Bush beans

I planted 1 bush bean. How much will this one plant produce?

I would think it depends on the variety (average size of bush) and also climate ... like, we are having a late, cold spring.

It probably also depends on soil. In my little plot, it would also depend on whether a slug got to the seedling before it got big, in other words, too good a chance of zero harvest for one seed.

Too bad you didn't plant three times as many, the first time, so you'd have at least enough. Space-limited?

Sorry! I just encountered a remark like "of course, WA springs and summers are cooler than most, SO ADD 50% to any seed packets' suggestion for "days to maturity".

I knew there was variation, but I assumed I was doing something very worng when something was extra-disapointing.

I will p/u another plant today.

I plant about 30, and get enough for 2-3 people.

I'm not sure how well one plant would do -- they need each other to twine together and depend on each other's weight... they should be 1-2 inches apart (so you can grow 36 in a 12" x 12" space...)

oh my gosh. I was sure 1-2 would feed the 2 of us in abundance!

One of mine makes just enough for one serving for one person.

anastatia, one bush bean plant might give you a pound of beans. That's it, then they quit producing.

You could plant more beans, each week or two, for a successive crop, if you want more (which I bet you do!)

As for the recommendation given above about "36 plants per square foot", or something like that, NOT. Bush beans can be planted as close as two inches apart in straight rows but not in block formation. Each plant will easily take up nearly a foot of space and in rows they'd get that space to each side of the row; in a block planting they wouldn't.

I wonder if your Washington weather would be warm enough, and long enough, to plant pole beans in your given area. Pole beans will produce non-stop up until a killing frost/freeze, giving you a much longer harvest over time while bush beans only produce for a week or two then fizzle out altogether.

Hope this helps.
Shoe

If your s

Shoe is dead on...

I always dedicate 1 box for bush beans a year. I plant 12 of them and get about 5-6 pounds for 2-3 weeks of picking before it's replant time. *

But, I plant a couple of seeds around the edges of my larger containers(32 gal.) growing dwarf citrus and the bush beans produce better per plant than a earthbox.

I love fresh green beans but never crave them. But will eat a big bowl of them for a snack on occasion. I usually just use them in certain recipes. 30 plants, like happygirl suggested sounds about right for 2 people.

Let me clarify... I have a soaker hose in a ring, and plant seeds all along the ring (about 1-2 inches apart). I don't plant in a block...I'm just saying you could...

I wouldn't recommend planting in a single row ...because, again, they depend on each other to twine together.

Here is a picture of my yellow beans -- and I have probably 30-40 plants.

I just assumed bush beans were easier to grow then pole beans. Lots of people here plant pole beans. What do I need to build for the 'pole'? I am so glad I asked. Thank you mucho for this info.

anastatia, bush beans are easy to grow, just sow the seeds and sit back till your harvest comes in. Poles beans are easy, too, just need a trellis or poles in the ground. The easiest would be 3 poles lashed together at the top and then splay the legs out tee-pee fashion, planting seeds around each leg.

I also use metal T-post, pounding them in the ground then run a wire/string at the bottom, another at the top, then up and down string between those. Goes up easy.

As for planting bush beans in rows, people have done it for years. The majority of bush beans don't tend to twine so I wonder what variety happy-girl is planting.
Here's a pick of single rows of bush beans...

And here is a pic of larger/mature bush beans, single row.

Hope this helps.

Shoe

I purchased bean poles from Burpee. They work great!

http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supplies/garden-growers/supports-ties-and-fences/pole-bean-and-pea-tower-prod001236.html

Thanks shoe...

I'm growing five varieties of bush beans
Yellow runners - twining
Scarlet runners - not twining
Hidatsa - not twining
Cannellini - twining
Garbanzo - completely different - they don't even look like a legume at all, and they aren't twining.

I also have two pole beanvarieties (blue lake and cranberry), and they are both working their way up some twine.

Good to see what varieties you're growing, HappyGirl

"Yellow runners - twining Scarlet runners - not twining"

Runners are vining/pole types. Your Scarlet runners will start vining/running at some point.

The Cannelini beans I grew were bush types but maybe there is a twining variety, eh?

And some "bush beans" are considered half-runners; bush form but sending out long runners about a foot or so long. I wonder if that applies to some of your varieties.

