Ready for a tour of 35 of the best bush bean varieties? Whether you are growing in planters, worried about bean diseases, or dealing with unusually hot or cool summer conditions, there’s a variety for every garden. Discover the best classic snap, stringless, filet, wax, purple, and Romano bush varieties. Read more now.
Bean plants are susceptible to a range of fungal, bacterial, and even viral diseases that can reduce yields and affect pod quality. Recognizing early symptoms and understanding how these pathogens spread can help limit damage in the garden. Learn how to identify and manage 11 common bean diseases in this guide. Read more.
Are you growing peas in your vegetable garden? From rabbits and snails to cutworms and aphids, there are many pests that attack and feed on peas. Some of these critters are just a bit of a nuisance, while others are downright dangerous and can kill your plants overnight. Learn about 15 common pea pests in this guide.
Navy beans, aka haricot or Boston beans, are small white shelling beans that originated in Peru and can be grown as annuals in Zones 3 to 12. Ready to harvest after 85 to 100 days, navy beans are perfect for soups, chilis, and classic Boston baked beans. Learn how to grow navy beans in this guide. Read more now.
Spring is such a colorful time of year as winter fades away, and one of the most colorful contributors is the glorious redbud tree. These can put on a big, bright, flowery show with very little effort on your part. This guide shows you all you need to know about growing these sturdy, beautiful harbingers of spring.
Chickpeas aka garbanzo beans are versatile legumes delicious in hummus, curries, fritters, stews, and salads. They are surprisingly easy to grow in the home garden if you have the right conditions, and are sown in spring then harvested in fall. Learn how to plant and grow your own chickpeas in this guide. Read more now.
Lupines are dramatic wildflowers or garden ornamentals that are easy to grow plus they fix nitrogen in the soil. Whether you want a low-growing ground cover or a stately upright type for your border, there’s a variety to suit most landscaping needs. Learn how to grow and care for lupines in this guide. Read more now.
Loved for both their ornamental and edible qualities, scarlet runner beans have bright red blooms that attract pollinators. Plus, these climbing plants have some advantages over regular pole beans and there are many different cultivars to choose from. Learn how to grow and care for scarlet runner beans in this guide.
Through the power of microbial action, inoculants help legumes convert nitrogen from the air into soil nitrogen they need to grow and thrive. Using these beneficial microbes can mean the difference between a paltry harvest and a plentiful one! Learn about 7 legume inoculants for the garden in this guide. Read more now.
Mexican bean beetles may look like ladybugs, but these orange-red, polka-dotted pests can plague bean plants in the home garden. They do the most harm to foliage, especially in late summer. In this guide, you’ll learn to identify, control, and prevent this top bean plant foe – whether larval or adult.
Not just a beauty, the hyacinth bean produces glorious blooms as well as showy purple pods and edible shoots. It grows fast as an arbor or living privacy fence, and avoiding its potentially toxic tendencies is simple. This guide will tell you how to tap all that purple power, and there’s nothing tough about growing it!
Cool-weather snap peas are one of the first vegetables ready to harvest in spring. Sweet and crispy, they’ll encourage kids to eat their veggies. A short row will yield pounds of edible pods for snacks and salads, or you can grow these legumes in containers. Maximize your harvest and minimize the work with these tips.
‘Dwarf Grey’ snow peas are compact and easy to grow for shoots, edible blooms, and a bounty of crisp green pods. Ideal for spring and fall planting, this cultivar yields pea shoots in just 10 to 14 days, followed by flat, tasty pods. Learn how to grow and care for ‘Dwarf Grey’ peas in this guide. Read more now.
From the traditional English shelling pea to the snap peas first introduced in 1979, peas offer home gardeners a reliable source of homegrown food and a crop to grow in the chilly months of early spring. Learn ways to enjoy the harvest and how to keep the plants productive and healthy with tips from our guide.
If you love a redbud, with its bright spring color and glossy, elegant leaves, then you’ll go wild for Lavender Twist®. It’s a weeping type with even more blossoms per inch than the species, vibrant fall color, and zig-zagging branches, giving you four-season interest on a compact, tough plant. Read more now.
Perfume your garden, and your neighbors’ gardens, with the glorious scent of Texas mountain laurel. Come springtime, this evergreen shrub displays numerous spectacular clusters of aromatic purple flowers. The lovely plant is drought tolerant, deer resistant, and easy to grow. Get expert tips and advice now.
Redbuds aren’t just for those who want pink flowers in the early spring. They come in all shapes and sizes, with variegated leaves, white blossoms, or zig-zagging branches for year-round interest in the garden. In this guide, we talk about 21 of the best redbud varieties, including both western and eastern types.
Redbud trees have a well-deserved reputation for offering up stunning spring color and elegant heart-shaped leaves on a disease-resistant tree. Now, make it more compact and early blooming. Take all that and sprinkle in a little extra drought tolerance on a plant that is happy in the heat, and you’ve got ‘Oklahoma.’
Are you ready to harvest baskets full of homegrown bush beans, from your own backyard? These summer vegetables are easy to grow and so delicious when they are picked fresh from the garden. Read on to learn everything you need to know about growing your own bush beans, from sowing seeds all the way to harvest time.
