Sow beans in open ground. When to plant beans when growing from seeds, photos of planting and caring for beans. Bob is the master of the garden

Growing beans yourself on your own plots and windowsills has a number of advantages: ease of care, enriching the soil with nitrogen, and cold resistance. But for this it is important to understand how to plant beans, what cultivation schemes are available and some other subtleties.

How to prepare beans for planting in the spring in the garden and at home

The choice of variety is of no small importance in the effective cultivation of beans. There are 2 types of beans available for sale:

  • ordinary varieties intended for dry and fresh use;
  • pod varieties (fresh or frozen pods are eaten).

Common common legumes include:

  • hyacinth beans;
  • regular beans;
  • Vinga chinensis;
  • fava beans;

The most popular leguminous crops are:

  • green beans;
  • black Eyed Peas;
  • Azuki beans;

Important! The most common and high-yielding variety is Russian black beans. Windsor white beans and Belarusian beans are well cultivated.

Planting beans requires proper processing. Before planting seeds in open ground or a pot at home, it is recommended to prepare them - soak them in warm water for a day. This procedure will increase germination and early yield.

Purchased seeds undergo special treatment before sale; when using your own beans, they should be treated with a salt solution (30 g of salt per 1 liter of warm water). You need to soak the crop seeds in it for 10 minutes.

How to Plant Beans

The further soaking procedure is carried out using a special technology:

  1. The peas are placed in a deep plate.
  2. Pour water 1 cm above the level of the beans.
  3. Leave the seeds in this form until the morning (at least 10 hours).

After soaking, it is important to carefully monitor:

  • If the seeds float, they cannot be used; they are susceptible to grain infection.
  • Those seeds that have sunk to the bottom are suitable for use.

How to germinate beans for early germination:

  1. Rinse the seeds under warm running water, wrap in gauze, and place in a bag.
  2. Leave to germinate for 2 days at room temperature.
  3. It is recommended to check the seeds twice a day for mucus and rotting.

If the time has not come to sow the seeds, then such sprouts can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks without outgrowing.

Important! Purchased seeds go through the stage of pelleting, so there is no need to prepare and germinate them. Manufacturers have already taken care of this; the seeds are fully ready for sowing.

Differences between planting beans in the garden and at home

The difference between planting legumes in open ground and at home in a pot is the choice of where to sow the material and fertilizing:

  • To grow legumes in open ground, predecessors (plants that were grown in the selected location last year) are of great importance. It’s better if potatoes, pumpkins, and cucumbers grew there before.
  • Legumes can only be planted in the same place after 5 years.
  • When growing in open ground, it is recommended to use saturated phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
  • Bean sprouts do not like soil that is too acidic, so alkaline soil is a good choice. To correct the condition of the soil, before sowing the seeds, you need to add a deoxidizer to the soil, for example, ash, chalk, dolomite.
  • When growing in indoor pots, many are overfed with fertilizers. In this case, a lot of greenery grows (a large bush) to the detriment of the harvest.

How to plant correctly

When choosing a place to plant legumes in open ground in a country house or garden, it is recommended to give preference to the warmest place possible, protected from the wind. The planting area should be bright and sunny, as beans do not grow in the shade. When planting a crop on a windowsill in a house, you need to purchase additional lighting (phytolamps).

Important! To grow legumes on a balcony or loggia, it is important that the room is glazed; in this case, seedlings can be sown in containers at the end of spring.

If there is no loggia, but there is a desire to grow beans at home, then boxes with seedlings can be placed on window sills. However, seeds can be sown no earlier than March.

How to plant beans at home and in the garden, what you need to do first:

  • Pull out all weeds, preferably with roots.
  • Dig the beds to the depth of a bayonet shovel.
  • Fluff and loosen the soil.
  • Apply fertilizers (store-bought mixtures, compost, humus) to the planting sites.

It is better to fertilize legumes with humus

In general, gardeners argue that soil quality is not of fundamental importance for legumes, because they themselves are highly effective green manures. Nitrogen accumulates at the tips of the tubers, which heals and revives the soil. Such a solution at a summer cottage will not only enrich the soil with nitrogen, but also get a tasty harvest.

When growing beans at home, special attention should be paid to choosing a container for sowing and growing crops:

  • For bush seedlings, you should give preference to a container of at least 2-2.5 liters.
  • Climbing plants will grow well in spacious boxes and containers (at least 30 liters).

The growing process is quite simple and exciting, because legumes are unpretentious crops. The seeds grow well at low temperatures and can withstand light frosts down to −6-7°C. Thanks to this, plants can be planted in open ground relatively early, as soon as the last snow has melted, but much depends on the climatic characteristics of each region.

