Okay, I never grew beans before. Just thought it would be
a fun thing to do this year since I suddenly have a small place
to grow vegetables.

It's been fun. So far; I hope they hang in there (as in not be
eaten) until I can get some beans out of the deal.

I now get where the Jack and his magical beans story came from.
I looked at where I planted them a couple days ago. Maybe
that's them (some teensy green weed). I don't know.

Two hours later, I do not lie, I looked again and see some
weird disturbance in the earth, all these mounds of soils.
Damn, did something dig up my beans??

No. I moved a piece of dirt aside and there it was, a bean
plant! By the next morning they were an inch high. Freaky!!

nancy

On Jun 11, 12:34 pm, "Nancy Young" wrote:
Okay, I never grew beans before. Just thought it would be
a fun thing to do this year since I suddenly have a small place
to grow vegetables.

It's been fun. So far; I hope they hang in there (as in not be
eaten) until I can get some beans out of the deal.

I now get where the Jack and his magical beans story came from.
I looked at where I planted them a couple days ago. Maybe
that's them (some teensy green weed). I don't know.

Two hours later, I do not lie, I looked again and see some
weird disturbance in the earth, all these mounds of soils.
Damn, did something dig up my beans??

No. I moved a piece of dirt aside and there it was, a bean
plant! By the next morning they were an inch high. Freaky!!

nancy

Yeah, it is fun watching them. If you plant the beans after soaking
them for some 12 hours, they will pop out of the ground within a day,
if the weather is warm and sunny. Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Cookseasonal wrote:
On Jun 11, 12:34 pm, "Nancy Young" wrote:

Two hours later, I do not lie, I looked again and see some
weird disturbance in the earth, all these mounds of soils.
Damn, did something dig up my beans??

No. I moved a piece of dirt aside and there it was, a bean
plant! By the next morning they were an inch high. Freaky!!

Yeah, it is fun watching them. If you plant the beans after soaking
them for some 12 hours, they will pop out of the ground within a day,
if the weather is warm and sunny.

Thanks! I don't know why I didn't think of that, I have soaked
other seeds. I just followed the directions on the packet.

Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Thanks for that tip. I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. These are the bush type.

nancy

Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Thanks for that tip. I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. These are the bush type.

I experienced that horror 2 years ago.. lost some 200 plants in one
week of night-time rains, cloudy days, and 24deg celcius. in the end I
started pulling all the infected plants, and was left with a pathetic
looking half-empty field. But then again.. I have never been good at
reading the instructions, and just plant so that it 'feels right'

Just came back from 2 weeks project, and am now stuffing myself with
sugar snaps, which grew half a meter and each plant carries some 10
pods. Hm.. Stir-fry tonight!

J

"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio
. ..
Cookseasonal wrote:
Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Thanks for that tip. I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. These are the bush type.

I plant my bush beans every 4" each way. Thay form a shade structure that
keeps weeds away and they do very well. My old friend George in WV taught
me that.

The lack of sun made my beans come up, look around and then stall. They
want 60°F around the clock or samned close.

Cookseasonal wrote:
Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Thanks for that tip. I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. These are the bush type.

I experienced that horror 2 years ago.. lost some 200 plants in one
week of night-time rains, cloudy days, and 24deg celcius. in the end I
started pulling all the infected plants, and was left with a pathetic
looking half-empty field. But then again.. I have never been good at
reading the instructions, and just plant so that it 'feels right'

(laugh) You're one of those green thumb people, I have to read
the directions and even then my success rate is way low. I would
not make a success of farming.

Sorry about your crop, that's no laughing matter. I just do it
for fun.

Just came back from 2 weeks project, and am now stuffing myself with
sugar snaps, which grew half a meter and each plant carries some 10
pods. Hm.. Stir-fry tonight!

Now that makes it all worth it. I'm already planning to expand my tiny
garden next spring and sugar snaps would have a place for sure.

nancy

Giusi wrote:
"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio

Thanks for that tip. I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. These are the bush type.

I plant my bush beans every 4" each way. Thay form a shade structure
that keeps weeds away and they do very well. My old friend George in
WV taught me that.

