Why You Need to Grow MORE Bush Beans This Summer!

[@llswink]

I had been regretting that I didn't plant enough beans this year, and now I see I have time for bush beans as fillers in the garden. It's a win-win for me as I now will have more beans and more nitrogen fixing going on in my raised beds! Thank you for all your hard work and information. ~ Lynda in the deep south, US :)

[@TheAllotmentGardenandKitchen]

Thank you Huw and as you point out dwarf beans are an excellent space filler and are perfect for sowing directly into the ground at this time of year. Another really informative video. Thank you and kind regards. Gary

[@HuwRichards]

Thank you so much Gary!

[@joannc147]

I’m enthralled with your innate talent of making bean plants THE most interesting veg. Great tips!

[@cathy9900]

Ok you've convinced me I've sown some now 😀

[@RussHjelm]

Bush beans are a mainstay of our garden. We will generally succession plant them from the end of April all the way through July.

[@vickyannpaintingwithoils]

You are by far one of my favorite gardeners to learn from. Thank you for your wonderful videos and collaboration with those who don't know what you know. That is what it is all about. Passing on knowledge to keep generations in the loop. God Bless you. In Jesus name.

[@shaunaburton7136]

I love runner beans because they are so beautiful!

[@nightsklover]

Beans are a very satisfying crop! The seeds are generally larger and easier to handle. And beans provide good, filling protein when eaten. They make a great investment crop, as saving the seeds is quite easy. We grow beans (both pole and bush) as a staple to get us through the winters in Iowa, planting around 20 types each year in our home garden. We use some beans as the season progresses, and dry most to use later, both as a food and as seeds for the next season's crop. Thank you, Huw, for pointing out how gap planting can work!

[@marymcandrew7667]

That's just what I want to do and am trying to learn as fast as I can about growing all types of beans! I want to save dried beans to eat in winter, can I do that with runner, broad and bush beans?

[@nightsklover]

@@marymcandrew7667 , some might disagree with me, but we save any and all beans for dried! But if you read the packets of seeds, you'll see some terms.. like "fresh" or "snap" or "shell" or "dried". These refer to the "best" way to use the beans. But again, all beans can be dried... after all, that's how we get the bean seeds, right?! Bigger beans (like Good Mother Stallard or Hidatsu) will fill up your jars faster. Also, we found that cowpeas, although somewhat smaller, produce like crazy and are super easy to shell when they are dry. By the way.. the way to get dried is to leave them on the vine til they are dry. And do look for "bush" or "vine", and make sure you have the trellising to accommodate vines (our personal fave way to grow). Now, having said all that (sorry for being wordy) we are still learning, and I'm quite sure there are lots and lots of folks who know tons more than us, but I don't think any of them love love love beans more than us! hehe.

[@marymcandrew7667]

@@nightsklover I really appreciate your long reply! I wrote down a few things so I'll remember too. I'm trying a new (to me) bean that comes from the States, "Jacob's Cattle", I guess it's from New England, funny I got them from a company in Wales! haha I read about one called Soldier Beans or Red Eye Beans, they sound interesting too but I can't find the seeds anywhere here (Scotland). I think it'll be fun trying different varieties over time, just wish I had more beds....I'm putting them into big pots too just to try growing more! Thanks again!

[@katjaz9047]

Great idea about filling the gaps with dwarf beans. I never do beans seedlings, I always direct sow. I grow a lot ( almost 100m2) of dwarf beans (for dry beans and fresh green beans).

[@billierichter1379]

I wasn't going to plant bush beans this year because I'm growing pole beans on a cattle panel tunnel, but I just couldn't stand the thought of not having bush beans also. So, I have a nice little crop of yellow wax bush beans, and a crop of green bush beans going. I'm going to be canning like a crazy woman.

[@vinkaposeck4050]

Un abrazo desde Chile 🇨🇱, me encantan sus videos… gracias por los subtítulos en Español. 😊

[@elizabethflynn8455]

Agree. A mighty crop for any garden.

[@GardeningWithJohn]

Hi Huw, I totally agree. Last year I was originally going to sow 100 through the year, but I sowed twice that. I'm in the south of England and managed to take advantage of the longer season and when we had bad blight in the area, instead of mucking around with my blighted tomatoes, I cut my losses and ripped out all my Tomatoes and filled the Greenhouse, Polytunnels and a coldfame with them. I just managed to harvest all of them as the first frosts came. I had some fresh, gave some away and froze a lot. I find Dwarf French beans a lot easier than the other beans, less pest trouble and even if I like the taste of Broad beans and runner beans better, it's so reliable and productive for its size. I still grow all the other beans, but last year made me really appreciate the Dwarf French bean as a staple in my garden. All the best John

[@susanne6943]

Huw, these were great tips. I usually grow 2 beds of French beans but never thought about plugging them in where there are gaps. I am excited. I will grow bush beans now between my purple sprouting broccoli, peppers, and tomato plants. There is always some space on the bottom between the plants. My pole beans are planted out shortly and I will follow your advice and plant bush beans in front of them. Fantastic!!!

