I have a lot of ants also and green beans are not doing well. I am blaming the hot soil now. they are about 3 inches high and not mulched. The ones I planted about a month ago are doing much better but they are mulched a little.

Sheila, Beans are prone to all sorts of illnesses including those that are both bacterial and fungal in nature, and that's likely what is going on.Something is killing them pretty quickly after you plant them. Have you pulled up the roots to look at them for galls that might signal root knot nematodes?

I wouldn't keep replanting them in a place where they keep dying because something clearly is wrong in that area. If that's the only place left in which you could plant beans, I'd rototill a good amount of compost into the soil and then wait for the recommended planting dates for beans for an autumn garden. The OSU-recommended fall garden planting dates are linked below. It is too hot right now for any beans planted now to have much chance of thriving and producing. It is just too hot for them now (notwithstanding this week's cool spell) and there's too many pests that adore them. If I planted any sort of beans now, they'd likely be covered with spider mites before the plants were 3" tall.

According to OSU, you can plant pole beans as soon as July 15th but bush beans and lima beans should not be planted until August 10 at the earliest. Planting earlier than that just means they'll be ready to bloom when it is too hot for the blooms to form beans, so the blossoms will just fall off and nothing much will happen until the temperatures cool off enough for beans to set. Meanwhile, while it is too hot for bean blossoms to set, all the various pests and diseases will be hitting the bean plants.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Fall Garden Planting Guide