Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-230
Common Bean
Phaseolus vulgaris
Common Bean is a warm-season legume grown for immature pods eaten as snap beans and for the dry shelled seed, with hundreds of cultivars split into climbing pole types and compact bush types - the main choice a grower makes, since pole beans want a trellis and bush beans suit an open bed with one concentrated harvest. It fixes nitrogen through root nodules, enriching the soil for whatever follows it once the residue is left to decay. It stops setting pods in the hottest weeks of summer, so it is grown as two crops with a gap in July rather than one continuous season - a spring planting after last frost and a fall planting that carries to first frost. Raw or undercooked seed is toxic to people and livestock alike and must always be cooked before eating or feeding out, though the green vines and post-threshing straw make safe, well-accepted livestock forage.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–11
- Soil
- Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 5.8–6.5
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 2–15 ft
- Mature spread
- 24–36 in
- Plant spacing
- 6–36 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Achocha
Cyclanthera pedata
Achocha is a fast climbing vine that gives three edible parts off one plant - young fruit eaten raw or cooked with a cucumber flavor, mature…
Vine · USDA 9–11
African Walnut
Plukenetia conophora
African Walnut is a fast-growing evergreen vine of humid tropical rainforest, grown for an oil-rich seed usually boiled or roasted and served…
Vine · USDA 10–12
Air Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera
Air Potato is a true perennial vine that produces edible bulbils in its leaf axils along with an underground tuber - unlike frost-killed…
Vine · USDA 7–11
Akebia
Akebia quinata
Akebia is a fast-growing twining vine from East Asian mountain woodland that tolerates full shade better than almost any other fruiting…
Vine · USDA 5–8
Amur Grape
Vitis amurensis
Amur Grape is a cold-hardy climbing vine, native to the woodlands of Russia, China, Korea and Japan, that survives temperatures down to about…
Vine · USDA 4–8
Arctic Kiwi
Actinidia kolomikta
Arctic Kiwi is the hardiest of the edible kiwi vines, a twining climber from cold parts of eastern Asia that survives dormant winters to…
Vine · USDA 4–8
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference