Harvest to Table

Bush snap beans are mild flavored and from seed are ready for harvest in as few as 40 days. Plant bush beans every 10 days or so for a continuous harvest throughout the season, or plant bush beans early in the season for a harvest before pole beans are ready or late in the season [...]

“Snap” beans are eaten as a green pod. “Pole” beans climb, but can also be snap beans. “Shelly” beans are beans that have begun tomature–the green maturing seeds are cooked like fresh peas. “Dry” beans have matured and dried in the pod and are soaked before cooking. “Wax” beans are any bean pods that ripen [...]

Lentils are a cool-season legume. Sow lentils in spring as early as 2 weeks before the average last frost date. Lentils can be started indoors before transplanting to the garden; lentil seeds will germinate in 10 days at 68°F. Lentils require 80 to 110 days to come to harvest. Description. Lentils are a hardy annual; [...]

Soybeans are tender warm-weather legumes. Sow soybeans in spring 2 to 3 weeks after the average last frost date when the soil has warmed to at least 60°F. Soybeans can be planted earlier in warm-winter regions. Soybeans grow best where the daytime temperature averages in the 70°sF. Description. The soybean is a bushy, free-branching annual [...]

Beans: garden beans–including pole, bush, and shell–lima beans, mung beans, scarlet runner beans, asparagus beans, and southern peas (which are not beans but share similar cultural requirements). All of these crops share similar problems. Here is a list of common bean problems and possible causes and cures. For more on vegetable garden pests and diseases [...]

Need top-choice, sure-bet, best-pick, easy-to-grow bean varieties? Here are 25 top-performers for the home garden divided into 5 popular bean types: (1) snap-bush green, (2) snap-pole green, (3) bush yellow, (4) lima, and (5) dried and shell beans. Keep reading to the bottom of this post for my tips for sure-fired bean growing success. Also [...]

The chickpea or garbanzo bean is a cool-season annual that requires about 100 days to reach harvest. Sow chickpeas in the garden about the date of the average last frost in spring or slightly earlier. Chickpeas require a long growing season; to get a head start on the season, sow chickpeas indoors in a peat [...]

The peanut is a warm-weather perennial vegetable that requires 120 to 130 frost-free days to reach harvest. Sow peanuts in the garden 3 to 4 weeks after the average last frost date in spring, when the soil has warmed to at least 65°F. To get a head start on the season start peanuts indoor 5 [...]

The lima bean is a tender annual. Sow lima beans in the garden 3 to 4 weeks after the average date of the last frost in spring when the soil temperature has warmed to 65° or more for at least 5 days and daytime temperatures are consistently warm. Start lima beans indoors as early as [...]

The Southern pea is a warm-weather annual that will tolerate no frost. Southern peas include blackeyed peas and crowder peas. Southern peas are sometimes called cowpeas or field peas. Sow Southern peas in the garden 4 weeks after the last average frost date in spring. For an early start, sow Southern peas indoors 6 weeks [...]