Beans are quite undemanding plants. If you pay attention to their location and care requirements, you can expect a rich harvest. But what about using fertilizer? While bush beans do well without additional fertilizer, runner beans are more demanding.
How much fertilizer do different types of beans need?
Beans tolerate different amounts of fertilizer: Bush beans do well without additional fertilizer, while pole beans prefer loose, humus-rich soil with compost and low-nitrogen vegetable fertilizer. Beans in the bucket only need compost mixed into the soil.
Bush beans
Bush beans do not place any special demands on the soil. They are weak eaters and get along well with the nutrients contained in the soil. If you still want to provide them with additional nutrients, you can work compost into the soil before sowing.
pole beans
The runner beans are more demanding. They like loose, humus-rich soil. Before sowing, you should loosen the soil thoroughly and mix in mature compost. During the growing season you can also fertilize with compost, horn shavings (€39.00 on Amazon) or a low-nitrogen vegetable fertilizer.
Fertilize beans in the bucket
If the beans are to be grown in a bucket, the choice usually falls on the climbing runner bean. It works with simple soil (garden or hardware store soil) to which you mix compost to provide nutrients. No further fertilizer application is necessary.
Beans as a source of nitrogen
Growing beans not only benefits the cook and gardener, but also the soil in your garden. Beans serve as a natural producer of nitrogen. They absorb nitrogen through the air and release it into the soil through their roots.
Plants in mixed culture such as savory, cabbage, cucumbers, celery and potatoes as well as the vegetables that you grow the following year benefit from this nutrient enrichment.
To improve your garden soil, just remove the herb after the bean harvest. You leave the roots in the ground until next spring, where they continue to release nitrogen over a longer period of time.
Tips & Tricks
Under no circumstances should fresh manure be placed on or under the bean bed, as the fresh roots are overly sensitive to it. In addition, the smell of manure attracts the bean fly. So compost is always the better choice on the bean bed.