[@RizeTB1]

Love the idea of putting bush beans at the feet if climbing ones.

[@derekmorris7128]

Huw Richards - I have enjoyed your 3 books very much, all 3 are loaded with great info, even for someone who has been gardening 40+ years! You knocked it out of the ball park with your most recent. Of course all your video's are excellent as well and I look forward to watching each new one that comes out. I was wondering if you have ever considered writing a book on cooking from the garden? I would love to see you do this and I am certain many others would as well. Please consider it.

[@AndrewNoFiction]

Purple are my favourites. I have to agree that dwarf French beans are some of the most prolific vegetables in the garden.

[@bridgetbean79]

Yay for beans 😊 Great vid

[@johnnasutton7528]

My new favorite gardening channel! Great nuggets of information ❤️

[@HuwRichards]

Awesome! Thank you! :D

[@jencros1]

I was looking for some ideas about where/how to grow my dwarf French beans. This video is PERFECT. All the information I needed. Thank you, Huw. I've learnt so much from your videos.

[@hadassahhaman7550]

Hello! New gardener. Began gardening because of covid. I spend 2-4 hours daily in my backyard garden and I've learned sooooo much from the Huw Richards videos! I just melt when you begin... Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.... I feel the LOVE! ❤

[@sallygreen1899]

hi! I love growing climbing beans too! congratulations on your orchard!

[@yukey2587]

Yay! I'm just about to put the beans on tomorrow! Serendipity!

[@HuwRichards]

Perfect timing!

[@Laueite]

loves huws extensive guide to gap plugging. :)

[@7Drummy]

I'm a fan of bush beans. Glad you made a video about them because they are under appreciated. Yet people will pay an arm and a leg to buy pickled beans. I hadn't considered starting them in pots. That is new to me becase they are so easy to grow in soil. This is why I would recome

[@7Drummy]

Recamend not buying them as starts. Over all great video!

[@katblyth8153]

I could never eat bought beans, found them disgusting. But absolutely love home grown bush and climbing beans - growing my own opened up a whole new world of flavour!

[@henrikolsen5]

The continuous evolvement of production quality is so wonderful. Such a joy to watch. As both a photographer and now also a garden enthusiast your work here is spot on for me. Thank you so much for this. Do you do the post recording work yourself or is it done by others?

[@alanshrimpton6787]

Wow. What a great idea. I'll try it after winter.

[@HuwRichards]

Thanks for watching!

[@caroldobson2237]

Thank you so much, my first year planting bush beans and they were amazing! ❤

[@marym9150]

I absolutely love your videos. I wish I had time to read your book 😂 but the videos are great when I'm cooking etc

[@lenam2114]

What a lovely video, I really enjoyed it! 👍

[@debbiet5130]

This is great news! I have some coming up in a module tray at the moment and will now make sure I sow them every couple of weeks till the end of July. Great that they fit in the gaps too! Love beans!😋

[@finagill]

I planted several pounds of bush beans last weekend. I inoculated them and am using them primarily as a nitrogen source. If food gets scare my family should have enough. If nothing else I could feed them to my neighbors chickens in exchange for eggs.

[@hopeup2792]

I just planted butternut squash at the edge of a raised bed in hopes it will grow into the path with is wide in front of it. I have never grown butternut squash so I will see.

[@lvee7569]

Great video. I love the idea of using bush beans to shade my lettuce - hadn't thought of that.

[@HuwRichards]

Glad to help! Thanks for watching! :)

[@wilmawater]

we started a vegetable garden 3 months ago. We try to work with as many natural materials as possible. Since we started in March, we were only able to grow a few summer vegetables. I am planting my seeds now for the winter vegetables . I see beautiful wooden beams for the planting beds everywhere in your video. Unfortunately, these are unaffordable for small trade hobby gardeners. I have already seen several videos of yours and I have already been able to apply many of your tips. Thank you for that. I have never eaten bush beans. I don't know what these beans are called here in the Netherlands. Thank you for the beautiful video Kind regards, Wilma

[@HuwRichards]

Thank you Wilma! You're dong great! Best of luck with your winter vegetables :)

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

Glad to see your beans looks like mine at plant out! I only grow bush beans yet. Don't have time to deal with the extra structure installation for climbing types

[@candyceclaybornn1360]

no time to just stick a pole in the ground?