Note! Legumes are moisture-loving; they can die and stop bearing fruit during periods of drought, without constant watering. For a good harvest, abundant irrigation and fertilizing with nutrients are required.

Planting material is planted in the ground in the last week of April or the first week of May. This is the most optimal time: the soil is enriched with moisture from just melted snow, the ground temperature is 3-5°C.

By sowing seeds later, the gardener may get unfriendly seedlings, the crop will be prone to diseases and pest damage.

Planting scheme

Based on how to properly plant and cultivate beans and which scheme to choose, the level of germination and yield depend. You can plant beans using 2 main methods:

  • Single-row, wide-row method, which provides row spacing of at least 40-45 cm. Thanks to this, adult plants do not interfere with each other. The method refers to relatively fast ripening of sprouts.
  • A two-line tape method, in which there are 45 cm between the tapes and 20 cm between the lines. In the row, there should be at least 10 cm between each seed. The seeds should be planted approximately 8 cm into the ground. In general, the seeding rate in this case is 25-30 g per 1 m².

Belt method

The plant grows well alone in the garden or together with other crops, such as potatoes. To prevent seedlings from freezing, they can be covered with portable plastic film in the spring.

If you want to get an earlier harvest, legumes can be planted as seedlings. 25-30 days before planting, it is worth planting the seeds at home in peat pots. Seedlings can be planted in open ground in mid-May.

How to plant legumes on a plot? Standard instructions for growing legumes in open ground are as follows:

  1. Prepare planting material.
  2. Sow peas according to the scheme in pre-fed, fluffed soil.
  3. Cover with soil, compact, and water.
  4. Cover the bed from the last frosts and birds (you can use, for example, agril or film).

Further care

To get a high yield by carrying out the right cultivation actions, you should listen to the advice of experts:

  • To ensure better pollination of flowers, it is recommended to attract pollinating insects to the planting site. To do this, you can spray the stems with sugar syrup (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water) using a spray bottle.
  • Leguminous plants bear fruit several times per season, so planting material can be planted in 2-3 stages: in late spring, early summer and even in mid-July. But this is only possible with early ripening varieties.
  • The most important stage of cultivation is watering the sprouted beans, especially in dry weather. Experienced gardeners recommend carrying out the procedure once every 4-5 days. Special attention should be paid to watering during the period when the crop blooms and fruit ovaries form.
  • After each watering, you need to loosen and fluff the soil, and also carry out weeding, removing weeds. Such events should be held at least 2 times a week.
  • During secondary loosening of the soil, it is recommended to hill up the bushes, but when the leaves cover the distance between the rows, the procedure can be stopped. This most often occurs when the bushes reach 45-60 cm in height.
  • To ensure uniform growth of beans and fruit ripening, it is necessary to shorten the growing season. In this case, you need to pinch the tops of the main stems. It also helps prevent aphids from appearing while the plant is flowering.
  • When the crops sprout and get stronger, it is worth thinking about forming a structure for gartering bushes and climbing shoots. Depending on the structure of the stem, the height and power of the supports are selected. To do this, you can drive pegs near the bushes and stretch twine or netting over them. This will help maintain the integrity of the bush and protect it from damage due to wind or heavy rain.
  • To get sweet and ripe fruits, you need to add fertilizer to the soil in the form of a solution of wood ash during the flowering period of the bushes. To do this, you can dilute ground wood ash (1 kg or 2 cans of 1 liter each) in 1 bucket of water (10-12 liters).
  • To control legume pests, you can plant white mustard or red hot pepper between the rows or near the planting site.
  • Even at home, it is important to properly care - pay special attention to pest control, for example, weevil or spider mites. For this purpose, a wide range of biological products is offered for sale.
  • Harvest should be done 3-4 weeks after flowering. The main indicator will be cracking of the pod valves, with the upper pods ripening much earlier.

Legumes are an important source of vitamins and amino acids that are so necessary for humans. A novice gardener can even grow beans competently, planting and caring for which are quite simple, even on his windowsill at home. You just need to follow the advice and recommendations of the experts described above.

Beans are one of the most ancient representatives of the vegetable world. In Russia they began to be cultivated back in the 6-7th century. Legumes are an annual herbaceous plant with a powerful root system that can go 1.5 meters deep. The root system is inhabited by microorganisms that produce nitrogen during their life processes. Thanks to this amazing property, legumes are able to restore soil fertility and are excellent precursors for many crops. The plant stem can reach a height of 1.8 meters. Beans are pollinated by insects.

Acceptable conditions for growing beans

Legumes are easy to care for, but you still need to keep an eye on them. Especially if you want to grow a really good harvest. The garden crop is not demanding on climatic conditions; seeds can germinate at a temperature of +3 degrees, and seedlings can withstand temperatures down to -4 degrees. Thanks to this advantageous feature, legumes are actively cultivated in almost all regions of our country.

