Green Beans

I've never seen those ants before, honeybee...maybe I'll get a picture up here sometime this week.... although I'm kinda busy, getting married next week! :)
The beans seem to be growing despite all the holes in the leaves, so maybe i'll just let it be for now and see how it goes...

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

:) thanks steph! It's a really exciting time for me. I only hope and pray I can have as good and faithful a marriage as my parents... But don't worry, the green beans aren't suffering from my busy life... I don't have a very big garden this year but it's so exciting having something calming to look after. Veggie gardening is... well...rewarding. It's amazing to see how my little patch has become a conversation piece and source of enthusiasm for my family and friends...

Good luck lorvan on your marriage. It will be as wonderful as you make it!

Lorvan, best wishes to you and husband-to-be for your marriage -- it's a lot like growing a garden!

;-)

Sandy

Sandy, what a very true statement! Marriage takes some turning of the soil, pulling out weeds, watering, fertilizing, and sometimes yanking out old things that aren't producing or are disease-ridden. Sometimes, you gotta pull back, make a new plan, and start fresh with new "seeds".

My green bean harvest last night, almost a pound of beans and there's more on the plants!

LOL, Stephanie, you knew exactly what I meant!

Those green beans are making my mouth water, I won't have any for at least a month here.. Is that a lemon cucumber at the top?

Yes, my first lemon cuke! It was yummy, too! I've never grown them before, but wanted to try them after reading that they were perfect for one person. DH's not a big fan of cucumbers, but I love them! I have another one outside that I forgot to pick this morning. Since I've harvested the ones growing, I hope the plants start producing again. Of course, with this dreadful heat, that might be a problem.

Keep plenty of water on them Steph and keep them picked close and they will keep making. Our temps are running between 95 to 98 and my cukes are bearing like crazy. I'm picking 5 gal. every other day.

Cool, I'm growing lemon cucumber this year too...only 1 plant though lol. But at least now I know what a healthy fruit looks like... although weather here is more in the 60's, so I'm not getting any fruit just yet....

Hi Stephanie....

Ditto about the heat -- I can hardly get through the garden at 7am -- let alone anything later. ugh. I wish it were Oct...because it's usually in Oct that I remember why we live in Texas.

Ha ha ha, jannz2 - that's the same thing I think living here in the desert - lol...

We ate our first green beans last night (Fortex). I picked them small to keep the vines producing. They were delicious!

I'm still having "vole" problems, but not as much as before. I suspect some other critter is keeping them in check. I hope they are tasty and my benefactor will return.

I have a funny story:

The other evening I took my little dog, Chloe out for our usual walk around the garden before we went to bed. She started to enthusiastically dig in the sweet pototo patch. I thought, "great - maybe she has found the vole hideout." After digging a nice little bowl-shaped spot, she promptly laid down in it! Evidently she was tired and had dug herself a bed to sleep in.

I contemplated growing Fortex beans this year, but decided not to. Are they bush type beans or more like a pole bean?

StephanieTx, did you say line the pantry with basil leaves to keep the weevils away? Just one or 2 maybe?

I am going to grow beans this fall. I guess it didn't occur to me this past spring. But, I had made fried up Chinese style green beans a few years ago and am looking forward to doing this with my own homegrowns. I am going to grow them in containers since my available groundspace is very limited here in this Houston house. Plus, I can get lots of free bamboo poles for teepee trellises. Those individual poles cost 2.74 at Lowes! I will check the Aggie website for recommended vine types for this area.

Thanks you for the post.
Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.





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What I'm reading about bush beans here is sure different from my experience.

I've planted many varieties of bush beans over the years. This year I'm growing Provider, which I like real well. It's not a hybrid, so I'll save seeds by letting the last pods dry on the plants.

My first row is 20 feet long, and I've been picking beans every three days and have had three pickings now. The first time I got about 2 gallons of beans, the second time was 4 gallons, and this morning I got 1 gallon. We're in a real heat wave so they've slowed down, but there are still plenty of small beans and blooms. I expect to pick off that row for about a month total, probably getting about a gallon of beans each time from now on. I've got a second row that's about a foot tall now but hasn't bloomed yet, so that'll kick in as the first row quits.

When I hear about bush beans only having one crop, I wonder if folks are picking them right. Be sure and pick the little 1/2" stem off with the bean - don't leave it attached to the plant. If those stems are left on the plants, the plants "think" the mature beans are still there and that seeds have been successfully produced - and they quit bearing. If the stems are taken off with the beans, the plants keep blooming and setting on new beans in an attempt to make seeds.

I'm not sure why it'd be "too late" to plant bush beans now, either. I'm planting another row this week and that should give us beans the first part of September. I've been doing that for years, with many different varieties of bush beans. I water the rows with a soaker hose, and I mulch with grass clippings - maybe that's the difference?

stephanie - Fortex are pole beans. I wouldn't say mine are producting "abundantly" - but enough so we can have some at dinner every-other evening. I have two twelve foot rows planted two weeks apart. The second row should be producing soon. If you want an abundant supply, I suggest planting at least a 25 row.

Between the voles eating the roots, and the Japanese Beetles eating the leaves, I'm lucky to be gettting any for hubby and me.

Ozark ~

you might look for the Case Knife Green Bean they do well in the 4 - 9 zone . and the Pink 1/2 runner do well also .