[@myrustygarden]

Great video I just actually put out some bush purple queen and blue lake 👍👍👍

[@The_heirloomgardener]

We love bush beans and we plant a border of bush beans around the edges of every raised bed ....here in zone 7 ....we also get at least 3 sowings ! I usally can hundreds of pints of green beans a yr just from our simple bush bean borders around our 18 raised beds .

[@joyceterra2265]

I have been growing the bush beans for years. I love the plants and they are so prolific. I usually plant the seed in the soil about the 3rd week in May and by July I am picking a large pail daily. I start canning them at that time and usually get approx 12 quarts on a daily basis. I like the blue lake green bean. Lots of sweet bean flavor and no strings. I have never had good luck with pole beans.

[@nobodyimportant7567]

Same here. Pole beans are all pole and no bean!

[@joyceterra2265]

@@nobodyimportant7567 Try the bush beans. I think you will love the results. I like the blue lake better than all the others. Found the others to be stringy and on the tough side. Whereas the blue lake are tender and only once in awhile will hit one with a string when snapping them. Also love the flavor better than others.

[@beautyforashes2230]

@@nobodyimportant7567 I grow both, and usually get more harvest from the pole beans than the bush beans. I guess it depends on the variety too, there are some remarkably prolific pole beans.

[@Mraazer69]

I live in the Netherlands and have already been able to pick a small handful of Bush beans..even picked 3 cucumbers last week. Edit they are outside I started them on the window sill

[@ole340]

I plant them directly too! And if you have a mild climate, do it even in Winter. Roses love them and the greenery is so good direct on the soil.

[@tanyaratti]

Love this idea or squeezing in. I love interplanting around my fruit trees. Id been using herbs as confusers for pests… but on thinking about beans, not only will i get more food, i can cut off the bean plant at end of its growing season so it releases the connection with nitrogen nodules for the fruit tree to benefit from. Win Win. 😀

[@hickoryhillinthebigwoods-r759]

Can I plant bush beans up next to my tomatoes?

[@kris8584]

I love bush beans! I started growing them because they seem less susceptible to japanese beetles in my area in Southern Quebec, Canada. I grew two varieties last year, and froze some, canned others, and I had so much beans for all of winter.

[@karboaakarboaa3365]

Good job and good luck

[@marking-time-gardens]

Thank you again for another great encouragement and teaching video! Blessings on your day Kiddo! From Holland, Ohio 🥰🌻🐛

[@tenlamps6183]

I like this idea. Thank you.

[@HuwRichards]

Glad you like it!

[@anniecochrane3359]

Great advice Huw, popping the bush beans in wherever there is a gap. I eat a lot of dried beans so this year grew borlotti bush beans, and let my climbers 'go to seed' when I"d had my fill of green beans, fresh, freezer and chutney.

[@sabinpantis4149]

Planted both climbing and bush. I don't get the ideea behind transplanted beans. They germinate fairly quick. I also found from my grand mother and from my own experience that plants that are sowed directly outside tend to develop much faster and healthier. You are right the make a good candidate for filling unused spaces and they give a lot o crop.

[@ZeroWasteFamily]

You convinced me to grow more beans

[@isobeltyrer2371]

Thank you for this video, I watched it last night and have been out and bought seed, which are now sown. I will sow more mid June 🙂

[@marymcandrew7667]

I am new to growing beans and have a question, can you grow any variety of dwarf french or bush bean to harvest just for the bean and not the green pod? I love your videos Huw, they make things clear and inspire me to try more things!

[@lavrynthos]

You did not mention nitrogen fixing! But the "saw throughout the summer every two weeks so you can then use them ad-hoc to plug empty spaces" tip was great. Thx

[@HuwRichards]

As soon as they produce beans they don't really fix much nitrogen

[@lavrynthos]

Ah! So ~3-4 weeks of nitrogen fixing is what we can look forward to?

[@HuwRichards]

@@lavrynthos When fruiting they use up most of the nitrogen they've fixed. So what you need to do is but the plant before it fruits so the nitrogen is "fixed"

[@lavrynthos]

THANK YOU, good to know!

[@Winter_IsHere]

I use them mostly like you described: at the border as weed suppressor, to keep the soil as moist as possible. Planting them close together. Last year harvest was abundant. We have been eating them almost twice every week all year round. Planted 5m2, I believe. I was thinking about planting garlic with enough space and plant the beans in between. When the beans become bigger it is garlic harvesting time. It might allow 3 crops in the same space: garlic, beans, kale or something else that you prepare in seed trays for winter harvest. It all depends when you remove the bean plants. Garlic is the true space filler because it can be planted anywhere and during spring it does not prevent planting in between other crops.

