Big Bean Bonanza!

With literally thousands of varieties available, there’s bound to be a bean or two that will suit your growing conditions and please your palate.

- Susan M. Brackney

There are bush beans, pole beans, wax beans, filet beans, dried beans, snap beans and the list goes on. Of course, choosing varieties can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’ve never grown beans before or you've only tried a couple of the usual suspects.

Just as there are loads of different types of beans to grow, there are also many good reasons to include them in your garden. Because most beans are easy to care for and very prolific, growing them is a great way to bolster your own food security and stretch your grocery budget.

Available in an array of interesting colors, beans can be a great farmers market booth draw, too. There are even bean varieties that blend in well with ornamental plants and can attract and support bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.

Which is Which?

Not sure exactly where to start? One of the simplest ways is to separate bean types by their growth habit. You can divide them into two main categories: Those that require some kind of trellis or support and those that don't. Pole and runner beans fall into that first category. Bush beans fall into the second.

If you're short on space, you might choose to grow a climbing-type of bean in a trellised container garden. With proper support, both pole and runner beans can grow up to 10 feet tall or more. A fan of climbing-type beans, Shepherd Ogden worked extensively in seed development and founded The Cook's Garden, Inc. before he retired. “On a given year, I would have 60 kinds of peas, 150 kinds of tomatoes and beans — it’s going to be in the high double digits, easily,” he says. Among those were four different colors of runner bean alone.

Ogden is also the author of several gardening books, including