Lima beans

Lima beans: plant 15 cm (6 in) apart in the row and 60 cm (24 in) between rows, 4 per square. Good neighbours: Carrot, Sweet corn, Cucumber.

Key facts

Spacing in the row	15 cm (6 in)
Between rows	60 cm (24 in)
In a 30 cm (1 ft) square	4 per square
Sun	Full sun, 6–8 hours a day
Root depth	25 cm (10 in)
Height when grown	150 cm (59 in)
Crop rotation group	Legumes
Support	Climbs: give it a trellis or teepee

Sowing and germination

How it is started	Sown straight into the bed
Seeds per hole	2
Plants kept after thinning	1
Seeds per metre of row	13
Sowing depth	3 cm (1.2 in)
Soil temperature	from 16 °C, best 24–29 °C
Days to emerge	7–18 days
Light while germinating	Light makes no difference
Before sowing	nothing needed
When to sow	Outdoors after the last frost; soil at least 18 °C

From seedling to plant

Pricking out	sown where it grows
Takes transplanting	Badly, sow where it grows
Life cycle	Annual
Cold tolerance	Tender, hurt by frost
Soil	Ordinary garden soil, free draining, pH 5.8–7
In a pot	12 L, 30 cm (11.8 in)
Watering	Water when the soil is dry two fingers down; at flowering, while pods fill
Feeding	Little; at planting
Support and training	A teepee of poles; tie in as it grows

Harvest and planning

Days to first harvest	75–95 days, from sowing
Ready when	The pods are full but still green
Harvest window	Picked again and again, 4–8 weeks
Sow again every	14 days
Typical yield	1.5–3 kg per m²
Botanical family	Fabaceae
Watch out for	Blackfly, slugs and snails

Good neighbours

◐ good with a condition · Why, with the sources →

Plan Lima beans in your garden

Open the free planner, drop Lima beans onto a bed and see how many plants fit.

Start Planning Your Garden

Sowing and harvest

Sow outdoors	May
Harvest	Aug–Oct

My dates for this crop

My country Last spring frost where I live

Give the date once and this page, the sowing calendar and the planner all follow it.

Months for a temperate climate: about a month later in the north and a month earlier in the south. Give your own last frost date for exact dates.

What to plant next to Lima beans →

From the same family

Plants of the Fabaceae family share diseases and pests, so they follow each other in the rotation only after a break.

Sources

The values on this page marked as checked come from these sources: spacing, sowing depth, germination, soil, timing and safety notes, each against the source named here.

Beans (426-402) — Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech for: soil, when to sow, between rows, spacing in the row; checked 2026-10-30
Soil Temperature Conditions for Vegetable Seed Germination (GN 154, after J.F. Harrington, UC Davis) — UC Cooperative Extension, UC ANR for: days to emerge, soil temperature; checked 2026-10-30

More in Beans and peas

← All plants