I'd be interested in hearing how your Garbanzo beans do. They really are more in the vetch family than "bean" family and like cooler weather than beans. I hope you get a harvest in your zone. (I love chick pea burgers with a peanut sauce on them! Yummy!~)

You'll love the Blue Lake pole beans. I have some that volunteer each year, growing up a fence and giving a great harvest.

Although I have seeds of Vermont Cranberry beans, original seeds from DG's own "Big Red" I haven't grown them in a number of years. He rec'd them from his uncle years ago (Uncle Walt?) and shared them with many folks on DG before his demise a couple of years ago. I hope you have some of his family's seed stock.

Shoe (off to cook some home made sausage, speckled butter beans, and the last of the frozen sweet corn from last years harvest. Yummy!)

thank you thank you. I am sitting here in the green bean classroom, front row, taking notes.

So, for the runner beans, can I give them some support and have them go vertical? will the do that?

Hey, Ya'll,
I have been using a pine bark mixture for the first time this planting season. It is an adjusted version of Tapla's 5-1-1 container mix (pine bark fines:peat:perlite). He recommended starting with a 3:1:1 mix for more wicking properties for my eBuckets. However, I used this mix in free-draining containers, to grow potatoes, and I dumped them this weekend. I discovered the mix was staying too moist, even with the drainage, so I'll be adding one more part of pine bark fines to the new batch.

Now I'm shifting planting gears, and am about to plant southern cowpeas for the first time. I'll be planting the peas in the mix the potatoes were in, but this time using 15-20 gallon molasses tubs. My list of "peas" includes: Lady Cream peas, Crowder peas, Zipper peas, purple hull peas, and something else. I've never grown any southern peas before, but I LOVE beans, and would like to try (again). I have the seeds for at least the last 3 seasons, but have yet to plant them.

I could use some southern pea planting instructions, please.

Thanks, in advance

Linda

happygirl345 - Yes runner beans need vertical support. They will probably grow taller than you think. I grow Fortex and they stretch far higher than I can reach!

Incidentally - Scarlet Runner beans will not set beans in hot weather. Pick them when small, otherwise they will be tough. We grew these in England when I was a child, and they are my favorite bean.

The hummingbirds love the scarlet flowers.

Linda - I have never eaten "southern peas" (shame on me huh?)

Where could I find some to eat that are not canned?

Bee,
Your local dried bean shelf at the supermarket should have Crowder peas, black-eyed peas. You'll find the Cream peas and purple hulls in the freezer section.

Gymgirl - thanks for the info.

I buy dried beans all the time - never noticed the Southern peas; although they are probably right next to them (duh!)

I don't often look in the frozen vegetable section as I have a freezer full of homegrown, but will check out the cream peas and purple hulls next time I'm in the supermarket.

These days, I'm finding less, and less meat on my plate and more beans taking it's place. I can't believe how expensive food has become!

Yep.
Those Lady Creams and purple hulls simmered down with a nice slice of salt pork, some sauteed onions, bell peppers and a bit of peppers, YUMMY!

Here's a dumb question: can dried beans from the supermarket be used to grow a crop? Or are they likely to have low germination, or be variable F1 hybrid crosses?

Corey
(Looking for inexpensive ways to exapnd the New Bee Stash)

I am currently growing garbanzo and cannellini beans that I bought at the store (farmers market for the garbanzo beans and a health food store for the cannellini beans). They are growing like crazy!

It makes sense that a health food store would be most likely to have viable beans!

A local Fred Meyers has a long row of bins for bulk beans. I sould buy a small amount of each and test their germination rate.

Thanks!

Corey

Corey - organic dried beans is one food I actually buy as they are still cheap. Also, I don't have enough room to grow them, and all that shelling takes too much time!

I totally agree! I was thinking of enlarging the "New Bee Seed Stash" inexpensively.

But your point is still relvant: anyone dedicated enough to grow their own dried beans is going to have more variety and better-for-home-garden varieties than Fred Meyer.

I'll fall back on Plan Two: 1 pound bags from Southern States Seeds. Gee, now that I look, those all seem to be snap beans or limas. Hunnh!

