Let's Talk Green Beans!

OK, what has everyone got going? So far, I've got Festina and Xera bush, Fortex and Rattlesnake Poles. Got some "supposedly bush" butter beans going into place after spring tomatoes stop producing. Got Jade bush and Mountain White half runners I haven't found room to plant yet...but I better find the room real fast! Straw Bale beans, ground-grown beans, three sisters companion-planted beans...let's see and hear about all those beans!

Got Fortex Pole and Xera bush growing here outside the back garden gate...eastern exposure...hoping they can handle the heat better here. This is a pic from last weekend.

Well, I have planted a planting of Florence that isn't up yet. I have some Fortex to trial and some Stringless Green Pod for a meatier changeup. I didn't care for the greenier tasting Festina myself And I have a couple more like Derby and Espada.
The cool crops are loving it now, but I long for that 10° extra now for tomatoes, melons, corn, sweetpotatoes, and such.

Festina behind rudbeckias (hot chocolate). Indy, I've heard Florence is really great..post some pics when they get bigger. I will love to see them when its too hot for grean beans down here!
Debbie (who dreams of a zone where fresh green beans are growing 365 days a year)

This message was edited Apr 30, 2006 10:08 AM

Nice beans!

I'm growing mine up a series of 8ft bamboo teepees six feet apart with crossbars above. I grow McCaslan, and everyone who has tasted it raw or cooked says it's the best (slender stringless) bean they've ever had. When you freeze it and then cook it later, the flavor is still excellent, and it seems to sort of french itself in the post-frozen cooking. Very tender, lovely bean. I'll grow it as long as I can get it. I grew bush beans last year but I prefer pole beans. Maybe it's the drama. :)

Zeppy I needed a better thing to grow them up but needed to rig something up pretty quick...and the two "helpers"--and I use the term loosely here--were preoccupied at the time. I'm thinking of running wire from the top off than fence it the eaves of my one story house...as you can see from this weeks shot--it really needs it. Then I would have sort of a "bean tunnel" arch over the back gate....

I've been looking for a good catalog or online source for bamboo. Someone at work suggested the thinnest PVC pipe they make--unless spray painted I don't think that would look to good...LOL. Now this guy is a good guardian of the beans but he's not mulch help! LOL
Debbie

PS: seed source of McCaslan?

Cool. Your idea of jerry-rigging something is my idea of carpentry work, though. From what I've seen of your gardens, your beans would grow up the *idea* of a trellis if you just put it persuasively enough. :)

I first found McCaslan through Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, but my local seed company (Wetsels) carries it in half-pound bags. Dmail me if you want some, because I've got WAY more than I need.

Let me look up where I got the bamboo. It beat the pants off of Lowe's prices for bamboo 2 feet shorter (no one carries 8 foot around here). I got a bundle of 50 for something like 70 bucks. Ouch, I know. But it lasts me forever.

www.bamboohabitat.com

But it's in PA. I'm sure there's got to be someone close to you....

Thanks for the confidence Zeppy...maybe if I haul the ladder out there on that muddy, slick path and start hammering; some neighbor will come help me before I break my neck...its the LEAST the purslane growing neighbor could do for the countless purslane seeds she's spreading. LOL

Debbie, do beans do well for you in the late spring/summer. I don't remember trying them down here but I think it's probably too hot. I may try some anyway. I have Rattlesnake and Jeminez pole beans, Goldencrop snap and Blue Ribbon bush.
Flip

Flip-Try the rattlesnake real quick--they are supposed to mature as fast as bush beans according to the PlantFiles. I'm not familiar with the other varieties. I'm going to put the last of mine in for spring this weekend. I'm pushing it here but I figure I can rip them out if it gets too hot.

Zeppy--50 for 70 bucks for 8' seems a good price to me. They will last forever and whatever I don't need for beans I might could jerry-rig together to make some sort of trellis for flowering vines. Yes I'll try that bean variety--let me dmail you--I'm sure we can do a little trade.

Indy--keep us updated on your beans! :)

Debbie

I can't believe I missed this thread as I love growing bean. Last year I grew my first beans, Kentucky Wonder Pole, they were sooo good fresh. This year I am growing:

Pole Bean:

Kentucky Wonder, Roma, Yard Long, Scarlet Runner.

Bush Bean:

Royal burgundy, Contender, Tendergreen, Filet, Black Valentine, Turtle Beans, Oriental (Asparagus Beans), Blue Lake Bush 274, Cowpeas, Yellow Wax, and Dragon's Tongue Wax.

