Green bean
Also called: فاصولياء · لوبيا خضراء · Fasoulia
Fast and rewarding — 55 days from seed to first pod. Climbing varieties give double the yield of bush types in the same space.
The year at a glance
Each month is split in half. The outline marks now.
Stage by stage
Stage 1 of 9
Seed
Days 0–4
Seed
Days 0–4The seed sits in the soil taking up water and swelling. Nothing shows above the surface — everything is happening underground.
Do now
- Water lightly and often so the soil stays damp but never soaked. Letting it dry out between waterings kills the seed before it sprouts.
- Cover the surface with a thin layer of straw or compost to slow evaporation and steady the temperature.
- Label what you sowed and when. You will need the date to work out the harvest.
Watch for
- A hard crust forming on sandy soil after watering, which traps the sprout underneath. Break it gently.
- Ants carrying small seeds away — a very common problem in Qatari gardens.
In Qatar
Do not soak bean seed. Soaking splits the coat and it rots in sandy soil.
Germination
Days 5–11The seed coat splits: a root pushes down and a shoot pushes up. The two seed leaves that appear are not true leaves — they are the seed’s own food store.
Do now
- Keep moisture constant. The first root is very fine and a single dry day can end the seedling.
- Remove any covering as soon as the first sprout shows, or it will stretch thin looking for light.
- Give bright, indirect light. Direct midday sun will scorch a new seedling within hours.
Watch for
- A long, thin, pale stem: the seedling is not getting enough light and will collapse.
- Sudden wilting with a pinched stem at soil level — damping off, caused by overwatering.
In Qatar
The seed leaves are pushed up out of the soil on the stem. Sow no deeper than 3 cm or they will not make it.
Seedling
Days 12–24The first true leaves appear, shaped differently from the seed leaves. The plant is now feeding itself and the roots are branching fast.
Do now
- Thin crowded seedlings and keep the strongest. Crowding gives you many weak plants instead of one good one.
- Start watering less often but more deeply, to drive the roots downwards.
- Harden the seedling off — build up its sun exposure over a week before transplanting.
Watch for
- Yellowing lower leaves: nitrogen shortage, very common in Qatar’s poor sandy soil.
- Small holes or chewed edges, meaning snails or young grasshoppers.
In Qatar
Put the trellis up now, before the tendrils start searching. Fitting it later tears the plant.
Vegetative growth
Days 25–38The plant grows and forms nodules on its roots that fix nitrogen from the air. Legumes feed themselves and leave the soil better than they found it.
Do now
- Do not add nitrogen fertiliser. Legumes make their own, and extra gives you leaves instead of pods.
- Water deeply in the early morning. Evening watering plus high humidity invites fungal disease.
- Check the undersides of leaves weekly for whitefly and aphids.
- Top up the mulch around the stem to keep the roots cool.
Watch for
- Lush leaves but no flowers: too much nitrogen. Stop the nitrogen feed.
- Midday wilting even though the soil is moist: heat stress — the plant needs shade.
In Qatar
If you pull a plant, look at the roots: pink nodules mean fixation is working and the soil is improving.
Flowering
Days 39–47The plant switches from building a body to making offspring. Flowers open, and every one that is successfully pollinated becomes a fruit.
Do now
- Cut back nitrogen and raise potassium and phosphorus to support fruit set.
- Never let the soil dry out completely between waterings. Drought now makes the flowers drop.
- Shake the plant gently in the morning, or use a small brush, to help pollination if bees are scarce.
Watch for
- Flowers dropping without setting fruit: above about 35 °C the pollen goes sterile. Get shade over it now.
- No pollinating insects at all — common on enclosed roofs and balconies.
In Qatar
Flowering in December is ideal. Beans are self-pollinating and need no bees at all.
Pod set
Days 48–56Small flat pods form behind the spent flowers and lengthen quickly. This is the thirstiest, most drought-sensitive moment in a legume’s life.
Do now
- Make watering perfectly regular. Swinging between dry and drenched causes most fruit cracking and rot.
- Support the fruiting branches before the weight breaks them.
- Add calcium if your irrigation water is brackish, to head off blossom-end rot.
Watch for
- A sunken brown patch at the base of the fruit: calcium shortage from irregular watering or salinity.
- Small fruits yellowing and dropping: the plant is carrying more than it can feed, or it is thirsty.
In Qatar
The thirstiest stage. One missed watering now costs you half the crop.
Pod fill
Days 57–62The pods fill with seed. Pods meant for eating fresh are picked before the seeds swell and the pod turns stringy.
Do now
- Ease off the water slightly to concentrate the flavour — but never to the point of wilting.
- Shade exposed fruit with the plant’s own leaves to prevent sunscald.
- Pick as things ripen. Leaving fruit on the plant stops it setting new ones.
Watch for
- White or leathery brown patches on the sun-facing side: sunscald.
- A small hole with rot inside, meaning fruit worm.
In Qatar
Flower to ready pod is ten days in Qatari warmth. Check daily.
Harvest
Days 63–110The fruit is ready. The plant is at peak production and will keep bearing as long as you keep picking and the weather holds.
Do now
- Pick in the early morning when the fruit is full of water and will keep longest.
- Use scissors rather than pulling by hand, so you do not tear the branch.
- Keep feeding potassium every two weeks to stretch the picking season out.
Watch for
- New fruit coming smaller: the plant is exhausted and needs feeding.
- The seasonal heat rising, which will shut production down within weeks.
In Qatar
Frequent picking extends the season by three weeks. A pod left on tells the plant its job is done.
End of cycle
Days 111–140Production tails off and the leaves yellow. As the heat builds the plant stops setting fruit altogether.
Do now
- Bring in the last of the fruit, even the ones not fully ripe.
- Save seed from the best fruit on the strongest plant if you want to grow it again.
- Pull the plant and compost the healthy remains; bin or burn anything diseased.
- Work compost into the soil now, ready for the next Al-Wasm.
Watch for
- Leaving diseased plants in the ground carries pests over to next season’s crop.
- Bare soil under the sun goes dead. Cover it or sow a green manure.
In Qatar
Do not pull the roots. Cut at soil level and leave the nitrogen-fixing nodules in the ground for the next crop.
- Water
- Medium
- Salt tolerance
- Low
- Heat tolerance
- Medium
5 L/week in winter, 12 L in summer
Soil preparation
Add no nitrogen. Compost and phosphorus only — beans make their own nitrogen.
Pests
Whitefly
- Sign
- Yellowing, curling leaves and a white cloud.
- What to do
- Neem oil at dusk and yellow traps. They carry bean leaf-curl virus.
Spider mite
- Sign
- Pale stippling and webbing in a dry March.
- What to do
- Regular late-afternoon misting of the foliage.
Common problems
Flower drop
- Cause
- Temperatures over 32 °C. Beans drop their flowers about two degrees before tomatoes do.
- Fix
- Sow October–November rather than February. The winter sowing is the one that works here.
Stringy pods
- Cause
- Picking late, once the seeds have swelled.
- Fix
- Pick every other day, when the pod is pencil-thick.
Picking
Pick with both hands, one holding the vine and one pulling, or you will snap off the whole fruiting branch.
Keeping
Five days refrigerated. Freezes excellently after a two-minute blanch.