I'm planting another row this weekend. The spacing is so close,
I believe 6 inches, that I thought How's this going to work? You
say even closer, so that's just how it is.

The lack of sun made my beans come up, look around and then stall. They
want 60°F around the clock or samned close.

Yikes, so far I've given them 95. Today it's a balmy 75 ... so far.

nancy

"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio
. ..
Giusi wrote:
The lack of sun made my beans come up, look around and then stall. They
want 60°F around the clock or samned close.

Yikes, so far I've given them 95. Today it's a balmy 75 ... so far.

nancy

Misstated: they want 60°F MIN everything over that happily accepted with an
appropriate amount of water.

On Jun 11, 8:02�am, "Nancy Young" wrote:
Cookseasonal wrote:
On Jun 11, 12:34 pm, "Nancy Young" wrote:
Two hours later, I do not lie, I looked again and see some
weird disturbance in the earth, all these mounds of soils.
Damn, did something dig up my beans??

No. �I moved a piece of dirt aside and there it was, a bean
plant! �By the next morning they were an inch high. �Freaky!!
Yeah, it is fun watching them. If you plant the beans after soaking
them for some 12 hours, they will pop out of the ground within a day,
if the weather is warm and sunny.

Thanks! �I don't know why I didn't think of that, I have soaked
other seeds. �I just followed the directions on the packet.

Do you have climbers? If not: Make
sur eyou get plnety of air between the plants, otherwise a few warm
moist days will make the stems start to rot.

Thanks for that tip. �I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. �These are the bush type.

Yes, thin them. Actually if each seed is spaced according to
directions there's no need to thin, beans typically all germinate so
there's really no need to plant extra, and bean seedlings don't
transplant well, so it's best to just toss them. At first it may seem
that there is too much space between plants but they will grow rapidly
to fill in all empty space... and you'll have a larger more robust
crop when plants are spaced a bit further apart instead of crowded, in
other words you will get more from fewer plants, it's false economy to
plant any vegetables close together thinking you'll get more per
space, you wont, and it will also be more difficult to harvest and
you'll miss a lot of beans on crowded plants. Once they begin to put
out beans harvest every day, even twice a day. Beans grow very
quickly, so what looks like a 1" long bean in the morning will be
ready to pick 24 hours later... pick when 3-4 inches long and no
more... you'll have better quality beans and more of them, the more
you pick the more the plant will put out... plants are merely trying
to reproduce, if you allow the fruits to become too mature so that
they go to seed the plant will go into a done-its-job mode and cease
further production. Smaller/less mature beans will be much easier to
prepare, they wouldn't have developed those pesky strings yet which
presents most of the prep labor to remove, the seeds will not have
matured either, so very little cooking will be needed... green beans
less than 3" can be quickly stir fried... 2" beans can be used raw in
salads. Just pinch off the stem (use no knife), always leave the
pointy end. During peak production period (about 4 weeks) one packet
of seed gives me 10 pounds of young beans every day... you'll need
people to share, you'll get tired of eating them. No matter how
diligent your harvesting regimen you will still miss a lot. Those 6"
beans can be de-strung and sliced into 1" lengths and frozen in zip-
locs, they are great in winter stews as they hold up well to long slow
cooking.

Giusi wrote:
"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio
. ..
Giusi wrote:
The lack of sun made my beans come up, look around and then stall.
They want 60°F around the clock or samned close.

Yikes, so far I've given them 95. Today it's a balmy 75 ... so far.

Misstated: they want 60°F MIN everything over that happily accepted
with an appropriate amount of water.

Ooops. Sorry about that, I shouldn't have taken it so literally.
What a dummy.

nancy

Sheldon wrote:
On Jun 11, 8:02�am, "Nancy Young" wrote:

Thanks for that tip. �I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. �These are the bush type.

Yes, thin them. Actually if each seed is spaced according to
directions there's no need to thin, beans typically all germinate

This I noticed. I thought Next time I will only plant one bean,
not three, because I don't think one failed to come up.

people to share, you'll get tired of eating them. No matter how
diligent your harvesting regimen you will still miss a lot. Those 6"
beans can be de-strung and sliced into 1" lengths and frozen in zip-
locs, they are great in winter stews as they hold up well to long slow
cooking.