Growing dry beans can help fill a pantry with winter staples, and many varieties can be enjoyed for shelling as well. Since a wide array of these legumes simply can’t be found at a market, growing them yourself opens the door to a world of flavor. Keep reading to discover 17 of the best shelling and dry bean cultivars.
Do you love those sweet, crispy sugar snap peas? Then Oregon Sugar Pod peas will blow your mind. They grow fast, don’t need support, have impressive disease resistance, and there’s that fabulous, sweet flavor and crisp texture. Bred in Oregon to create the perfect freezing pea, we’re sure you’ll call it a success.
Who doesn’t love cracking open a pod and enjoying fresh, tasty peas? And who hasn’t experienced the horror of slicing the shell open to find a completely empty interior? What happened? Where are the seeds? This guide explains why your pea pods are empty and what you can do to fix it so you can enjoy fresh peas again.
A key player in the history of blue-dyed cloth, indigo plants have also left their mark in horticulture as gorgeous spreading shrubs for the landscape. They are tough, versatile, and don’t suffer much from pests and diseases. In this growing guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about growing indigo.
When you grow the right pole bean cultivars, you’ll get a plentiful harvest and a giant helping of flavor. With pods of different colors and sizes, and varieties matched to different season lengths, it helps to carefully choose your seeds before you sow. Keep reading to discover 15 of the best types of pole beans.
Pole beans provide a delicious and bountiful harvest when planted in the summer vegetable garden. Grown up trellises or stakes, this vertical crop is fun to sow, easy to pick, and can help maximize valuable garden real estate. Read more now to get the lowdown on planting and growing these lofty legumes.
Peas germinate quickly and are one of the easiest food crops to grow outdoors in the garden or a pot. But what if you want to enjoy homegrown peas year-round? Indoor gardening is the answer! It’s easy to cultivate peas indoors like other houseplants, especially when you use a grow light. Read more now.
You can grow green beans to harvest in autumn, and the tips from our guide will improve your odds of success. Fall-grown beans need more time to grow, protection from harsh temperatures, and a carefully-selected planting site. Learn to grow a bumper crop of fresh beans for tailgates and fall festivals in this guide.
From bean leaf beetles to cucumber beetles, many insects will attack green beans. There are many ways to control these pests organically, and protect your plants from the damage they cause. Row covers and neem oil are the heavy hitters, perfect to include in your organic arsenal for keeping pests at bay. Read more now.
Beans are a no-brainer garden crop, easily providing a bountiful harvest. But you might wonder which companion plants can help this legume to repel pests, offer structural support, keep weeds at bay, improve the soil, or increase your yield. Read more now to discover 31 of the best plant partnerships for beans.
When you grow fava beans at home, you have a wealth of options. Some types are super cold-hardy, while others are well-adapted to short growing seasons. Some excel when used as a cover crop – and all of them are fabulous in the kitchen. Keep reading to discover 7 of the best types of favas you can grow in the garden.
When growing beans at home, there are different types to try suited to almost every garden and palate. Some are perfect as cool-weather crops, while others hold up nicely to drought. Whether for fresh eating or dry storage, you have a wealth of options. Keep reading to learn about 13 different types of edible beans.
Pigeon peas are a multipurpose legume to plant in your garden or containers. The seeds are edible fresh or dried, and the plants also fix nitrogen, provide a source of mulch, and attract beneficial insects. Learn how to grow pigeon peas as annuals in colder regions or as self-seeding bushy perennials in Zones 9 to 12.
Fresh alfalfa sprouts or microgreens grown at home are healthy and tasty. In the cold months, they’re a welcome source of fresh produce. And this indoor gardening project is simple enough for beginners and kids, with results in days. Here are the basic how-to’s, along with advice on food safety and some recipe ideas.
Homegrown lima beans or butter beans are tastier than any you could buy in a store. This guide explains how to grow baby or large limas in your garden, and gives harvest and storage tips, too. Plant a bumper crop of bush or vine cultivars, and cook or freeze the harvest for side dishes, hummus, or casseroles
Plant summer alfalfa as a cover crop in autumn, or grow this nitrogen-rich legume as an annual or perennial source of mulch and compost. If you have enough space, you can also grow it as animal feed for horses and cows. Learn the basics of planting, tending, and harvesting homegrown alfalfa in this guide. Read more now.
Beans are an easy veggie to grow in the garden, even for beginners. However, it’s important to harvest this summer staple at the right size so you get the most bang for your buck, and the best texture. Read more now to learn our easy techniques for picking fresh snap beans, as well as the best time to harvest them.
Bring the New Year’s good luck tradition into your garden when you grow black-eyed peas. These tasty legumes condition the soil, and thrive in average dirt, high temperatures, and even drought, making them low labor additions to the summer garden. Learn how to grow your own black-eyed peas in this guide. Read more now.
Green beans are the way to go if you need a win this garden season. They are quick to germinate and, depending on the variety, mature within two months. This means you can sow seeds repeatedly, well into the growing season, for multiple harvests. Want to learn how to grow your own? Read more now on Gardener’s Path.