Bean seeds

  • Selection of land. The optimal site at the dacha is a hill without shadows, where the snow melts as early as possible. The culture loves soils that are able to retain moisture, preferably loamy and clayey soils. But drained peat bogs are also quite suitable. Beans grow effectively on slightly acidic and neutral soils if mineral and organic fertilizers are added to them. Legumes cannot be grown in the same place for several years. Good predecessors are potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, etc.
  • Preparation of the land plot. You should start preparing in the fall. It is necessary to dig to a depth of 20-22 cm. At this time, peat compost and rotted manure are added to the soil.

    Important! A few weeks before the upcoming expected planting date, complex fertilizers are applied to the ground.

  • Preparing seeds for sowing. Selected germinating seeds are used as planting material. It is necessary to calibrate the planting material and remove damaged and non-standard beans. It is not necessary to soak and sprout peas. This is done to speed up the process of cultural development. Seeds can be kept in water for no more than 15 hours. If you neglect this rule, germination will deteriorate sharply.
  • Proper planting of seeds. Beans are planted early because the plant is cold-resistant. But it is important to ensure that the soil warms up to a temperature of at least +5 degrees. Beans are sown in rows, leaving an interval of at least 0.4 meters between them, as well as in double rows. The interval between crops in one row, as a rule, varies from 12 to 15 cm. Soon after planting, the plants are generously filled with water and the soil is compacted a little, and be sure to cover it to protect the seedlings from attacks by rooks.
  • Caring for beans. Before seedlings form, the soil is loosened using a rake. As it develops, in addition to loosening, hilling is also carried out. After two weeks after germination, legumes must be fed. As a top dressing, use 500 ml of mullein, 1 tbsp. urea diluted in 10 liters of water. Before flowering, beans do not need frequent watering; during flowering and fruit formation, the frequency of watering should be increased.

Important! Before planting, planting material must be disinfected. To do this, the seeds are immersed in warm water with boric acid and ammonium molybdate. It would not be amiss to use special bacterial fertilizers, for example, rizotrophin and nitragin (use strictly in accordance with the attached instructions for use).

Step-by-step instructions: soaking seeds

Soaking beans

How to soak beans before planting? Before getting down to this issue, you need to find out whether it is necessary to soak the beans before planting and for what purpose.

When preparing seedlings, the most difficult thing is to overcome the period between sowing and the first shoots. How should planting material be soaked, how to soak beans? It is important not only to properly soak the planting material, but also to carry out calibration, since low-quality seeds will not appear at all or will do so later than expected.

Note! After soaking, the seeds germinate quite quickly and simultaneously, which greatly simplifies the process of caring for plants. This is due to the fact that they are all at the same stage of their development.

There are several ways to soak bean seeds for future planting in open ground.

The most common methods:

  1. To implement the first method, you will need an ordinary plastic bag and a piece of gauze. The material is generously moistened with warm water, after which selected high-quality seeds are carefully laid out on one side. The free edge of the material covers the seed, after which everything is placed in a bag. The contents of the package should be stored in a warm place. As a rule, if all the rules and temperature conditions are observed, the seeds germinate after 24 hours.
  2. The second method is almost identical to the first, but instead of a plastic bag, a glass container with a tight-fitting lid is used. Seeds are placed in a generously moistened piece of cloth, after which everything is placed in a jar. Store in a warm room for approximately 3-4 days. The jar must be opened periodically for ventilation.
  3. The third method refers to express methods. In this case, the principle is slightly different and is due to the speed of the procedure. Calibrated seeds are placed in a piece of cloth and placed in good quality vodka. 10-15 minutes is enough. After the seed has dried thoroughly, it can be planted immediately.

Detailed instructions for soaking seeds

If the above methods are not to your liking, you can turn to an alternative. In this case, it is recommended to use plates or wide saucers. The water or special biological solution used must be prepared in advance. The easiest way is soaking with ordinary gauze. One half of the material is placed on a plate, and the seed material is carefully laid out on top in one layer. The second half of the gauze is covered with the seeds and filled with liquid.

Important! The most favorable temperature of the liquid used is +35 degrees. The volume of liquid depends on the amount of seed, the ratio is approximately 1:1. If after some time the fluid darkens or becomes cloudy, it should be replaced. The manipulations should be repeated until the liquid remains clear.

First bean shoots

Actually, that's all. Soaking seed material does not require special skills or experience; even a novice summer resident can cope with the task. It is recommended to keep the container with soaked seeds in a dark and warm place; the ambient temperature should not fall below +20 degrees. To achieve the desired effect in the shortest possible time, the containers should be covered with glass or use an ordinary plastic bag to create a greenhouse effect. It will take about a day for the seeds to swell.

