Take care
Raw beans are cyanogenic — always cook before eating.
Lima Bean
Phaseolus lunatus
Sow outdoors 2 weeks after your last spring frost. Space plants 4 in (10 cm) apart.
Photo: Filo gèn', CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
When to plant
Timed from your frost dates, so it holds wherever you garden. Give yours and every step below becomes a date.
Optimal Direct Sow
From seedRecommended- Sow outdoors2 weeks after your last spring frost
- First harvestabout 75 days after sowing
Growing lima bean
- Spacing in the row
- 4 in (10 cm)
- Between rows
- 30 in (76 cm)
- Planting depth
- 1-1.5 inches
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Life cycle
- Annual
Feeding
- How often
- At planting, then once at midseason. Give a light nitrogen side-dress a few weeks after emergence or at early pod set; limas fix less nitrogen than other beans, but too much makes vines and delays pods.
Your lima bean, planned to the day.
Canopy turns these timings into dates from your own frost data, places every plant at its spacing on your garden map, and tracks it all the way to harvest.