Corey

I tried growing white coco beans one year, to use in my cassoulets. Out of one long double row I got scarcely a quart of dried beans, and that was the end of dried beans for me! Cannellini work almost as well and by the time the dish has cooked for four or five hours it's hard to tell the difference anyway.

Corey, yes, you can grow some of the dried beans from the grocery store. I'd check the sell by date though as to how fresh they are. I've grown navy beans, black eyes, and northern whites as well as pinto beans from the store.
Good idea on doing a germination test. Sure would save a lot of disappointment, eh?

I wonder if those bulk bins have a sell by date, now that I read back thru your post above....

I'd also recommend saving some of your home-grown beans each year for your seed stock. Very easy to do and also gives you a feeling of accomplishment! *grin

Honeybee, "These days, I'm finding less, and less meat on my plate and more beans taking it's place. I can't believe how expensive food has become!"

I eat a lot of beans, too. Snap beans, butter beans, cowpeas, butter peas, and of course sugar snaps and English peas. Yummy. Years ago I ate with the seasons, veggies during the growing season, only meat during winter when very little was growing in the garden. It's a good system. But don't get me wrong, I love fish all thru the year but as you said, things are sure getting expensive. Heck, even fish at the store now costs more than many meats! Yikes!

Shoe (back out into the heat, pulling weeds, filling boxed beds, hoping to set out more plants and sow more beans this week during the cool morning hours.)

>> I'd also recommend saving some of your home-grown beans each year for your seed stock. Very easy to do and also gives you a feeling of accomplishment! *grin

That is an ambition for me - more for Bok Choy than to dry beans. One year I had some bolt while it was still dry, and I wallowed in seeds for a while.

In theory, over several yearss, i might even be able to select for slug resistance, tolerance for clay, constant spring and fall rains, and very cool summer. Perhaps a mid-summer Bok Choy, at least "PNW mid-summer".

But now I have several kinds of Brassicas going at the same time, all eager to cross-polinate, and one seed vendor told me that the "sepparation distance" is 1/3 of a mile.

Corey

P.S, Territorial does sell dry shelling beans: Etna, Cannelloni Lingot, Bingo, CA Blackeye 446, Tiger's Eye, and In Yang. $7 for a half-pound

Yikes! 7 bucks for a half pound of seed? Methinks you better find another source.

As for Brassica's crossing, it'll depend on which species of each you are growing. For example, chinese cabbage/broccoli/Brussels sprouts/cauliflower/etc won't cross with mustards/kale/horseradish, etc. You just may have clean viable seed UNLESS you are growing the first list of examples (cabbage/broccoli...) only, then those will cross because they are in the same species.

As for saving bean seeds, the majority of them are self pollinizing but yet bees can contribute to crossing if they are in abundance at the "wrong" time. Since beans don't really rely on bees/insects for pollination you could easily bag some flowers or use remay/row cover over a few plants saved specifically for seed production.

Shoe (now thinking of Bok Choy, recently rec'd as a gift and am gonna turn it into kim chee tonight or in the morning. Yummy!)

Good point about the species, but I have some vague memory floating around that "all Brassicas will cross-polinate". I think I read about some Asian greens that sounded like distant crosses: turnip and mustard, maybe?


I think my Bok Choy and Komatsuna are both Brassica rapa. I was told "insect polinated" by one of the seed vendors. Of course, he had a vested interest in disuading customers from saving seed!

multiple kinds of Bok Choy / Pak Choi (B. rapa var. chinensis)
Komatsuna "Spinach Mustard" (B. rapa var. komatsuna)

Right now, Komatsuna is the only one flourishing, and one lonely, very stressed Bok Choy plant is the only one bolting!

From what you said, these three Gai Lans would cross with each other, but not the above:

"Dark Green Gai Lan" from from Tainong Seeds "Chinese Kale" Brassica oleracea
"Te You", kairan , "Chinese Kale/Broccoli" from Kitazawa Seeds
"White Flowered Kailaan" (Gai Lan) "Chinese Kale / Broccoli" from Botanical Interests
(Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra)

I wonder if the Gai Lan would cross with my Italian heirloom:
Spigariello Liscia / Broccolo Spigariello Brassica oleracea var. 'Spigariello'

At least Amaranth and "Water Spinach" (Ipomoea aquatica) are different genuses!

