When it’s the middle of winter and all you can think about is what you’re going to plant in your garden next spring, consider including Provider Bush beans in your garden lineup.
If your garden has never played host to bush beans, you’ve been missing out! The flavor of homegrown green beans blows away anything you’ll find in your grocery store’s produce section. And it turns out, bush beans aren’t hard to grow at all.
Read on to learn more about this high-yielding, early-producing snap bean.
Characteristics of Provider Bush Beans
Provider Bush beans germinate well in cooler soil, so you can get an earlier start in your garden. They are easy to grow and disease resistant.
Their sweet buttery flavor can be enjoyed all summer long right off the vine. They store well in the refrigerator and are great for freezing or canning, so you can enjoy them next winter — while planning your garden.
The Provider Bush bean is a stringless green bean with straight, round, 5-6″ pods. Its high resistance to mildew and other common bean diseases makes it a favorite in backyard gardens.
Read on to find the surprise when you take a bite that makes this a fun bean to eat too!
Eating
Provider beans can be eaten straight off the vine, sautéed in butter and garlic for a side dish, or added to your favorite soups and stews.
You can also dip your fresh or steamed beans in Tarragon Lemon Dipping Sauce, and use them when making Classic Green Bean Casserole this year.
Just for fun, watch the expression on your kids’ faces when they bite into a green bean and find a purple seed inside!
Preserving
You planted your Provider Bush beans, watered and weeded them all summer long, and you have a bountiful harvest! Now what?
There are several ways to preserve your beans, including freezing and dehydrating. You can read more about these methods in our bean link below.
However, the most common method of preserving your harvest is canning. If you’re new to canning, it can be a bit intimidating. Never fear, check out Ball Mason jars Canning 101 Guide and you’ll be feeling like a pro in no time.
Health Benefits
A serving of your fresh Provider Bush beans is a great source of Vitamins A, C, and K; as well as calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Thanks to Popeye, a lot of people look to spinach to get their daily dose of iron. However, you need to look no further than your plate of Provider beans for two times the iron content of spinach!
How to Grow
Provider Bush beans can be direct-sown one week after the last frost. Make sure your garden plot receives 6-8 hours of sunlight a day, is well-tilled, well-drained, and has a pH of 6.0-6.8.
Now that you’ve picked the perfect spot, your garden is tilled, and your pH is ideal, it’s finally time to plant! Grab a hoe and your seeds, and let’s go.
Use your hoe to make a trough about 1″ deep. Cut a string the length of your rows and add wooden stakes to either end. Hammer the stakes into the ground and follow the string for nice straight rows.
Planting
The seeds should be planted 1″ deep with 3-4″ between. After dropping your seeds into the row, cover them over with the dirt from the trough and gently tamp the soil down.
You’ll thin out the plants once they start growing, so go ahead and put two or three seeds together in each spot just in case one doesn’t germinate.
Spacing
For best results, be sure to plant at least two rows of Provider Bush beans. As their name implies, these are bush beans, so you’ll want to leave about 24-36″ between rows. This gives the plants room to spread and allows room for you to walk between the rows while weeding and harvesting.
Want an easier way to plant your Provider Bush beans? The Hoss Garden Seeder can take the guesswork out of seed spacing in your entire garden.
Caring for Your Beans
Water the newly planted seeds, but keep in mind that beans rot easily, so stick with low watering until your plants germinate.
Once your Provider Bush beans start to grow, be sure to keep the weeds pulled. Placing 2-3″ of mulch around your plants will help keep some weeds at bay, but you’ll still need to take the time to pull them too.
The best time of day to pull weeds is early morning so that the sun’s UV rays can help take care of the exposed weed roots for you. Plus, there’s no better way to start your day than in the garden.
You can plant new rows every two weeks all summer long to spread out your harvest. Just be sure to keep an eye on your first frost date so you don’t plant too late.
Companion Planting
Provider Bush beans grow well with carrots, cucumbers, and corn. Onions and green beans taste great when cooked together, but avoid planting them next to each other.
Harvesting
Your Provider Bush beans will take between one and two weeks to germinate, and 50 days until they’re ready to harvest. Look for bright green pods that aren’t quite filled out, as full beans tend to be tougher.
The beans should snap off the plant easily. If not, simply snip the bean pods off to avoid damage to the plant and ensure a longer harvest.
Once ready, be sure to pick your beans often. The more you pick, the more they’ll produce. The Provider Bush bean is not only one of the earliest you can plant, but it’s also a bean that can be harvested later in the season.
Where to Buy Provider Bush Beans and Seeds
When looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, check your local farmer’s market or produce stand to see if they carry Provider Bush beans. If not, they may be able to tell you where they’re grown and sold locally.
You can also order premium Provider Bush beans sold at Hoss Tools and have the satisfaction of growing them in your own garden.
Serve Homegrown Provider Bush Beans!
Early planting, continuous harvesting, more iron than spinach, and a great side dish — all of these characteristics make the Provider Bush Bean truly a great provider!
To learn about other varieties of beans to try in your garden, and get more tips and recipes, check out our Bean Plants page on the website.
- About the Author
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Melissa Goins is a wife, mom, grandma to three beautiful grandbabies, and a writer for Minneopa Orchards. She is a lifelong resident of Indiana and currently resides on a 15-acre homestead with her family where she enjoys gardening, canning, and running a produce stand that is known for its many varieties of tomatoes.
Growing up, her parents always had a large garden and Saturdays during the summer were spent preserving the harvest. Now, four generations work in the garden and preserve the harvest together.
Melissa loves trying new methods of growing and preservation, and varieties of fruits and vegetables in the garden — which is why she loves writing for Minneopa Orchards. From growing Cherokee Purple tomatoes to the best way to preserve carrots, there’s so much to learn, enjoy, and share while getting dirt under your fingernails.