Phaseolus vulgaris • Heirloom • Open-Pollinated

JOY MAX SCALE ✦✦✦✦✦

The easy-to-grow classic green bean starts producing a harvest in just 50 days. It can also be planted earlier than other beans as it germinates well in cool soils. It also does well in heat. Stringless, delicious, and if you can’t eat them well, they freeze wonderfully.

✦ You will have BEANS this spring and summer. Provider lives up to its name with massive harvests of 5"–8" long, rounded, straight pods made easy-to-reach with the sturdy, smaller bush plants.

✦ Other than fava, no other bean does as well in cool soils. You can plant them early and get an early harvest. Plant succession sowings to keep them coming.

✦ Great disease resistance to bean common mosaic virus (NY15), pod mottle virus, and mildew.

✦ Beans are a win-win since they take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil, improving it for future crops.

How to Grow Beans

Remember not to plant all your seeds at once. Soak the seeds in filtered or distilled water for 12 to 24 hours prior to planting. Starting seeds indoors is not recommended as roots need to form in the ground. Direct Sow 1” deep 1 to 2 weeks after your average last frost date, and when soil temperature is at least 65°F, ideally 70°–85°F. Successive Sowings: Every 7 to 14 days up to 80 days before your average first fall frost date. Take a break when temps go above 85°F as beans won’t germinate.

Harvesting

Snap beans are ready to pick when the pod "snaps" or breaks in half cleanly. This is when the seeds have just begun to form and the pods are several inches long (depending on the variety). Hold the stem with one hand, and the pod with the other hand to avoid pulling off branches, which will continue to produce. At season's end, plants are great compost material if they are disease-free.

Because bush beans were developed from pole beans (for condensed and easier harvests), sometimes they can revert to some of the traits of their predecessors by stretching and getting a little lanky before settling into more of a compact bush habit. Thus, why your bush bean appears to be a pole bean.

Seed Saving

Isolate bean varieties a minimum of 25’ for home use. For pure seed an isolation distance of 100-150’ is required. Isolate (non-lima) bean varieties by a minimum of 10 feet from other beans of the same species. For pure seed, isolate by at least 30 ft.

Tips for Growing Beans

• Keep well picked so that plants continue to bear.

• When watering, try to avoid getting the leaves wet as this can promote fungus or other damaging conditions that beans can be susceptible to. Most types of beans are somewhat drought resistant, but check the surface of the soil frequently and water when the top layer has become dried out.

• Once established, beans generally will not require fertilizing and will generate their own nitrogen. However, if the leaves of young plants are pale this is an indication of nitrogen deficiency and starts can be fertilized with fish emulsion or liquid seaweed.

• When the season is over, do not pull up plants. Cut them at soil level to keep the roots and their nitrogen nodes in the soil. Chop up the plants and leave them on top of the soil to break down as green mulch or use elsewhere in your garden.

Companion Planting for Beans

Carrots, lettuce, marigolds, celery, peas, potatoes, parsnip, cabbage, parsley, eggplant. Avoid: beetroot, onions & garlic, kohlrabi, sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes.