Welcome to Asian garden2table. Soybean is one of the most important crop in the world. In China, green soybean is also eaten as vegetable and used in many traditional cuisines. With little care in a small space, you can grow fresh, healthy and super productive green soybean in your garden. My kids call it magic bean and would eat every single bean from the dish. In Florida, soybean is one of the few vegetables that grow well in hot summer. You can sow soybean in your garden directly. But soybean is easy to get rotten in dense and wet soil. Start soybean in seed starter with potting mix, keep the soil light to medium wet. Soybean will grow cotyledon in a week. Germination rate is almost 100%! Soybean seedlings grow very fast, Two weeks later, it will grow about 3 leaves and should get transplanted ASAP. Keeping soybean seedlings in seed starter too long will inhibit its growth. The leaves turn yellow. Even you transplant the yellow seedlings in soil, they still won’t grow well. As always, add a lot of organic fertilizer in your garden, turn over the soil and bury the fertilizer deep underneath. Spread a handful of 10-10-10 inorganic fertilizer and mix with top soil. Soy bean likes hot weather. The best temperature to grow soybean is 70~85 degree. Temperature lower than 50 degree, soybean seeds will not sprout. Depending on varieties, soybean growing cycle can vary from 60~100 days. Early matured varieties are more suitable for back yard growing. Plant soybean seedlings about half foot apart in either single row or twin rows. Fully water your seedlings after transplanting. Soybean likes moist and loose soil. It cannot withstand water logging. As soon as it sets roots in soil, it will grow very fast. In 2~3 weeks, it will start to bear flowers which can be white, yellow or purple depending on varieties. In the next 3 weeks soybean will grow fast and flower at the same time. Under the leaves, you will notice that few young pods are growing. 70~85 F is the best temperature for soybean to fruit. At temperature lower than 60 degree, soybean will not flower and fruit well. At the end of flowering stage, crowed soybean pods are stacked around the stem. Soybean will stop growing leaves and flowers and focus it nutrients on developing the bean seeds. Soybean roots contain Nitrogen fixing bacteria and will produce nitrogen nutrients to support it growth. So inorganic fertilizer to top-dress soybean should be rich with Potassium and Phosphorus. At the end of flowering stage, I use 10-10-10 inorganic fertilizer to help soybean to grow better quality beans. Spread the fertilizer next to soybean roots and gently mix with top soil. In the next 4~5 weeks, soybean pods will slowly grow thicker and at the end round. You can start to pick the pods. You can boil the whole pods or remove the shell and cook the green soybeans. It is one of the best treat in summer from your garden. I am sure you will like it. To collect soybean seeds, leave soybean plants in your garden until the whole plant dies and pods turn brown. New soybean have very high germination rate while seeds older than one year have much lower rate. So I collect soybean seeds every year for next growing season. Thank you for watching. If you like my channel, please subscribe and come back for more Asian vegetables. See you soon.