A small yard and a delicious vegetable garden can go hand in hand. The trick is to plant foods that grow vertically or do not take up too much surface area when planted in beds. My backyard barely has enough garden space for an 8′ x 8′ patch and a few trees, yet I have mountains of delicious produce and herbs every season. Of this bounty of delicious foods, pole beans are one of my favorites to grow. Pole beans are easy to grow, produce continuously, can be grown in a small area since they are vines, and come in a wide variety of types. They are eaten just like green beans, and can even be frozen so that you can enjoy them out of season. So how do you get started with this delicious, low maintenance plant?
* When to plant: Plant after danger of late frost has passed, typically when the soil has warmed up a bit. I plant my Kentucky Blue pole beans in late May to mid-June here in Southern California, and have always had really great results. Of course, I did have to experiment and find out which bean types worked best with my climate and soil.
* How to grow: If you are growing from seed, pile up a small mound of dirt (about 2-4″ tall and 6-8″ wide) and plant a few pole bean seeds inside the mound; the seeds will germinate in a week or two.
If you are using a more mature planting, simply dig a hole a few inches wider than the root ball, and plant the pole bean, mounding up a small hill of dirt around the base. Then, train the pole bean to grow on a structure by placing the stems and leaves on the twine or wood as the plant matures.
Give the plant a sunny location, and a pretty deep watering once a week. Keep some mulch, straw, or grass clippings around the base to prevent weeds and hold moisture in the soil. Although not necessary, pole beans also love fertilizers rich in nitrogen, either from an organic, commercial product formulated for vegetables,or fishy kitchen scraps mixed into the soil.
* How to build a support structure: Pole beans do well with support, and you can enjoy quite a few beans if you use a structure. You can use a wooden lattice purchased from the store or make your own structure. Some people prefer to use a teepee structure consisting of 4-6 tall bamboo stakes that are put together to form a cone over the pole bean plant. Next, twine is wrapped around the bamboo sticks so that a webbed teepee structure is all around the plant.
I prefer to use a stake and twine setup that acts as a small wall at the far end of my garden patch. The twine is easy for the vines to climb, the sun hits all of the plants, and the beans are very easy to pick when I use this setup.
To build one of these structures, simply pound a few stakes into the ground, and run twine between them. I typically use 6′ stakes, with 2′ in the ground, and place them every few feet; this gives me about 4 stakes at the back of my garden. Next, I wrap the twine around the bottom of the first stake, move on to the second one, and continue until I have about 6-8 rows of twine stretching across all of the stakes. If you are growing these plants on a balcony, you can use a modified version of this structure by using twine stretched between only two stakes in either end of a planter.
* When to harvest: You should have pole beans ready for the dinner table in 65-80 days. Pick your pole beans when they are a rich green in color, and have some bulk to them, but before you can feel the individual beans in the pods. Also, avoid picking the beans while the leaves are wet, as this will help to prevent fungal diseases. It is also a good idea to pinch off the pole beans a few times a week to let the plant know that it needs to keep producing. Plus, these little wonders produce quickly, and you’ll need to harvest often to make room on the plant for more beans.
Whatever method or pole bean variety you choose, I guarantee that in a few weeks you will be harvesting a delicious bounty of beans from your backyard. Happy gardening!