What do seeds soak in for quick germination?

Many agronomists are constantly searching for a special solution that stimulates the process of seed germination. First of all, you need to pay attention to the quality of the water used. It is recommended to use melted or rain water, separated from tap water. To achieve the desired result in the shortest possible time, summer residents use biologically active components. Biostimulants are absolutely harmless and effective. Such combinations of substances not only stimulate the growth of seed, but also strengthen it, allowing you to grow a strong and healthy crop.

Perhaps one of the most common dietary supplements is Epin. A unique combination of substances stimulates the protective functions of legume seeds to adverse environmental factors. In addition, the “stress resistance” of seeds against fungal, infectious and viral diseases increases.

Important! To disinfect planting material, they resort to heat treatment, using a solution of manganese, hydrogen peroxide or boric acid. If there is mechanical damage on the surface of the seeds, then when disinfected with chemicals, their germination will significantly decrease.

Legumes are a unique combination of beneficial properties and excellent taste. They are unpretentious in care, but still, in the process of their growth and development, they require compliance with the rules of agricultural technology. Preparation of planting material is a beginner and the most important aspect, so it should be taken with full responsibility. In addition to germinating seeds, it is worth paying attention to their disinfection, this will reduce the likelihood of developing various diseases.

An annual herbaceous plant of the legume family.

The root system of beans is well developed: the tap root penetrates the soil to a depth of 100-150 cm. Nodule bacteria develop on the roots, fixing air nitrogen. The stem is straight, from 20 to 150 cm in height. The leaves are compound, paired and imparipinnate, ending in a point. The flowers are large, moth-type, white, with a black velvet spot, located in groups of 2-6 in the leaf axils. Cross-pollinating plant. The flowers are fragrant, contain a lot of nectar, and bumblebees are very willing to visit them. The fruit is a bean 4-30 cm long, depending on the variety, containing 3-4 seeds. At technical ripeness, unripe beans are tender and soft; at biological ripeness, the bean leaves become coarser, harden, and acquire a black or brown color. The beans are well preserved on the plant and do not fall off. The seeds are very large, flat, irregular in shape, yellow, black, dark purple, green or whitish in color. Weight of 1000 seeds is 180-250 g.

Nutritional value of beans

Unripe beans are eaten; they are used for preparing vegetable soups and stewing. Highly nutritious dietary soups, main courses, and salads are prepared from ripe or canned beans. Unripe beans are boiled in salted water and eaten with cheese.

Beans are an extremely unpretentious plant, the best plant for bushes. They provide powerful, extremely wind-resistant protection for heat-loving crops. In addition, beans are good soil improvers. Nodules develop on their roots, in which nitrogen accumulates, fixed by bacteria and converted into a form accessible to plants. The green mass of beans contains a lot of nitrogen in a form accessible to plants and can be used as a green fertilizer. Beans are often sown with potatoes or cucumbers; this combination has a beneficial effect on the development and productivity of both crops. To prevent aphids from appearing on the beans at the beginning of mass flowering, the tops of the plants are pinched off.

Unwanted Elements

In a number of varieties, the seeds turn brown after heating and retain the bitter taste typical of beans. These varieties have black spots on white flowers. White-seeded varieties have pure white flowers.

Raw or poorly cooked beans are sometimes the cause of serious human poisoning, since the seeds contain toxic substances that are destroyed during heat treatment. People suffering from gout should not consume beans due to their high content of purine compounds.

Growing beans

Disease-resistant bean varieties

Virovsky(VNIIR, RUSSIAN SEEDS) - mid-season. The period from full germination to milky ripeness is 77-91 days, to full - 95-102 days. Medium height (85-96 cm). The bean is slightly curved, 8.5 cm long, 2.1 cm wide, 3-4 seeds, green at technical ripeness, strong parchment layer. There are an average of 24-26 beans per plant, the height of attachment of the lower bean is 24-28 cm. The seeds are large, oval, whitish to lemon yellow, matte. Weight of 1000 seeds is 1027-1220 g. The taste is good and excellent. Seed yield at technical ripeness is 25-28 c/ha (1 kg per 10 sq. m). Resistant to ascochyta blight, bacteriosis and fusarium.

Biological features of beans

Beans are one of the cold-resistant vegetable plants. Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of +3...4°C. Seedlings and adult plants can withstand frosts down to -4°C and grow well at +17...20°C. The best temperature for fruit setting is +15...20°C. In cold, rainy weather, beans can produce a high yield.

The crop is early ripening, from germination to technical maturity it takes 35-65 days, to biological maturity - 93-130 days.

Vegetable beans are long-day plants and grow well in light.

