GardenBush Bean variety
Vermont Cranberry Bean Bush Bean
✓ In your garden
Vermont Cranberry Bean is a shell bean (bush), ready in about 95 days. Let the pods dry on the plant, then shell the beans for soups, chili, and storage. Beans are easy warm-season crops — sow the seed straight in the ground after frost (they hate being transplanted), and no support needed — it holds itself up.
“A bean grown to shell and dry for the pantry.”
Growing basics — shared by every bush bean
Vermont Cranberry Bean grows like any other bush bean. The full picture — how deep to plant, spacing, feeding, pests, harvest — lives on the Bush Bean page so it's maintained in one place.
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Spacing (in row)
- 2–4 in
- Row spacing
- 24–36 in
- Planting depth
- 1 in
- Soil pH
- 6–7
- Water
- Moderate
What is Vermont Cranberry Bean good for?
- Dried beansShell and store for soups and chili. Great
- Fresh shell beansShell young for a fresh side. Great
- Eaten as podsThe pods get tough — this one’s for the beans. Skip it
From how it grows — kitchens vary.
What Vermont Cranberry Bean is known for
We hold one description of this variety and no record of who made it, so it is not printed here. An unattributed claim about a plant is a claim we would be making ourselves, and we would rather show you the gap than fill it.
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Want the full 10/50/90% odds + nearest stations? Open the frost tool →When to plant Vermont Cranberry Bean in your zone
Zone 6bGreenhouse or cover on: your start slides ~4 weeks earlier and your harvest stretches ~3 weeks later (shown striped).
Planting seeds straight in the ground only works where the season's long and warm — most gardeners start seeds indoors or buy young plants, or you'd pick your first tomato right as frost hits.
Comfortable — first ripe fruit lands around late Jul, well before your typical frost (~late Oct).
- Plant seeds outside
- late Apr – early May
- Growing
- early May – late Jul
- Picking
- late Jul – mid Aug
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP above for yours.
What to plant near Vermont Cranberry Bean — and what to keep away
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Onions & garlicTraditional
The most consistent 'no' in companion planting. Unproven, unanimous.
The badge is the honesty. Trialed = a published field trial · Practical = a real mechanism · Traditional = companion-chart lore. These pairings hold for every bush bean.
Pairings compiled from West Virginia University Extension.
Growing Vermont Cranberry Bean — the things that trip people up
- Leave dry beans on the plant until the pods are papery and rattle, then shell and finish drying them indoors.
- A bush bean: it stays knee-high and sets its crop over a couple of weeks — sow a second batch a few weeks later for a longer harvest.
Vermont Cranberry Bean bush bean at a glance
| Type | Shell |
|---|---|
| Grows as | Bush (determinate) |
| Days to ripe | 95 days after you plant it outside |
| Color | Brown, Red |
Extra fields from seed-catalog listings and university growing guides. Days to ripe and disease resistance shift with your climate and seed source — double-check with your local extension office before you buy.
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Common questions about Vermont Cranberry Bean
How long does Vermont Cranberry Bean take to grow?
About 95 days from sowing to dry, mature pods.
Is Vermont Cranberry Bean a bush or pole bean?
A bush bean — it’s self-supporting and sets its crop in a shorter window.
Can I start Vermont Cranberry Bean indoors?
Better not — beans resent transplanting. Sow the seed straight in warm soil after your last frost.
Browse more bush bean varieties →