>> Yikes! 7 bucks for a half pound of seed? Methinks you better find another source.

I'm sure you're right if I was making soup, but I don't know what a good price is for beans. I've paid $2.50 for a few hundred milligrams of fine seed, and $2 for 1.25 ounces of Pencil Pod wax Bush beans ... off a rack at a nursery.

Well, I think of Hazzards as having good deals.

wax beans, chik pea or lima: 1,000 seeds for $22
But I don't know how many beans in an ounce ...

Parks (few bargains, usually): 1/2 pound beans $13. Peas, $6.25.

Anyway, I won't be growng them myself. I was just thinking of broadening the "New Bee Seeds" vegetable stash, but they don't sound like as good a deal as they did at first. maybe walk down that isle at Fred Meyer and look for something really exotic, then germinate some..

Corey

Corey - you're amazing me again with the new bee seed stash. I thought you claimed to know very little about gardening. From reading this thread I think you are pulling our new bee legs.

Thanks for the info on beans - especially Shoe - I am a flower child, but mom made us grow vegetables (and eat 'em!) when we were kids. I am working on getting some self-watering containers going soon. Mentioned before I injured my R hand (dominant) at work a couple of weeks ago and am pathetically inept at much of anything right now with this darn brace on. :/

I started some Blue Lake beans a couple of weeks ago. I thought they were a bush variety. Haven't planted them in a while, but they're more novelty for me right now than long-term food source. I am a vegetarian, BTW. I suppose I ought to think about growing more of my food, but as you all have observed here, the ability to buy cheap beans in bulk usually wins out over the time and trouble of growing them myself.

A.

""all Brassicas will cross-polinate"."

I guess that isn't an untruth, Corey, as they will all cross BUT only within the same species. For example all your above-mentioned B. rapa will cross with each other, all your B. oleracea will cross with each other, including your Gai Lan, the the rapa won't cross with the oleracea.

And yes, your 3 Gai Lans will also cross with your Italian heirloom Spigariello as they are all oleracea. Although they are different varieties (sub-species) they are still in the same species.

I'd recommend Johnny's Seeds for many beans. Most are about $3.- $4.50 per half pound. Higher quantity the price goes down. Plus their site tell you how many seeds per pound (lima beans are 380 seeds per pound, so they say). And this past winter they had a humongous sale on so many things. I was getting packets and pounds of seeds for less than half price, some things that sold for $5.00 were on sale for $1.00. Great bargains.

Amanda, Blue Lake beans come in both bush and pole varieties. If they were the pole type they might be marked Blue Lake FM1. Some vendors will list the Blue Lake bush with "274" after the name.

Take care of that hand.
Shoe

True: I've only had my own garden for around 3 years, and have killed 3-4 times as many sedlings as I've grown. ESPECIALY I don't have broad knowledge ... mostly, I get interested in one thing and read a lot about it.

As a kid, Mom owned the garden and I just mowed, weeded and managed the compost heap after we realized that we didn't have to burn all those leaves and pine needles.

Now I have a yard large enough for some RBs, and small enough that I don;t spend all my free time beating back the brush, mowing and raking.

I remember thinking well of Johnies Seeds when i cruised past it once ... and anyone who has year-end sales is my hero!

I was surprised by how few 'trade' pkts I got out of 1/2 pound of beans. Especially "Runner Bean 'Painted Lady'" from sunnyg, who I think sent over a pound. Yikes! Drop one of those big beans on your toe, and you're practically limping. Even the bean is colorfull and dramatic.

Corey, I was at the grocery store this past weekend and picked up some dried pinto beans from the bulk bin. I sowed a row directly into the garden (big rain was moving in) and also kept 20 seeds for a germ test.

Today I checked, all 20 seeds germed. I started them on the 17th. I guess I'll set these pre-germed seeds in one of my boxed beds today.

Shoe (pleasantly surprised at the germination rate)

Nice germ ya got there, Shoe. ;)

I saw on my pack of bush beans it does say 274 so they are true bush beans. Hate to go out and purchase beans.

Hey Corey! Do you have any vining green beans for a newbee? Promise to send you gobs of seed at the end of the season.

Thanks!!!

A.