- Seeds of the MM Garden
- Planty Sowing Calendar
- Are our seeds organic?
- What does F1 mean on the seeds of Planty Gardening?
- African marigold - sowing and growing
- Asian salad mix - sowing and growing
- Endive - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Bush tomato - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Beet - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Chioggia beet - sowing and growing
- Cos lettuce - sowing and growing
- Butter beans - sowing and growing
- Climbing zucchini - sowing and growing
- Liquorice mint - sowing and growing
- Yellomato - sowing and growing
- Marigold - sowing and growing
- Cucumber - sowing and growing
- Cilantro - sowing and growing
- Bibb lettuce - sowing and growing
- NZ spinach - sowing and growing
- Indian cress - sowing and growing
- Bok choi - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Snow pea - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Baby pumpkin - sowing and growing
- Radish - sowing and growing
- Arugola - sowing and growing
- Chard - sowing and growing
- Romano pole bean - sowing and growing
- Bacon bean - sowing and growing
- Spinach
- Bush bean - sowing and growing
- Stem lettuce - sowing and growing
- Sugar snap - sowing and growing
- Lamb's lettuce - sowing and growing
- Winter pea - sowing and growing
- Winter purslane - sowing and growing
- Winter lettuce - sowing and growing
- Carrot - sowing and growing
- Purple carrot - sowing and growing
- Sunflower - sowing and growing
Almost all information about plants has been included with the plants in our free app. So, you don't need to remember it.
View the MM app
- Seeds of the MM Garden
- Planty Sowing Calendar
- Are our seeds organic?
- What does F1 mean on the seeds of Planty Gardening?
- African marigold - sowing and growing
- Asian salad mix - sowing and growing
- Endive - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Bush tomato - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Beet - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Chioggia beet - sowing and growing
- Cos lettuce - sowing and growing
- Butter beans - sowing and growing
- Climbing zucchini - sowing and growing
- Liquorice mint - sowing and growing
- Yellomato - sowing and growing
- Marigold - sowing and growing
- Cucumber - sowing and growing
- Cilantro - sowing and growing
- Bibb lettuce - sowing and growing
- NZ spinach - sowing and growing
- Indian cress - sowing and growing
- Bok choi - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Snow pea - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Baby pumpkin - sowing and growing
- Radish - sowing and growing
- Arugola - sowing and growing
- Chard - sowing and growing
- Romano pole bean - sowing and growing
- Bacon bean - sowing and growing
- Spinach
- Bush bean - sowing and growing
- Stem lettuce - sowing and growing
- Sugar snap - sowing and growing
- Lamb's lettuce - sowing and growing
- Winter pea - sowing and growing
- Winter purslane - sowing and growing
- Winter lettuce - sowing and growing
- Carrot - sowing and growing
- Purple carrot - sowing and growing
- Sunflower - sowing and growing
Peulvruchten
How to sow and grow bacon beans
These bacon beans produce delicious 20 cm-long green beans with fairly broad, flat pods. This variety grows more than 2 meters tall, so let it climb up a trellis. You'll get a lot of juicy beans.
The more you pick, the longer you harvest.
The more you pick, the longer you harvest.
What are bacon beans?
Bacon beans are part of the legume family.
They look like a cross between string beans and green beans. The pods are at least as long as string beans, but as firm and rounded as common green beans - though they're also thicker. They taste like green beans, but sweeter.
You can harvest early or you can wait to harvest the pods when the beans inside are plump. Then the bacon beans are tougher and you cook them longer.
They look like a cross between string beans and green beans. The pods are at least as long as string beans, but as firm and rounded as common green beans - though they're also thicker. They taste like green beans, but sweeter.
You can harvest early or you can wait to harvest the pods when the beans inside are plump. Then the bacon beans are tougher and you cook them longer.
Bacon beans and your health
Bacon beans contain some vitamin B11 (folate), C, and K and lots of carotenes like lutein, beta-carotene, violaxanthin, and neoxanthin. They work as antioxidants to help prevent inflammation and diseases like type 2 diabetes.
Bacon beans are also rich in potassium and magnesium and super high in fiber, which is good for our gut bacteria.
And calories? Hardly any 🙂
Bacon beans are also rich in potassium and magnesium and super high in fiber, which is good for our gut bacteria.
And calories? Hardly any 🙂
More about our bacon beans
These delicious bacon beans produce long, juicy beans: the tastiest green beans you can grow. The more you pick the longer you harvest.
- Species name: Neckarköningin
- Family: legume
- Plants per square patch: 8 along your trellis
- Height: 200 cm and up
- Sowing time: May and June
- Sowing depth: 2 to 3 cm
- Germination: 21°C in 7-10 days
- Time to harvest: after 9-10 weeks
- Sunlight: full sun
Want to buy bacon beans? We sell seed bags separately, or, you can get them as part of a seed pack:
What do you need to grow your own bacon beans?
Just this:
- a 30x30 cm patch with airy, nutrient-rich soil mix
- bacon bean seeds
- a spot with at least 4 hours of sunlight a day
- a trellis or something similar for the plants to grow on
In other words: an MM-Mini, or a square patch in one of our garden boxes, an MM-Klimrek trellis, and MM-Mix.
Growing your own bush beans is easy with the MM-Mix. If you grow in low-quality (potting) soil, disappointment is pretty much guaranteed. So don't skimp on soil mix: go for the best.
How do you sow and grow bacon beans?
Bacon beans are included in the free Planty Gardening app. Use it, and you'll get step-by-step guidance from seed to harvest.
Each plant goes through a number of stages - we call them levels. The app tells you exactly what to do at each level and checks in when your plants are ready for the next.
