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 recorded companions or antagonists in our data. See the full companion guide for lima bean for how it’s tracked. 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.

Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. Lima Bean doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.

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.

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)

Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.

Where to buy lima bean seeds

• Botanical Interests
• True Leaf Market
• Burpee
• High Mowing Organic Seeds

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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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