This was our first year growing black beans.  I planted two rows about 12 feet long and gave us about 5 cups of dried black beans.  They were easy to grow and you harvest them when the pods are dying up and starting to crinkle and get crunchy.  I pulled up the plants about 2 weeks ago.  I allowed them to dry on our covered patio for about a week to allow more  drying.  Then I pulled or cut the pods from each plant and allowed about another 5 days in a drying in a dry box/container (of your choice) until the black beans rattle inside their pods or start to pop open.  You can place all the black bean pods in a bucket and crush the pods from the beans and then sift them to remove all the chaffing pieces or since I didn’t have very many I just opened them  one by one into a bowl.

When beans have dried you can store them in mason jars with lid and add a moisture packet.  They can be stored for 8-10 years at 70 degrees.  If stored longer than this the dried beans can become too hard.

I found the following  videos very helpful Here and Here.

For amending soil see our Garden Soil Prep and Lawn

I planted the black bean seeds about 1-2 inches deep and about 1   1/2 inches apart.  I like to plant my seeds close together and the rows about  22 inches apart.

Note:  I was later planting my seeds this year.  It was the end of May.

*The white sprinkled around plants is a product called “kill-a-bug-two” , powder.  We always get grasshoppers and black beetles that like to eat my leaves and this seems to help a lot.  I try not together to get too much of powder on the leaves because it causes the leaves to dry and attract spider mites.

I water my garden 1-3 times a week during the summer depending on the hot weather, using soaker hoses.

I also used a water all-purpose  fertilizer a couple of times during the growing season.

  
  

Enjoy!

Lindy