How to Grow Beans at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide

Beans

To grow beans indoors on a windowsill or balcony, you need to choose a variety suitable for indoor cultivation. Bean flowers are self-pollinating, and their rhizomes are not very strong, so a regular pot or container will suffice. Early-ripening bush varieties are best planted indoors.

Description of beans

Beans contain a large number of nutrients for humans: vitamins, proteins, minerals, fats, fiber, amino acids, and carbohydrates. Beans are divided into three types: climbing, semi-climbing, and bush. Climbing beans have stems that can reach 4-5 m in length, while semi-climbing plants stretch up to 1-1.5 m. The bushes grow 30-70 cm in height.

Beans bloom beautifully and are often grown to decorate gardens, twining around fences, arches, and columns, creating colorful arrangements. They have large, bright green leaves and butterfly-shaped flowers in a variety of shades. Flower colors range from white, red, black, and purple. Inflorescences consist of 2-6 clusters. Pod size varies depending on the variety, ranging from 5 to 25 cm in length.

Varieties of beans for home growing

You can plant beans indoors. You'll need early-ripening bush varieties, suitable containers, nutritious soil, and good lighting. Compact plants can easily fit in a pot on a windowsill. Climbing plants will take up a lot of space and will require a trellis for support.

Varieties:

Allur is a bush variety with an early ripening period of 60-70 days. The fruits are long and narrow, up to 12 cm long. Allur is disease-resistant.
Caramel is sugary and sweet, with beans that mature in 55-58 days. The plants grow 45-60 cm tall.
Scuba beans mature in 70-80 days. The oval, green fruits are 13-15 cm long.
Priusadebnaya Zelenaya is a productive variety; the fruits are harvested two months after planting. The bushes reach up to 50 cm in height, and the pods are 10 cm long.
Bona — the bushes grow up to 40 cm tall. The first fruits are picked 50-70 days after planting. Green beans come in a variety of shades and are 13 cm long.
Golden Saxa is a productive variety that grows in 30 cm tall bushes, with beans that ripen in 45-50 days. Fruiting is prolonged, and the berries are yellow-green.
Laura is an asparagus bean with 40 cm long plants. It's an early-ripening variety, maturing in 50-60 days. The pods are yellow.
Neringa is a bush variety; the fruits ripen in 50-60 days. The plant height is 45-50 cm. The green pods are up to 15 cm long. This is a very tasty and productive hybrid.

Other bean varieties suitable for growing on a windowsill include: Fatima, Winner, Panther, Melody, Oil King, Fakir, and Spaghetti.

You can plant beans in a pot on the balcony; the following varieties are used:

Harmony;
Climbing vegetable;
Blue Lake.

Preparation of planting material

For planting legumes, select firm, sturdy fruits with no signs of mold. The surface should be smooth and glossy, with no signs of flabby or hollow parts. Empty fruits are collected after watering. Place the seeds in water, and discard any that float to the surface.

Without soaking, beans take a long time to germinate; the hard shell prevents the sprouts from breaking through, and they can die in cold soil. Therefore, the beans are soaked in a damp cloth.

Methods for germinating bean seeds:

Before sprouting, soak the beans in a warm potassium permanganate solution for 15 minutes. The water should be at 70 degrees Celsius. After sprouting, immediately plant the seeds in the soil and water the soil with this solution.
Dissolve manganese in water, heat it to 60 degrees, water the prepared soil with the solution and immediately plant the beans.
You can leave the beans in a humid environment for further germination. Dampen a cloth, gauze, or cotton wool, place the seeds on top, and leave in a warm place (+25°C) for 2 days. Add water periodically; it should be at least 24°C. Growth stimulators such as Zircon, Epin, or Energen can be added.

Planting beans step by step

The first stage is sprouting the beans in wet cheesecloth. Any beans that don't sprout are discarded. They will take a long time to sprout, or may not sprout at all and eventually die.

The second step involves choosing a container for planting legumes. You can use pots, plastic, or wooden boxes with a minimum capacity of 2 liters. For climbing varieties, buckets with a capacity of 20-35 liters are suitable. The container should be disinfected with a potassium permanganate solution.

Soil preparation is the third step in planting beans. You can buy a ready-made soil mix, which already contains all the necessary elements for legume growth. Better yet, use garden soil, add humus in a 2:1 ratio, and add superphosphate according to the instructions, along with ash (one cup of ash per bucket of soil). The soil should be loose and light, with a pH of 6-6.5.

The fourth step is planting beans. It's important to grow beans properly at home:

Expanded clay is placed on the bottom of the container for drainage;
pour in the soil mixture so that 5 cm remains to the edge of the container;
water the soil, if it has settled, then add more;
make 3 cm deep holes in the ground;
the distance between holes is 10-15 cm;
You need to plant beans 2 seeds per hole with the sprouts facing down at an angle; these will be the future roots;
pour 2-3 cm of soil on top;
Before sprouts appear, cover the container with film material;
put the boxes in a warm place for a week;
In 6-8 days the beans will sprout and in a month they will bloom.

When warm weather arrives, the containers are moved to the balcony. Most varieties have a long fruiting period. After the first harvest, the new pods soon develop into full-fledged pods, and a new harvest follows.

Attention!

If two plants sprout in one hole at once, the weak sprout is removed or transplanted into another pot.

Care and watering

Beans require proper care at home. Legumes are moisture-loving plants. Water the plants generously until the first pods appear. Water the roots, avoiding contact with the foliage to prevent fungal infections.

Water the plants in the morning or evening. Stop watering after the first 2-3 leaves appear. Start watering the soil during flowering. Water twice a week.

Fertilizing beans

In an apartment, manure or litter will cause an unpleasant odor. Humus added to the soil before planting will be sufficient to avoid the need for organic matter for a long time. Organic amendments are contraindicated during bud formation. Plants require micronutrients and potassium. All these essential components are contained in ash, which is sprinkled on the soil surface, carefully loosened, and then watered.

Horse manure extract, a natural fertilizer, is available in stores. It's odorless, and beans respond well to it.

Diseases and pests

Beans can be infected with viral anthracnose, blackleg, and gray mold. Viral diseases are not treatable. The plants and soil should be disposed of before the infection spreads to neighboring plants. If bacterial blight has affected individual leaves, they should be removed and burned. If the roots are affected by fungal infection, the plant should be removed and the soil treated with Bordeaux mixture. Fungal infections are controlled with fungicides, and watering should be reduced, as moisture promotes the spread of fungi.

The bean weevil poses a threat to beans. If beans are grown near houseplants, aphids, spider mites, or thrips can migrate to the plants.

Freezing dry beans protects against bean weevils. Store the seeds in the freezer for two days at -15 degrees Celsius. For other pests, use biological agents that are safe for humans and animals.

Harvesting the first harvest

Mature pods are firm, with distinct fruit outlines. Asparagus varieties are harvested unripe, two weeks after flowering. They are most delicious and sweet in their "milky" state. If seeds are needed for planting, the beans are left on the vines until fully ripe. The lower pods are harvested first; the pods turn yellow and become hard.

Advice!

The sooner you pick ripe beans, the faster the next pods will grow.

To grow beans indoors, plant 7-8 bean plants and 4-5 climbing bean plants on the balcony to ensure a full harvest for the season. After harvesting, the containers are cleared of soil and prepared for new plantings.

Don't be afraid to plant beans indoors on a windowsill, where space is limited and daylight is limited. The technology for growing legumes is the same as in a greenhouse. If you create favorable conditions and properly care for your plants indoors, you can reap a harvest just as good as one grown outdoors.