[@candyceclaybornn1360]

if you plant something else in between garlic, know that the garlic bulb will be significantly smaller

[@rambukah76]

Thanks

[@HuwRichards]

Thank you so much! :)

[@Nina-9a]

Thank you for the advice. I just went out and intercropped some bush beans according to your advice.

[@miaheiman5426]

Could you please talk about your beautiful artichoke plant I keep seeing in the background. I tried to overwinter 4 plants in southern, coastal Norway and didn’t succeed. What are your best practices for healthy artichoke plants in non-Mediterranean climates?

[@raimbowraimbow]

Great video, thanks! I can't seem to find yin yang beans in Italy. Not common!

[@marybogar5981]

Thank you for reminding me to plant bush beans in those spaces. My climate is very hot already here in June. I'm growing okra in a couple of beds and I think the bush beans would do great underneath. What gets our plants is our heat index. Mostly at this time of year I only plant southern peas and okra.

[@rjm4031]

You have just inspired me to try dwarf beans out. Ive ordered some Merveille de Piemonte because i have blauhilde, lady di, and goldmarie already growing, so im trying out all the colours!!

[@nickthegardener.1120]

I've never grown bush beans before, this year I'm growing 2 types.👍

[@albertpeterinsua8301]

Yummy and colorful in my fried rice. Thank you 😊 Southern California U.S.A. KZbin

[@HuwRichards]

My pleasure :) Thank you for watching :)

[@LuckyFigFarm]

Another great video, thanks

[@lyndaturner6686]

I haven’t managed to germinate any dwarf beans , I bought a new packet of seeds but still no joy, well as it’s not too late I’m going to give them another try. So fingers crossed it works, I have no trouble with French or any other tall bean , but I’ve never managed bush beans and I don’t know why.

[@josephinecronin1195]

Mulling this over right now- is it worth the space. Thank you for another fab video

[@HuwRichards]

Absolutely worth it!

[@rcchallenge8626]

I wasn’t going to plant any French bean this yr as I’m really limited on space but this just made me run out and pop seeds between my onions 😂

[@ritamusina571]

Can I freeze bush beans? How?

[@alexiasandow6659]

Would you please provide the name of your experimental garden again? If it has a dedicated KZbin channel would you also provide that link?

[@C_Gilbert_68]

Should/Can I direct sow beans? If so, should I soak my beans before direct sowing them? If so, for how long? And if I can ask the same question about sweet corn? Thank you for any help.

[@lesliekendall5668]

Do you inoculate your beans? One thing I'm always conscious of is what can be planted near the old black walnut trees on my property and beans is one that doesn't mind them.

[@belindabolen1762]

Hello Huw and thank you for your wonderful, helpful videos, could you tell me please what's best to plant in 1oo degree weather? I'm in zone 7B. Thank you so much

[@gailwells9309]

Do you put your starts under a grow light while getting them ready to plant

[@zachmays1642]

What variety of beans have those beautiful Orange flowers at the end of the video?

[@HuwRichards]

That was scarlet emperor runner bean :)

[@angelikabachmann3048]

Great video 💚 I learnt not to plant bushbeans not together with climbing beans. Am I wrong? Greetings from Austria....I love your channel and your books

[@beautyforashes2230]

That's what I was taught too, never plant bush and pole beans together, so I was surprised!

[@HuwRichards]

Never had any issues myself :)

[@tinanguyen3961]

a very wonderful garden

[@HuwRichards]

Thank you! :)

[@francesbatycki404]

Are there places one shouldn’t plant beans? A previous season of another plant? A nearby crop that doesn’t like beans? Etc.

[@mrs.coleman4049]

They say don't plant beans near onions and garlic but other than that I believe you are safe with just about anything.

[@francesbatycki404]

Thanks for the specific replies. Totally grateful. Just did the beans and only my runner beans are anywhere near the garlic. Should be safe. What a spring! Thank you all.❤️🇨🇦👍👍🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦👍👩‍🌾🪴👩‍🌾👩‍🌾👩‍🌾

[@itme7685]

I will follow this example and see what I think. I like the idea I’ve been popping in flowers and herbs in the same way. I know replying to all the comments is impossible, but when planting in plug trays before putting out is it still a good idea to use an inoculant? I’m putting in a brand new garden and was limited on how much compost I was able to incorporate so the more I can add the the soil with nitrogen fixing bacteria the better.

