Soy Bean (Edamame) - Chiba Green, ORGANIC

Soy beans only tend to produce a single harvest during a growing season, but are relatively easy to grow and don't require much tending.

Beans need plenty of sunlight to grow properly, so try to choose an area of your garden that receives full sun for your planting site. Since green beans do not do well in heavily-moist soil, you should avoid shaded locations, since shade tends to help soil retain moisture for prolonged periods.

Beans thrive in loamy soil, so if your garden has heavy clay soil or sandy soil, you should amend it with organic material before planting your green beans. Loamy soil is dark and crumbly. Test the soil by squeezing it in your hands. Clay soil stays in a ball and sandy soil falls apart completely. Loamy soil will hold its shape initially yet break apart when touched.

Beans do not require a vast amount of nutrients, but a light application of fertilizer can help your plants produce a better crop. Use a shovel or trowel to mix the fertilizer into the top 3–4 inches of soil. 10-20-10 fertilizer is slightly richer in phosphorus than in nitrogen or potassium, so it is good for producing a strong crop yield. If you use a fertilizer high in nitrogen, then your plant will grow a lot of leaves but few beans.

Plant each seed 1–2 inches deep in the ground. Each seed should also be about 3–6 inches apart and covered lightly with loose soil. If you're planting multiple rows of beans, leave 1–2 feet of room between each row.

Apply mulch to the soil where beans are planted. Standard wood chip mulch or straw works well with green beans. Mulch can prevent the soil from getting too cool or too warm, and it also helps the soil retain moisture.

Sow additional seeds every 2 weeks. You can continue sowing soy bean seeds every 2 weeks if you want a continual harvest that lasts all summer and into fall.

Stop planting new seeds 10 to 12 weeks before the first expected frost.

Bean-Soy, Glycine max

Pollination, self; Life Cycle, annual; Isolation Distance, 20 feet

As with most beans, cross-pollination is rare, but to ensure variety purity, separate different types by at least 20 feet. Soybean anthers shed pollen before the flowers open, this means that pollination and fertilization are completed before the flower opens. Save seed from healthy, disease free plants when the seed pods are completely dry (the beans will rattle in the pods). Winnow beans from pods/chaff. The hardest and heaviest seeds will be best for replanting, eat the rest.