vegetable
Beans
Do not start indoors. Sow in warm soil. Bush types for first gardens; poles if you have a fence.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 3–6 in
- Days
- 50–65
- Zones
- 3a–11a
How to sow
Direct-sow in warm soil. Do not start indoors. Succession every 3 weeks until midsummer.
Harvest
Pick thin and often or the plant stops.
Mistakes that waste a packet
- Cold, wet soil
- Starting in peat pots
- One sowing and a July gap
Three packets
Provider
Short seasonGerminates in cooler soil. The short-season bush bean.
Blue Lake
BeginnerClassic snap bean. Reliable and stringless if picked young.
Partner links may earn us a commission. We do not warehouse these packets. See indoor start dates for your ZIP.
Related
Tomatoes
Start indoors. Match days-to-maturity to the weeks you actually have after last frost.
Peppers
Need more heat and a longer indoor start than tomatoes. Short-season varieties matter north of zone 7.
Lettuce
The crop that makes a first garden feel like a garden. Sow in spring and again in late summer.
The sow list
A note when it is time to sow
Seasonal, not daily. We will send what to start in your zone, and skip the rest of the year.
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