Green beans are one of the produce items that our family consumes the most of. It's a common side for many dinners here: steamed green beans. I love pulling a healthy, quick side from the freezer for dinner, and green beans are both delicious and hassle free. My time is generally focused on the protein or the main entree- therefore, green beans have saved me time and time again when it comes to completing the meal. I'd say we go through a shameful amount of them; but it's something green on the plate. No shame whatsoever!
When it comes to growing them, all beans are NOT the same. You have two primary types: bush beans, and pole beans. I'm only a fan of one of them, but I'm going to give you a quick comparison between the two. Remember: there's no "right" way to grow a garden- just the way that's "right" for you!
Pole Beans: The Advantageous Climber and Season Long Producer
Pole Beans are known for their vining habit. You may be familiar with them because of "bean teepees", a popular gardening project for children. You may also be familiar with them because of The Three Sisters gardening method, in which pole beans are grown with corn.
Pole beans will climb anything that they can get their tendrils on! This indeterminate growth habit means you'll get beans continually from first the first pod until the end of the season (or whenever the vine succumbs to weather, pests, or disease.) This is one reason that they are incredibly popular.
Since the harvest is staggered throughout the growing season, they're a wonderful selection for continual harvesting for fresh steamed green beans. If you enjoy trying to meal plan around a daily harvest, this is one veggie that will give you a small yield multiple times per week, allowing you to have green beans on demand for dinner.
Bush Beans: Trellis-Free Green Beans That You Can Harvest and Process in Bulk
Bush beans are a dream for gardeners who are looking to can and freeze a lot of their harvests. They tend to put on lots of pods very quickly, allowing you to harvest most of your beans at one time. You don't just pick a few throughout the season; you pick their most prolific crop within 1-3 weeks' time.
Since they're so productive early on, they tend to fizzle out quickly. This isn't a bad thing; you can succession plant! You can do 2-3 rounds of bush beans in one growing season, significantly increasing production. Bush beans are a heavy hitter, outperforming pole beans over the course of the season. They do require more labor, as you'll have to tear out plants and succession plant for subsequent harvests. You'll also face higher weed pressure, as these plants are lower to the ground, bushy, and don't vine.
On the plus side, you don't have to worry about supplying a trellis for these bean plants. Trellising beans can be an added expense, and there's the labor of putting the trellis together; you can skip all of that with bush beans.
So, Which Is It for Me? Bush Beans, or Pole Beans?
Both pole beans and bush beans have strong strengths, and big drawbacks. If you guessed I'm team "pole beans," you'd be wrong. While fresh green beans are delicious, I greatly prefer the efficiency of bulk processing, bulk freezing, and completing a crop before the weeds become completely out of control.
Convenience is also a big factor for me. Many times, I don't feel like processing and prepping a bunch of different foods for meals. It is incredibly convenient to have my beans washed, snapped, and frozen already. That way, I can just pull them out of the freezer, pop them into a pan, and have a side for dinner in under ten minutes. I would much rather spend a few hours bulk processing my beans one day and reaping the rewards for many meals to come.