Placing and preparing soil for growing beans

Soils are best loamy and light loamy with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. Beans grow well on heavy clay soils, but cannot tolerate stagnant water, and on cold, waterlogged soils the seeds begin to rot. Beans produce good yields on relatively poor lands, and under good conditions the yield increases sharply. Acidic soils are unsuitable for them; they must be limed.

The soil is dug up in the fall, loosened and leveled in the spring.

Increased doses of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are applied to beans, and nitrogen fertilizers are applied to humus-poor soils. In the spring, organic and mineral fertilizers are applied to the beans per 1 square meter. m: half a bucket of manure or compost, 30-50 g of superphosphate and 40-45 g of potassium fertilizers or only 70-100 g of complete mineral fertilizer. Before sowing, the furrows are watered with Trichodermin solution to combat fungal infections of the soil.

Sowing beans

Sowing is carried out in the early spring, as soon as the soil thaws, since a lot of moisture is needed for the swelling of seeds and the initial growth of plants. Seeds begin to germinate at +4...6°C, seedlings tolerate frosts down to -3...4°C.

The sowing method is tape, three-line, the distance between tapes is 50-60 cm, between rows in a tape is 25-30 cm, between plants is 10-12 cm. The depth of seeding is 6.0-6.5 cm. Per 1 sq. m requires 20-30 viable seeds.

Plant care

The beans can be kept for quite a long time without watering, but at the beginning of growth they need quite a lot of water. The soil around the plants must be periodically loosened and weeds removed. Treatment of row spacing is carried out several times to a depth of 8-12 cm; The first loosening is carried out after the appearance of the second leaf, then they are repeated as the soil crust forms and is stopped when the plant height is 50-60 cm. During the second and third loosening, the plants are hilled, which helps strengthen the root system and increase the plants' resistance to winds. If the plants grow slowly, they are fed with potassium and nitrogen fertilizers - 10-15 g per 1 square meter. m.

I wonder who comes up with the fashion for garden crops? Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, of course, don’t count – they will be planted always and everywhere. But with other plants it’s really unclear, especially since many from the list of unpopular ones have very interesting features.

Six years is not a long time

This is what happened to me.

And since it’s about antiquity, I’ll start from afar.

It appeared for a reason: by first profession I am a biologist, and the topic of my thesis was just that (I was almost one of the first to master its cultivation, when I turned into a summer resident).

During preparation, a lot of materials were studied, including about different representatives of the legume family. There is no need to talk about their special value for the condition of the soil and their role in human nutrition (and for me, a strict vegetarian, this is one of the main sources of protein). And so, while lovingly caring for my green bean last year, I suddenly thought: why have I forgotten about its other relatives?

And my interest last season fell on the most ordinary beans. However, the expression “the most ordinary” was fraught with a catch, because everyone knows about this crop, but not everyone grows it (at least in our area). And I had little idea what would come of this idea of ​​mine.

I turned to my scientific adviser, Lyudmila Vladimirovna, for help - I remembered how six years ago she made pies with beans, which amazed me with their unusual taste. Maybe she will share the seeds?

But it turned out that since then Lyudmila Vladimirovna has not planted beans (but then sheltered them along the edges of the beds solely to improve the soil structure), although she collected planting material. So he lies idle. So, I had at my disposal six-year-old seeds, in two colors - white and brown. At the beginning of May, I soaked them for a day, and then planted them deep enough, at two heights of the seed, in the ground.

They sprouted surprisingly quickly and grew vigorously, although the bed was on the outskirts of the garden, and therefore I watered them infrequently (in fact, they were planted in place of the daffodils in order to simultaneously improve and enrich the land). But, having reached a certain height, they suddenly began to fall. I had to drive pegs between the beans and tie them to them. In June, the plants bloomed with beautiful two-color flowers, which insects really liked, and in July fruits began to form.

Three options for planting beans

They grew all summer (unlike peas, the seeds inside the valves of beans develop very slowly), and in August-September, when the outer shells began to dry out, I collected the seeds at the stage of milky ripeness and froze them (I dried some of them in order to have a proven planting material for next year). The small garden yielded a good harvest, and what is very valuable, the beans turned out to be clean and not damaged by pests, which is not always possible with peas. This year I have occupied a much larger area for this amazingly tall, beautiful and unpretentious plant.

D Beans love heavy, loamy soil, so they are simply a godsend for owners of such plots where everything else either refuses to grow or refuses to grow.

is pronounced with great difficulty. They are generally quite undemanding, except that they don’t like strong containers - then they don’t set fruit.

At the same time, having gained confidence in handling them, I planted them, so to speak, in three options: in a separate bed, as a windbreak for zucchini, and together with potatoes. The first two – no questions or problems, the result is excellent. But with the third there was an embarrassment. Powerful beans so obscured the potatoes that they literally did not allow them to breathe or see the sun. I had to remove them. But even without this, I had enough harvest in abundance.

