I haven’t had much success with common bush bean, despite trying three types (Contender, Blue Lake, and Provider), but I have had success growing yard long beans. The bush beans have trouble with the heat and the intensity of sun here, but the yardlong beans thrive in the heat (90F+) and the bright sun.

I sowed my seeds directly into my raised beds, 2 seeds per hole, next to a pole for them to vine upon.

Not knowing how tall these would grow, I used 6-ft, ~3/4-in diameter bamboo poles. These turned out to be way too short, but the plants find things and other plants to continue vining upon. They ended up growing into the neighboring tomato plants you can see on the edges of the photo above.

Here are photos of them from earlier this week. They have thoroughly intertwine into the tomato plants, which doesn’t seem to bother the tomatoes, so I’ve allowed the beans to vine as they please.

I feed them Alaska fish emulsion (5-1-1) once every two weeks and I water them twice a week with my water wand. As for pests, I’ve had problems with mites and with ants trying to turn the plants into aphid farms. The moths and the butterflies have left them alone so far. To address the pests, I spray the plants with Neem oil plus Bioneem (the actual poison). Unfortunately, the damage the mites cause is permanent, but the Neem does halt their progress.

The yardlong bean flowers are surprising gorgeous. It’s always a treat for me to come out into the yard and see the plants in bloom.

I harvest the beans when they are about as thick as a pencil. The beans grow quickly and are ready in less than two weeks after the appearance of the blossom. My beans are about 18-in long, which is a manageable size. So far, I harvest 3 – 5 pea pod pairs (yes, they grow in pairs) per week per plant, which means we have stir-fried yardlong beans once a week now.

Considering how expensive these are in the grocery store, if you like yardlong beans (aka Asparagus Beans or Chinese Long Beans), and live in inland Southern California, you should grow your own. 4 – 6 plants will provide you with a weekly supply of long beans for meals. You can grow yardlong beans in containers as well. I have one growing in a 3-gallon cloth container. It still vines all over the place, so you will have to provide a trellis or another plant for it to vine upon.