When to plant · 4 plants

Peas and beans

Easy, big-seeded crops that feed the soil too. Pick one for its dates in your town and how to grow it.

Planting order

When each one first goes in around Portland, starting indoors where that comes first. Colder towns run later.

Early spring: Peas, Fava beans
Late spring: Bush beans, Pole beans

Planting windows at a glance

Main planting window in five reference towns. Each plant's page has every town.

Plant	Portland	Seattle and Tacoma	Bend and Redmond	Spokane	Boise and Meridian
Peas	Mar 1 – Apr 12	Mar 1 – Apr 12	Apr 28 – Jun 9	Apr 1 – May 13	Mar 20 – May 1
Fava beans	Mar 1 – Apr 5	Mar 1 – Apr 5	Apr 28 – Jun 2	Apr 1 – May 6	Mar 20 – Apr 24
Bush beans	May 10 – Jun 21	May 10 – Jun 21	Jun 16 – Jul 28	May 15 – Jun 26	May 1 – Jun 12
Pole beans	May 10 – Jun 14	May 10 – Jun 14	Jun 16 – Jul 21	May 15 – Jun 19	May 1 – Jun 5

Growing peas and beans in the Northwest

Peas and beans split neatly by season. Peas and fava beans are cool-weather crops that go in early in spring, as soon as the soil can be worked. Bush and pole beans are warm-weather crops that rot in cold, wet soil and shouldn't be sown until it has warmed, usually well after the last frost west of the Cascades.

All of them are legumes, which work with soil bacteria to take nitrogen from the air. That means they need little or no nitrogen fertilizer, and too much gives you leaves instead of pods. Cutting the plants at the soil line after harvest and leaving the roots in the ground returns some of that nitrogen to the bed.

Pick often. Pods left to mature signal the plant to stop producing. Peas and pole beans need something to climb from the start, while bush beans don't, which makes bush beans one of the easiest crops in the garden for beginners.

Common questions

When should I plant peas in the Northwest?

As early as the soil can be worked: often late February or March on the west side, April east of the Cascades. Peas sprout in cool soil and stall in summer heat.

When can I plant beans?

After the soil warms to about 60°F, usually mid to late May on the west side. Bean seed rots in cold, wet soil, so waiting a week is safer than planting early.

Do I need to add fertilizer for peas and beans?

Usually not. They partner with soil bacteria that supply much of their own nitrogen. Compost at planting is plenty; extra nitrogen gives leaves instead of pods.