And here any reader will definitely have a question: how to cook them? Unfortunately, it often happens that people try to grow all sorts of garden crops, but they are in no hurry to include them in their diet, continuing to pay tribute to traditional fried potatoes. And the garden spoils are either dumped in the barn or distributed to friends and acquaintances. Apparently they have time to do magic in the kitchen. I’m a young and busy person, so in cooking I try to come up with something that’s not at all troublesome (but not at the expense of taste, of course).

I do this with the beans: I take them out of the freezer and put them frozen in boiling water, add salt and pepper, chopped onions, some tasty herbs (I’ll write in detail about the variety of spices in the garden another time) and cook for about 40 minutes. The beans are hard. shell, so I remove the pan from the heat and grind its contents with a blender until a thick puree is obtained. Then I cool everything and as a result a tender mass is formed with a bean-like, slightly tart taste.

At this stage I add some more spices. Here let everyone show their own imagination, and I use oregano, savory, thyme and celery (all my own, grown with my own hands, and this makes the pleasure from the prepared dish even greater). Then I cut the frozen mass into cubes - and a full meal is ready. After this, you are charged with energy (which is especially pleasant after physical work or, for example, an intense workout). Beans prepared in this way go well with tomatoes and stewed cabbage.

Beans are an unpretentious vegetable crop from the Legume family, which has been known in Rus' for a long time. Currently, beans are undeservedly forgotten, although among our ancestors they were the main garden crop, which was grown everywhere and consumed in huge quantities. Beans were the main ingredient in many dishes, later replaced by potatoes. Beans are a valuable nutritious product, rich in protein, microelements and vitamins, which have excellent taste and quickly saturate the body. Beans can be classified as plants that summer residents grow in their gardens not only for food consumption, but also for fertilizing the soil. The plant fits well in garden beds with all vegetables, with the exception of onions and garlic, does not require special care and produces a high yield. Read on to learn how to properly grow beans in your summer cottage and what are the features of growing beans.

Beans: plant description

Beans are a herbaceous annual plant from the Legume family. The stem of the plant is erect, thickened, reaching a height of 30 to 120 cm. The leaves are unpaired and pinnate, the color is green. It has a developed powerful root that goes deep into the soil up to 1.5 meters. The bean inflorescence is a raceme with 4-12 flowers 2.5-3.5 cm in size. The bean blooms with white flowers, with a black spot on the wings of the petals. Flowers open in the afternoon. During flowering, the beans look attractive.

The fruit of the plant (bean) is a pod up to 30 cm long, which contains 2 or more seeds of yellow, green, brown, purple, black, the size and shape of which depends on the plant variety. There are small-seeded, medium-seeded and large-seeded varieties of beans, which differ from each other not only in color, size, but also in yield and ripening time. Of all garden crops, beans are the most cold-resistant and undemanding in terms of thermal conditions. The seeds of the plant sprout already at a temperature of 3-4 degrees Celsius, and adult specimens can withstand frosts of up to 4 degrees. At an air temperature of 19-22 degrees, young plants actively begin to grow and develop.

Bean varieties

Modern varieties of beans have high nutritional value and excellent taste. Breeders divide beans into two main groups: northern and Western European varieties. Northern varieties produce high yields in regions with a temperate climate, while Western European varieties are grown in southern regions with a hot, dry climate.

  • Russian blacks. One of the most famous mid-early varieties, widely used for planting in the northern zone of Russia. The bush reaches a height of up to 60 cm, blooms with white flowers and black spots. The shape of the beans is slightly curved, the length of the pod is 7-8 cm. The dark purple seeds have an oblong oval shape; when ripe, the bean valves do not open.
  • Belarusian. They belong to a mid-season variety, the height of the shoots is from 60 cm to 1 meter. The flowers are white, spotted. The bean is straight, up to 11 cm long; when ripe, the fruit flaps crack. The seeds are light brown in color and elongated in shape. The variety is widely known in Ukraine, Belarus, and Latvia.
  • Windsor green and white. Mid-season varieties. The plant is compact, stem height 0.6-1 m. The shape of the beans is elliptical, slightly flattened, with fleshy, green valves that open when ripe, contains 3 seeds. Varieties differ in seed color.
  • Virovsky. The beans belong to the mid-early variety. A plant up to 1 meter high with an erect stem. The flowers are large. The bean pod has a curved shape; 3-4 large, milky-colored seeds ripen in it.

Beans: growing features

Beans are daylight plants that require little heat. Bean seeds begin to germinate actively at low temperatures and are not afraid of frosts down to 4 degrees, so the seeds are sown in the spring, at the earliest possible date. The plant feels most comfortable at moderate temperatures up to 22 degrees Celsius. Higher air temperatures can lead to falling flowers and empty flowers, and consequently to unripe fruits.