Thanks for all that information, and taking the time to spell it
out for me. I appreciate it. So far this has been more fun even
than tomatoes.

nancy

"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Sheldon wrote:
, you'll get tired of eating them.

It can happen! I plant a 3 foot by 4 foot of my closely planted beans and
will again near to autumn when I plant the winter greens. Even an extra
handful of green beans is easily blanched and tossed into a sack for the
freezer. I also can if pressed make many green bean dishes because they are
my DD's favorite vegetable. They are great as tempura or blanched and used
almost raw.

Given good sun, they're almost foolproof.

nancy

On Jun 11, 8:26�am, "Nancy Young" wrote:
Giusi wrote:
"Nancy Young" ha scritto nel messaggio
Thanks for that tip. �I planted them according to directions and
now I have to thin the plants. �These are the bush type.

I plant my bush beans every 4" each way. �Thay form a shade structure
that keeps weeds away and they do very well. �My old friend George in
WV taught me that.

I'm planting another row this weekend. �The spacing is so close,
I believe 6 inches, that I thought How's this going to work? �You
say even closer, so that's just how it is.

Eight to ten inches apart in the row is fine but you need more space
between rows... plants are not all above ground, they have roots too,
the roots need more space than foliage... and you'll need space to
walk when you harvest, if you grow beans in rows all jamed together
you will have a lesser crop due to root crowding and you'll need to
step on plants when harvesting.. if rows are too close you will alos
be compressing soil over roots when harvsting, the crop will suffer...
leave plenty of space to walk. My garden is now all planted, over
many years of gardening I've learned not to crowd plants.... and there
are far better methods for controling weeds, crowding is the worst,
teh weeds will still grow, right between the plants where you won't
notice untll they're well established, and then you'll disturb the
bean plant roots when pulling the mature weeds. Crowded plants also
shade themselves, space between rows lets light in, vegetable plants
don't grow well without full sun. With space between plants it's very
easy to weed with shallow hoing/cultivating.

My tomato plants are doing well, as you can see I believe in space
between plants and my method of weed control works well.. high quality
weed block cloth from Lee Vally lasts more than ten years. I leave it
down all winter too, just roll it up in spring so I can till and lay
it back down again... the extra holes are from previous year's plants,
after a while I may use some extra holes to put in other plants,
perhaps even flowers:
http://i27.tinypic.com/mwsjgw.jpg

I have four fruit trees to plant (2 plum, 2 apple), but it's been much
too hot to dig holes, maybe today:
http://i30.tinypic.com/5cmx6q.jpg


In a couple of weeks that will be a lush garden. My beans are in that
far corner, just coming up. Some crops work better with bare ground,
I may use corrogated cardboard between rows later, I use cardbord for
walkways, it simply decomposes and I add new. As you can see I can
make my garden a lot larger, but that 2,500 sq ft plot is more than
enough for any three families, which is why I already devoted about a
third to blueberries... there's a small stream in that depression
along the right side, I rarely need to water:
http://i31.tinypic.com/2ecoxv9.jpg

hehe, planting too close you said?
Just walked into my garden.. Planted a few cabbages, at about 1 foot
(30cm) apart.. Two weeks ago before I left they had plenty of space.
Now the leaves are pushing against eachother, and summer is still to
start. I only did put in 2 rows of 5 plant.. What is your idea: Should
I remove every second plant? Or will they eventually 'hang' off to the
sides?

"Sheldon" ha scritto nel messaggio
and there
are far better methods for controling weeds, crowding is the worst,
teh weeds will still grow, right between the plants where you won't
notice untll they're well established, and then you'll disturb the
bean plant roots when pulling the mature weeds.

My experience varies widely from your conjecture. This method works best
for people who aren't growing bushels of anything, but it does work and is
considered a very good organic way to grow beans.

I also grow tagetes or marigold around most vegetables for insect control.