Sarge

Yes to the bay leaves to repel the weevils. I even put one in my container of flour and in any container I use to store excess flour). I put about 4 leaves out on my shelf which is about 4' long and about 12" or so deep.

I grew Contender this year and they were very prolific. I would still be picking beans if we weren't having 100º+ days. My plants really started looking stressed from the high temps the past 2 weeks, so I pulled the last ones yesterday and ended up with about 3 gallons, which translated into about 3 quart sized bags in the freezer. We still had tons of babies and blooms, but it's just too hot for them.

I'm having the same heat issue with my beans. They are hanging in there as they are under the shade structure and I know that keeps them several degrees cooler. They are well mulched too, but not sure how long they will hold in the heat. They are full of blossoms and baby beans so keeping my fingers crossed.

My green beans have made but not in the quantities that they usually do. My vines still look good and I see a good many blooms but am unsure what they will do in this drough and heat. I'm keeping them watered shade my squash and young tomatoes and if I get another crop good but if not they are still serving a good purpose.

I grow both bush and pole beans. I've been able to pick the bush beans over a period of 4 to 6 weeks. I don't let mine get longer than 5 inches though.

hay Jim

here's the Case Knife Beans pick mess For the last two days


Sarge

Never heard of case knife beans before but the vines are really pretty. Get me a good picture of the beans themselves so I can see if they look like anything that I am familiar with.

I like how clean you have everything. Love that okra. I grow the ole time original Cow Horn okra not the Cow Horn you can buy from the seed companies these days. If you are interested I'll get you some seed for next year.

ok jim i have to do you som traden bean seed for okra seed sounds good to me i'll get a pic up here in a day





here is is the okra that is by the Case beans

You got a deal Sarge.

I am now picking enough Fortex beans each day to be able to freeze some.

I've developed a way to kill Japanase Beetles with my thumb-nail! I've noticed they like to be on the opposite side to wherever the sun is. Early in the morning, they tend to be sitting right on top of the leaves so are easy to see and dispatch!

I got some beans this morning, I was surprised cause I hadn't seen a single bean until today! These suckers grow fast!

prettymess - they sure do grow fast! I pick early in the morning b/4 work, and again when I get home. They are easy to miss under all those leaves.

I OVER planted for the trellis idea I got from here... I now have a green bean cave, and the vines are almost back down to the ground in the front. LOL I'm lovin it!!

Wow, ZZsBabiez, that's beautiful!! What is the "trellis idea" you mention? I take it you made it? How? I want that in my garden next year!

I pulled out my first row of Provider bush beans yesterday and picked close to two gallons of beans off the old plants. There were more dead leaves than live ones and they'd quit blooming, so it was time to get rid of them.

I planted that 25' row on April 25 and got the first picking of one gallon on June 13. It produced for six weeks, and I think we got about eight gallons, total, off the row. I think that's pretty good, and I'm glad we don't have the Texas climate that keeps bush beans from doing that. I wouldn't mind being a little warmer in the wintertime, though!

I've got one 15' row of the same beans that was planted three weeks later, so we should be getting small pickings of beans off that for about another three weeks. I'm going to plant another long row this week, hoping we'll get some more beans in the fall.

okay all,
I started a thread asking about websites for seeds etc. because
the local Lowes and Hd only have Kentucky Blue, Kentucky wonder and and Blue Lake seeds. Where are y'all getting your Fortex and Contender seeds?

I think Territorial has Fortex. I'm not sure about Contender. I got my Contenders from the local feed store/nursery.

Thanks StephanieTx. I checked that web site and I guess they sold out of Fortex. No worries. I had gotten some of the usual bean seeds from the Lowes this past week. I started some seeds for a fall planting and they sprouted in 3 days this past week. I will try and nurse them along in the house in 72 degrees under grow lights for the next 6 weeks until I can put them outside. So excited, my first attempt at growing beans. Getting the bamboo trellis poles ready.

I don't get insane temperatures like you southerners, so my beans will last all summer. Or so I thought. It appears that some of my plants have become feasting grounds for japanese beetles. One of my plants has really really drooped and looks like it's on it's death bed. I trimmed all the eaten leaves and dead leaves off - is there any hope for this plant still?

I purchased Fortex from Burpee

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/beans/snap/bean-fortex-prod000583.html?_requestid=3180074

I live in Gardena, CA (zone 9-10)

I didn't see much in this thread about Kentucky Wonder pole beans. We planted 6 plants (that we got at our nursery) and we've been harvesting about 2 servings worth twice a week for a couple of months now - they just keep going and going.

We also planted them near the corn as I had read that the corn makes a natural 'trellis' for them. Unfortuneatly, the beans strangled the corn - but it was fun to try.

After seeing how much these beans will climb, I planted Kentucky Wonder seeds at the base of either side of my arbor (my nursery said to soak the seeds overnight). I think that may have been in the first week of August - last Wednesday, I saw the first flowers, and this morning there are little itty bitty beans. This picture was taken 8/15/10, now the tallest climber is almost to the top.

We planted way too many seeds, and didn't thin them out, so I'm not sure how well these will survive at the bottom - but we'll find out. My hope is to have enough beans to freeze so we can enjoy them all year long, especially at Thanksgiving.