Beans love moisture and are sensitive to drought. It has been noted that the highest yields of beans are observed when there is a large amount of rainfall during their flowering period.

Beans are not only a tasty and nutritious product, but also a useful garden crop. Like all plants of the Legume family, the roots of beans form nodule bacteria, which enrich the soil with nitrogen and make it looser and more suitable for the full growth and development of other vegetable crops. The roots and stems of beans, embedded in the ground after ripening and harvesting, are valuable fertilizer for the site. Also, the powerful branched root system of beans prevents weeds from developing, reliably protecting the fertile soil layer from being washed out by heavy rainfall.

Choosing a site for planting beans

When choosing a place to plant beans, you should give preference to a lighted area of ​​the garden with loamy, fertile, slightly acidic or neutral soils. A very important criterion for choosing a place to plant beans is soil moisture, so lowlands, row spacing of other vegetable crops, as well as small hills from which the snow melts early are allotted for planting them. However, there should be no stagnation of moisture in the soil. Cold and too wet soil is completely unsuitable for growing vegetable beans - most likely the seeds will rot and will not sprout. Areas where potatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers were previously grown are suitable for planting the plant. Garden areas where legumes were previously grown are not suitable: beans, peas, soybeans, lentils, in order to ensure vegetable crop rotation.

Planting beans in open ground

Vegetable beans are an unpretentious crop that can withstand fairly low temperatures, so they can be planted in early spring, when the soil begins to warm up and the threat of ground freezing has passed.

Preparing the soil for planting beans with seeds

Preparing the soil for planting beans is carried out in the fall. The soil should be dug well, using a spade, as the plant has a powerful root system. When digging, organic fertilizers are added: compost, mullein, manure (3-4 kg per 1 square meter). The exception is bird droppings, which contain a high nitrogen content. The soil is also enriched with phosphorus fertilizers and ash, which reduces the acidity of the soil. In the spring, before planting seeds, the soil, which has become compacted over the winter, is dug up, adding 10-20 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium salt.

Timing for planting bean seeds in open ground

Sowing bean seeds in the ground is carried out in late April - early May. The earth should warm up sufficiently, but be moistened, retaining most of the melt water. For central Russia, the optimal period when to plant beans in the ground is from May 7 to May 14. With later planting, the development and growth of seedlings is weaker, and the plant becomes susceptible to fungal diseases and attack by harmful insects.

Less commonly, the seedling method is used for planting, which is used to obtain an early harvest and is suitable for regions with late spring. To do this, the seeds are soaked in water for up to 15 hours and planted in separate containers in early April, grown in greenhouse conditions. After 30-35 days, the seedlings are ready for planting in open ground.

How to ensure high germination rates for bean seeds

Bean seeds germinate at low temperatures (from 4 to 10 degrees), but night frosts can cause their death. Before planting, it is necessary to inspect all the seeds and select only mature ones that are ready for planting. When examining, pay attention to seeds with a small hole - this seed has been damaged by the grinder. By breaking the seed you can find the pest larva.

You can plant both dry and soaked seeds in the ground. Before sowing, the seeds should be soaked on a saucer with damp gauze in two layers for 24-48 hours. You should not delay planting seeds that have swollen in water, as they may “choke” and not germinate.

How to plant beans in open ground with seeds

  • The beans are planted immediately in moist soil, in 2 rows, keeping a wide row spacing of at least 45 cm, to make it easier to care for them.
  • For the black Russian bean variety, the row spacing can be reduced to 30 cm.
  • The seeds are deepened to a depth of 5-7 cm, keeping a distance of 10-15 cm between them. It will not be difficult for a powerful sprout to break through to the light. After planting, the beds need to be watered.
  • For beans, you can select separate beds in the garden, or you can combine them with other vegetable crops by planting seeds between the rows. Combined plantings provide protection for garden crops from aphid attacks.

Beans: caring for garden crops

Caring for beans is not difficult; it is enough to provide the plant with regular watering, loosening the soil, and hilling. It is necessary to ensure that weeds do not interfere with the active growth and development of young seedlings, so it is necessary to weed more often. When the plant grows and gains strength, it will inhibit the growth of weeds and the need for weeding will disappear by itself. As soon as the bean stalks reach a height of 50 cm, they are earthed up; hilling is carried out 2-3 times throughout the season. Hilling protects the bean stems from gusts of wind and makes the plant more stable.

Feeding beans

In the process of loosening the soil, liquid complex organic-mineral fertilizers are applied between the rows (up to 10 g of superphosphate, 5 g of ammonium nitrate and 5 g of potassium salt must be added per square meter of soil).

