Growing Lima Beans: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Lima beans are a heat-loving relative of the common bush bean, grown for their plump, buttery shell beans rather than a snap pod eaten pod and all.
Wait for real heat
This is strictly a direct-seed crop, and it’s fussier about soil temperature than most beans. Sow about 3 inches apart, an inch deep, in rows 18 to 36 inches apart, only after the soil has reached at least 75°F; optimal germination happens closer to 85°F. Limas need more heat than regular bush beans and bear poorly in a cool growing season, so a too-early planting doesn’t just germinate slowly, it can fail to produce well all season.
Harvest for fresh shelling
Pick when the beans inside the pods are plump and clearly bulging against the pod walls, the sign that the shelling beans inside have filled out.
Lima bean has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. At 4 plants per square foot, it needs the warmest, sunniest spot available in the Garden Designer, planted later than most other beans to give the soil time to warm.
Source: Lima Bean: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Lima Bean · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 4-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-2 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant lima bean, by zone
Every zone lima bean grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | Jun 5–Jun 12 | Aug 19–Aug 26 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | May 31–Jun 7 | Aug 14–Aug 21 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | May 16–May 23 | Jul 30–Aug 6 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | May 1–May 8 | Jul 15–Jul 22 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Apr 15–Apr 22 | Jun 29–Jul 6 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Mar 8–Mar 15 | May 22–May 29 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Feb 20–Feb 27 | May 6–May 13 |
| 11a & 11bFall window | Not usually | Sep–Apr | ~75 days after direct-sowing |
Harvest dates are about 75 days after the sow or plant-out date.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Lima Bean plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-2 ft.
Good companions for lima bean
- Sweet Corn: The same three-sisters mechanism as bush beans: a pole lima climbs the stalk and fixes nitrogen corn uses. WSU Extension's review confirmed the mechanism for common beans specifically, not lima, but both are nitrogen-fixing Phaseolus climbers, so the extrapolation is a reasonable one, not a tested one.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from lima bean →
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this species under a handful of named bush and pole selections; the heat requirement and growing method are the same across them, so the species itself covers what matters for care. (source)
- 'Fordhook 242' lima bean (best for: reliable standard): Johnny's Selected Seeds lists this as the lima bean standard and an All-America Selections winner more than 60 years ago, the named cultivar to reach for if you want a track record rather than the unnamed species. (source) Buy seeds: Burpee
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy lima bean seeds
True Leaf Market (each supplier's lima bean seeds)
The varieties we recommend above each have their own buy links, for the suppliers that sell that exact variety.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing lima bean" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Lima Bean: A heat-loving relative of the common bush bean, grown for its plump, buttery shell beans rather than a snap pod.
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