The Fortex look nice though, hmmm...next year.

kanita

Hey Deb - I think I'll wait on the beans and just keep the melons and herbs going over the summer

Hi Kanita,
Those Blue Lake Bush 274 beans are great. I harvested many pounds off of about 15 plants. Also, the Yellow Wax did very well here with similar yields. Good luck!

Flip

Kanita--we're looking forward to bean pics!
Debbie

Fresh festina bush beans for dinner tonight!

Great job, Debbie - those beans look really nice!
Flip

You young whippersnappers should try half runners fro the best traditional tasting bush bean, There are quite a few cultivars. My favorite is the Mountain Half Runner

A little closer

Ready

Those must be the ones the farmer I work for (to get a veggie share every week) grows. They're lovely: huge beans, huge yields, nice frozen.

Debby,
I bought a couple of 8 ft cedar boards from the lumber yard, cut them into 3/4 inch strips, then cut one of the strips in half. I made an "A-Frame" using the halves to space and secure the vertical members. By screwing all pieces together, I am able to collapse the frame between seasons and store in the garage.

Produced about 200 pounds of Ky Pole beans first year from 16 plants - 2 for each vertical member. Planted swiss chard in the shaded center - worked great until late July - heat, sowbugs and snails funally did in the swiss chard. Beans needed to be harvested every other day.

DW says, too many beans, does not want me to do it again, but I may to a few anyway. What else would climb and produce food besides cucumbers?

FD - I may be a whippersnapper but I'm not young. (Well, maybe to you I am!) I'd like to try your bean I googled it and had a hard time finding a place that sold them - Park's sold a Mountaineer White Half Runner - is that it? I tried other Seminis links but couldn't find much. Any clues?? Thanks,
Flip

I like the Mountaineer best, but just about every feed and seed sells some version. State is a lightly flattened snap bean. the others are round. All of them are short have white seed that look like Navy beans.. In my youth, the old folks called them Tobacco Worm beans.

I have those planted too Farmer and am looking forward to them too! These just "came in" first. Willhite sells them...or at least that's where I got them; the festina that is. The half runners Parks has...

This message was edited May 8, 2006 10:17 PM

We grow yard long or asparagus beans up the 6' chain link fence on the south side of the bird yard. Longest one I ever measured was about 20". We really like them. Also like the purple pole beans. Bush beans are too hard on my back.

Bubba,

So you are growing beans UP! I've read Elliot Colemans book about growing abundance in small spaces. I think DH and I may need to try this to get the kind of quantity you are all getting! Good grief, I've only had enough for 2 at dinner so far this year.

Bubba--I'm investing in some 8' bamboo poles this summer to sink and grow straight up those. See "edible gardens" thread in the veggie section. I have 2 lattices...they go straight up--here's a pic showing one of them...Not enough 'real estate' here for an "A" frame.
Debbie

This message was edited May 8, 2006 10:22 PM

Debbie,

Your place looks like ours, everything tied up with twine! LOL.

That and duck tape--hey, I got my Christmas lights off the front porch about March.....

Hey...if you cant fix it with duct tape and baling twine...it dont need fixed..right :)

dmj,
I could make you an A-Frame - we don't live that far apart. It does not take up much space. I placed the spread less than 3 feet wide, and since the vertical members are a foot apart it only occupies a 3x4 foot area of the ground.

Just bought a couple more cedar boards - intended to make birdhouses... but if you want ...let me know. could bring it unassembled and put it together when on site.

I was thinking of using some of the lattice you used, too. Just mulling over how to make it moveable - not sure I want anything in one place more than one season.

Bubba--
I've had no problem with it "in place". Beans and Cucumbers is all I grow vertically and they repeatedly rotate with each other very well...let me think on your very generous offer Bubba--I might want one for winter squash--which really isn't grown in winter...lol I surely could repay your generousity in plants.
Debbie

Here's the side bean patch tonight....hope the neighbors enjoy the view as much as I do! Those Xera bush beans should be ready to harvest this Saturday,now what shall I replace them with?

And these "rattlesnakes" are about to make a run up the lattice. Those pots have no bottom--they are just there to keep the mulch and dirt seperated. Kinda hard to grow beans thru 12' of mulch.

And some more rattlesnakes ready to run up the back fence...that's a coral vine running up a little redbud and some hamalia patens in the front of it. Again, pots are "bottomless", this tend to be a "nutgrass weedy" area unless its under 12-18" of mulch. I haven't decided what to put in the front of them...I'm thinking fall tomatoes since they have to go in in July.....or melons--can't decide.
Debbie