[@rhg3212]

I prefer climbing beans to bush because we suffer with slugs! With climbers I can use slug collars as a barrier but bush type have too many trailing leaves.

[@cherylbertolini3140]

I’m going to look for the seeds in the USA hopefully I find them.

[@stevenhansford4760]

That are so much better than runner beans

[@DenSvaraTradgarden]

My bush beans barely germinated last year so I’m nervous to sow them now, but I will give it a go later on this week. Thanks for the nudge! Do you have a video where you show the harvest of different kinds of beans and what to do with them after? Which ones to dry or eat fresh?

[@trishgreydanus7004]

Beans won't germinate if the soil is too cold or wet

[@DenSvaraTradgarden]

@@trishgreydanus7004 True, but we had a drought last year so cold and wet wasn’t the problem. Still haven’t worked out why I had such poor results.

[@scottcraig77]

My kind of growing for just about everything at the moment XD

[@HuwRichards]

Brilliant :)

[@freedombug11]

As a first time gardener, my very first vegetable harvest of anything ever was five delicious bean pods - yesterday! I've been surprised at how easily they grow compared to everything else. Not so long ago, I remember thinking, "Why did I even plant these?" Beans seem so boring and I wasn't expecting to get so many plants out of them - but they pretty much all germinated. I'm singing a different tune today. If it weren't for my beans I wouldn't have my first harvest, so far ahead of everything else, which is encouragement I really needed. They tasted nice, too.

[@ganainm2025]

Your comment reminded me of my excitement of harvesting my first produce when I started 3 years ago. I wish you good luck with your garden this year.

[@freedombug11]

@@ganainm2025 Thank you!

[@bhalliwell2191]

What a delightful experience to have, that very first taste of food you've planted and grown, yourself! Super glad for you.

[@freedombug11]

@@bhalliwell2191 Thank you!

[@gaildunn8047]

How do you know when to remove the plant to grow something else?

[@jenniferdruery8661]

Thanks Huw! One question…have you found beans to be bad companions to any other plants? I’m sort of reluctant to try them too close to certain plants but I know that some folks don’t have a problem with interplanting with anything. Have you had any issues with other plants?

[@candyceclaybornn1360]

if you trim the beans down after harvest, wont they regrow and produce again?

[@unclepigg]

The seed packs say plant around 12-18" apart, which seems excessive. You are planting them quite close. How close do you recommend ?

[@mrs.coleman4049]

That's a lot of space for beans! I planted my bush beans 4" apart and they're doing great. If you think that's too close then you can do 6" apart but I wouldn't go any further than that.

[@turiaturiana7529]

Ty Huw! Just sowed a tray of Sonesta French beans about a week ago and the seedlings have all popped out to my daughters delight! Quick question please, in terms of yield how much can we expect one dwarf bean bush to give us? Ty for such a great channel. Love your vids 😊

[@crankybanshee3809]

At their peak with first flush I get 1-3 beans per plant per day for about 2-3 weeks and then they ease off and come back 0-2 for about a further 4-6 weeks, sometimes longer - weather has been all over the place the past couple of years. (temperate zone in Oz) For such a little plant they produce a lot and once the fruit sets they fill out in no time. As productive as they are, green beans are the kind of thing you need to plant three times more of than you think if you want any to make it into your kitchen. Too hard to resist eating as they are picked.

[@turiaturiana7529]

@@crankybanshee3809 very useful info ty! I'm a long time flower planted but this is my first ever season planting veg - mainly thanks to Huw! Appreciate the info, ty 😁

[@keyphabenyisrael3219]

Please direct me to where I can purchase that specific cultivar of French dwarf yellow beans. TIA

[@larsemborg01]

super from Denmark ;-)

[@BatteredWing]

I actually use snow peas similarly. Except I just throw their seeds everywhere 😂

[@cxion833able]

What is that purple flowers in this video?

[@CelebrateEverything]

How do you prepare these kinds of beans to eat?

[@snomeesmoo]

great video Huw! can you recommend some good varieties please im in Ireland zone 8b. cheers!

[@Damian-gl3bb]

Can you grow dawf French for seeds yes or no

[@WilsonsWanderings]

Why are my French beans’ leaves turning yellow?

[@stevendowden2579]

nice video huw

[@HuwRichards]

Thank you :)

[@delsmith568]

I find it really difficult to get any dwarf beans to germinate. And very rarely a French fine bean. Only dwarf beans that seem to do well are yin yan beans

[@Vassle]

The difference between Japanese and Chinese wisteria is the direct in which it climbs