Plant Bush Green Beans Now for Fall Harvest

Date:  July 10, 1997
Editor: D'Lyn Ford  (505) 646-6528, dlford@nmsu.edu

LAS CRUCES -- If your garden was devastated this summer by high winds, hail, disease, or alternating warm and cold weather, you can still enjoy fresh vegetables this fall by planting bush green beans now.

"July is a good time to replant your garden for a fall harvest and bush green beans are an excellent crop," said George Dickerson, horticulture specialist with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service. "Green beans planted in the summer tend to have greater yields and higher quality beans than those planted in the spring."

Green beans also make a great rotation crop in the garden because they produce their own nitrogen, he said. Nodules on the roots contain Rhizobium bacteria that takes nitrogen from the air and converts it into a form the plant can use. This nitrogen remains in the soil for other plants to use the following growing season.

"If you've never grown green beans in your garden, you'll need to treat the seed with the Rhizobium bacteria," Dickerson said. The bacteria is available at most local nurseries or through mail-order seed catalogs. "Future seed will not have to be treated because the bacteria remains in the soil."

Dickerson recommends planting bush bean varieties in the summer because pole green beans take too long to mature. Ideal bush bean varieties include 'Blue Lake 274', 'Greensleeves' or 'Topcrop'.

Plant beans 1-2 inches deep with 1-2 inches space between in rows 18-36 inches apart. After seedlings emerge, thin plants to 2-6 inches apart within the row.