So you don't need to know how to grow beans before you start: the app takes you through every step.
But if you'd like to read more about those steps, here's what the process looks like:
Each plant goes through a number of stages - we call them levels. The app tells you exactly what to do at each level and checks in when your plants are ready for the next.
So you don't need to know how to grow beans before you start: the app takes you through every step.
But if you'd like to read more about those steps, here's what the process looks like:
Level 1: Pre-sow bacon beans
Beans need a lot of heat to germinate. If it's just a little cold or rainy outside, the seedlings won't sprout or they'll be weak when they do.
So, pre-sow your beans indoors in a pot with equal parts MM-Mix and vermiculite.
So, pre-sow your beans indoors in a pot with equal parts MM-Mix and vermiculite.
Level 2 and 3: Sowing bacon beans
As soon as the seedlings are visible, transfer them to a square patch in your vegetable garden box.
Here's how:
Here's how:
- make 2 trenches of about 5 cm deep: 1 in front of and 1 behind the trellis
- scoop the seedlings out of the pot with a spoon
- plant the 4 best seedlings in each trench
- carefully cover the trenches with soil mix
Now you have a bean patch 🙂
In a week or so, you should see something come up. It depends a bit on the weather.
In a week or so, you should see something come up. It depends a bit on the weather.
If it's still cold out, you can cover the patch with a crop cover like the MM-Muts or a few plastic containers. These help keep in the heat and keep out birds and snails.
Level 4: Taking care of your plants
After a week or 2, your seedlings have already become small plants.
They'll grow quite fast in the coming weeks. You don't have to do much about that, nice and easy 🙂
They'll grow quite fast in the coming weeks. You don't have to do much about that, nice and easy 🙂
Level 5: Guide your plants up the trellis
Once the tendrils have found the trellis, they'll wrap themselves around it and climb up.
In a few weeks, the first flowers and pods appear. Then it's time for the next level.
In a few weeks, the first flowers and pods appear. Then it's time for the next level.
Level 6: Harvesting the first bacon beans
About 9 to 10 weeks after sowing, you can harvest the first beans.
By harvesting early, the plants produce more flowers. More flowers mean more beans.
It's normal for the leaves to turn a little yellow and get uglier, especially around the bottom of the plant.
By harvesting early, the plants produce more flowers. More flowers mean more beans.
It's normal for the leaves to turn a little yellow and get uglier, especially around the bottom of the plant.
How do you harvest and use bacon beans?
Cut the bean pods from the plants when they're about 20 cm long. I use scissors so I don't damage the beans.
Never eat bacon beans raw, always cook them.
Cook them just like green beans: you can boil or stir fry them. Briefly cooked and cooled, they are also delicious in salads.
Where I'm from, we leave bacon beans hanging longer, until the beans themselves have thickened. Then you have to cook them longer. It's not for everyone, but we like it.
Never eat bacon beans raw, always cook them.
Cook them just like green beans: you can boil or stir fry them. Briefly cooked and cooled, they are also delicious in salads.
Where I'm from, we leave bacon beans hanging longer, until the beans themselves have thickened. Then you have to cook them longer. It's not for everyone, but we like it.
The last levels
Keep harvesting your bacon beans until there's none left. By harvesting a lot early, you extend your harvest. The plants produce more flowers, and more flowers mean more beans.
You can keep this up until October.
You can keep this up until October.
The plants may grow high above the trellis. No worries: just guide them to the side or below.
Bean plants can't handle cold weather. Then the leaves get ugly and brown, and the flowers stop blooming.
Then it's time for the last level: empty your patch and get ready to sow something new.
Bean plants can't handle cold weather. Then the leaves get ugly and brown, and the flowers stop blooming.
Then it's time for the last level: empty your patch and get ready to sow something new.
So: want to grow your own bacon beans?
It's a tasty vegetable with a huge yield per square patch. Plus: with our materials and with help from the app, you can't go wrong 😉
Get your bacon bean seeds here or get started with a complete starter kit:
Get your bacon bean seeds here or get started with a complete starter kit:
Enjoy!
About our seeds
- Seeds of the MM Garden
- Planty Sowing Calendar
- Are our seeds organic?
- What does F1 mean on the seeds of Planty Gardening?
- African marigold - sowing and growing
- Asian salad mix - sowing and growing
- Endive - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Bush tomato - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Beet - sowing and growing
- Bush basil - sowing and growing
- Chioggia beet - sowing and growing
- Cos lettuce - sowing and growing
- Butter beans - sowing and growing
- Climbing zucchini - sowing and growing
- Liquorice mint - sowing and growing
- Yellomato - sowing and growing
- Marigold - sowing and growing
- Cucumber - sowing and growing
- Cilantro - sowing and growing
- Bibb lettuce - sowing and growing
- NZ spinach - sowing and growing
- Indian cress - sowing and growing
- Bok choi - sowing and growing
- Dino kale - sowing and growing
- Snow pea - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Lettuce - sowing and growing
- Baby pumpkin - sowing and growing
- Radish - sowing and growing
- Arugola - sowing and growing
- Chard - sowing and growing
- Romano pole bean - sowing and growing
- Bacon bean - sowing and growing
- Spinach
- Bush bean - sowing and growing
- Stem lettuce - sowing and growing
- Sugar snap - sowing and growing
- Lamb's lettuce - sowing and growing
- Winter pea - sowing and growing
- Winter purslane - sowing and growing
- Winter lettuce - sowing and growing
- Carrot - sowing and growing
- Purple carrot - sowing and growing
- Sunflower - sowing and growing