Watering the beans

Regular watering is an important part of care when growing beans. The plant especially needs abundant watering during the flowering period, when fruit sets. However, one should not allow excess and stagnation of moisture in the soil, which can lead to root rotting or active growth of the vegetative mass of the plant, which will lead to low yield.

Pinching the tops of the beans

Pinching the top of a plant during the flowering period is an effective method of protecting young shoots from attack by aphids, which love to feast on the sap of a young plant. The tops of the stem 10-15 cm long are cut off. Pinching also helps the fruits ripen evenly.

Tying beans, creating support for shoots

Depending on the variety, the upright branched stem of the bean can reach a length of more than a meter. For the stability of tall varieties, a support is used to which the plant stems are tied. Pegs 1 meter high are used as support, with twine or rope stretched between them; you can also tie the stem directly to a separate peg.

Harvesting beans

The first bean harvest begins in summer; the crop is harvested several times per season. For fresh consumption, green, juicy and tender beans are collected. Green bean grains are at milky ripeness approximately 2 weeks after flowering. The crop is harvested starting from the lower part of the stem, where the fruits ripen faster.

  • Green (unripe) bean fruits are ideal for salads and side dishes. And more mature fruits with ripened seeds are suitable for making soups.
  • Collection of bean seeds for storage and subsequent propagation is carried out after the fruit valves darken and begin to open. Select viable seeds for storage. To determine their germination capacity, the seeds are placed in a saline solution. In this case, empty beans will float to the surface, and mature ones will remain at the bottom of the dish.
  • Bean seeds remain viable for 5-10 years. Store them in a dry, dark place, away from heating devices, where the temperature is stable and there is no humidity.
  • After harvesting, the above-ground part of the plant is cut off and burned, and the soil, along with the roots, is dug up.
  • The root system of beans makes excellent compost and ideal soil fertilizer. To enrich the soil on the site with nitrogen, the roots of the beans can be pulled out of the ground and buried in the ground during autumn digging.

Control of diseases and pests of beans

Beans are a vegetable crop that is resistant to various types of diseases and pests. Common plant diseases include:

  • Black bean aphid. A pest that attacks the stems of young plants in the summer. Most often, aphids attack the top of the stem. Leads to deformation and curvature of the stem. During active growth of the stem, it is recommended to pinch off all the tops of a plant up to 15 cm long to prevent aphids from appearing. For prevention, the plant is treated with karbofos or Fitover.
  • Sprout fly. Often beans are attacked by a small pest - the sprout fly, which lays eggs in the soil, under the shoot. The fly larvae feed on the bean root. To protect the plant from the pest, it is necessary to regularly remove weeds and loosen the soil under the bushes.
  • Nodule weevil. Looks like a small gray bug. This is one of the most dangerous pests of beans, capable of destroying the entire plant. Insect larvae feed on root nodules, and the weevil itself eats young foliage, as a result of which the plant becomes weaker and eventually dies. If a pest is detected, the plant should be sprayed with dust at the rate of 10 grams per square meter.
  • Bean weevil- an insect that harms the plant during the flowering period, when fruit sets. It lays larvae on young ovaries; after a few days, the larvae penetrate the seed and feed on its contents, thereby harming the future harvest. Caryopsis larvae are dangerous because they can overwinter in seeds intended for planting in the spring. To prevent infection of young seedlings, the seeds are soaked in a saline solution.

In addition to pests, young seedlings are susceptible to some diseases, which are usually associated with waterlogging of the soil. Among them are:

  • Blackleg. A disease characterized by the formation of a dark coating on the root collar of a plant. Leads to rapid withering and death of the shoot. The culprit of the disease is a fungus, infection of which occurs through the soil. The disease progresses in cool, damp spring and is observed when seeds are sown late in open ground.
  • Chocolate (brown) spot. A disease characterized by the appearance of dark brown spots on the leaves and stem of the plant. If chocolate spotting is detected on the leaves, they must be removed so that the disease does not spread throughout the entire shoot. The plant does not need to be treated with chemicals.

In addition, significant damage to the bean harvest is caused by uninvited guests of gardens - rooks and crows, who pull out young shoots along with the roots. To prevent bird attacks, it is necessary to provide methods of repelling them.

Beans are a vegetable crop that is healthy and nutritious for our body, and by planting it in the garden, we receive double benefits. In addition to the high yield of tasty fruits, the soil on the site is fertilized and saturated with nitrogen. Particular attention must be paid to choosing a site for planting legumes and knowing when to sow beans in open ground in order to obtain high yields. Delicious, nutritious dishes made from beans are a source of vegetable protein and valuable substances that will diversify your diet and fill your body with vitamins and microelements for the whole year.