Mung beans make a great addition to stews, soups, curries, and salads. They can be used as beans or spouted to make the well-known bean sprout used in salads. When growing mung beans, the home gardener should use the same cultural practices used for green bush beans, except that the pods will be left on the bush longer to allow the beans to dry.

Mung beans are a warm-season crop and take between 90-120 days to mature. Mung beans can be grown outside or inside. Prior to sowing seed, prepare the bed. Mung beans like fertile, sandy, loam soil with excellent drainage and a pH of 6.2 to 7.2. Till the soil to remove weeds, large rocks, and clods and amend the soil with a couple of inches of compost worked in. Plant the seed when the soil has warmed to 18 C. Sow seed 25mm deep and 50mm apart in rows that are 75cm apart. Keep the area free of weeds but take care not to disturb the roots. Fertilize with a low nitrogen food.

Beans begin to form when the plant is 38-46 cm tall and the pods continue to darken as they mature. Once mature (about 100 days from sowing), pull up the entire plant and hang the plant overhead in a garage or shed. Place clean paper or fabric below the plants to catch any dried pods that may fall. The pods do not mature all at the same time, so harvest the plant when at least 60% of the pods are mature.