Bean, Pole (Kentucky Wonder)

Botanical Interests Kentucky Wonder Bean Pole Seeds

You can't lose with this 1800s heirloom. 'Kentucky Wonder' (brown seeded) has wonderful, if not unsurpassed flavor. It out-produces most other pole beans with heavy crops of 9" long, gently curved, oval pods. A multi-use bean: drying, shelling and green. Stringless when young. Excellent for freezing. Good production even in hot climates. Disease resistant. This packet sows up to 20 feet or two 4-foot diameter teepees.

Sowing Information:

• Light: Full sun
• When to Start Inside: Not recommended; bean seedlings are sensitive to root disturbance.
• When to Sow Outside: RECOMMENDED. 1 to 2 weeks after your average last frost date, and when soil temperature is at least 65°F, ideally 70°–85°F. Successive Sowings: Every 7 to 14 days up to 80 days before your average first fall frost date. NOTE: In very hot summer areas, skip sowing as high heat approaches; temperatures consistently above 90°F will prevent beans from forming.
• Seed Depth: Plant seeds 1 inch deep
• Seed Spacing: A group of 1 seeds every 4 inches
• Row Spacing: 36 inches
• Thinning: Not required
• Days to Germinate: 6-12 days
• Days to Maturity: 63 days

Growing Notes:

• Harvesting: Snap beans are ready to pick when the pod "snaps" or breaks in half cleanly. This is when the seeds have just begun to form and the pods are several inches long (depending on the variety). Hold the stem with one hand, and the pod with the other hand to avoid pulling off branches, which will continue to produce. At season's end, plants are great compost material if they are disease-free.
• Variety Info: 7"–9" long, ½" wide silvery-green pods; stringless when young, brown seeds. Resistant to bean common mosaic virus.
• Attributes: Disease resistant, heat tolerant