week, but French Filet beans, about every two days is better. If they are dirty – say from a recent rain – we rinse them and pack into waxed cartons for transport to market. If we are picking more than a day prior to market, the cartons go into a cooler. Beans are susceptible to chilling injury below 40 degrees, so watch the cooler temperature.

Okay, we have done everything right and grown a beautiful crop of our favorite snap beans. They are beautiful, green, have a great SNAP when broken. That’s all it takes to sell them, right? Wrong! Many young people have no idea how to take those beautiful beans and turn them into a side dish for supper. So, be prepared to help your customers with good cooking directions and recipe ideas. If they have a good experience cooking your beans the first time, they’ll be back to buy them again. And, if you have the time, are so inclined, and your state and local health codes allow it, already snapped beans are a terrific seller. Just make sure when you price them to include your labor. Grow some green beans – they’re a great market draw.

Paul and Alison Wiediger have 2.5 acres of vegetable production, 8500 square feet of high tunnels and a greenhouse operation on their 84-acre diversified farm in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Their book about growing in high tunnels, Walking to Spring, is available for $19 from GFM, PO Box 3747, Lawrence, KS 66046; 800-307-8949.