Different types of green beans

seedcorn said:

What does that say when the bugs eat one variety and leave the other alone? (I kid, I kid)

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Says the Fortex sprung up like they were on springs and were available for eating when the Jap beetles were at their highest numbers. Then the half runners made the scene. Add to that, the Fortex were planted next to where the Jap beetles were coming up out of the soil and the half runners were in the middle of the garden.

Says good planning, in my book.

digitS' said:

This was wrong. It should read:

"If I can get the seed in by July 15th, they will have a crop before frost."

July ... I guess I can go back and edit it. I once thought that it was worth trying at a later July date. I even tried that in 2018. Fail!!

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for some reason i read that as July anyways.

aftermidnight said:

... A killing frost as a rule doesn't hit us until the end of October, but it has happened earlier and some years later ...

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The "usual" is what I plan for and put some trust in what the record keepers say, adding a little to the optimistic side. So ... I think "the first few days of October!"

Optimism really helps with gardening. How can we even plant a seed without it? Yes, it was a serious disappointment when first frost came one year the last few days of August but all the benign September weeks bring the joy that largely makes up for it.

Beans have the ability to germinate and start well in hot weather. They also continue to mature in cool conditions. Succession sowing of seed and growing success - super reasons to grow them! Green beans are one of my very favorite vegetables at the table and in the garden.

Steve

seedcorn said:

So filet beans go to seed much later giving me a longer harvest window?

What about flavor? As good or worse?

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i haven't done this yet, but i was hoping to give stagger planting a try (every 10 to 14 days plant another row starting in mid-May and continuing until mid-August) last season - my ability did not match my hopes... good thing there will be another chance this year.

seedcorn said:

Thanks for comments as I’m not a green bean connoisseur. All taste the same to me unless stringy and fiberous.

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Same here!

Mary

My summer got away from me. I only harvested and froze about 4 quarts last season. I still need to clean up where I grew them, so I might be able to save some seeds for 2019. What do you all do to get them to climb? Most of mine last season sprawled.

ducks4you said:

My summer got away from me. I only harvested and froze about 4 quarts last season. I still need to clean up where I grew them, so I might be able to save some seeds for 2019. What do you all do to get them to climb? Most of mine last season sprawled.

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Do you plant bush beans or pole/runner beans? Pole/runner type beans should just naturally vine and climb anything taller than they are. Bush beans tend to just sprawl.

I just plant mine along a trellis and let them go.

I often ..

. run a string on stakes, around ..
________________________
| . a bed of bush beans. |

Steve

ducks4you said:

My summer got away from me. I only harvested and froze about 4 quarts last season. I still need to clean up where I grew them, so I might be able to save some seeds for 2019. What do you all do to get them to climb? Most of mine last season sprawled.

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it happens... i have three gardens to clean up in the spring that i'd have liked to have gotten done before the ground froze.

some don't climb much. if you want climbers for sure get pole beans. i like a sturdy fence to put them on because once they get bigger up a ways the wind can knock things over and i think it is easier to clean them off the fence if the fence isn't wobbling all over. the fence i had some pole beans on this year was a bit too wimpy and flopped around in the wind (it's rather old and wasn't really designed to be grown upon).

another approach i took one year was to use a natural fiber twine that i could just cut down and bury at the end of the season (granted i don't power till so that avoids the issue of having it possibly wrap around the tines). it took me more time to put it up - i think i could have spaced it out more to make it go faster (like 8"-12" instead of on 6" grid).

next year i may have more fence to grow on.

ducks4you said:

My summer got away from me. I only harvested and froze about 4 quarts last season. I still need to clean up where I grew them, so I might be able to save some seeds for 2019. What do you all do to get them to climb? Most of mine last season sprawled.

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Depends on what I trellis pole beans on. Sometimes it starts a distance above the ground, sometimes it's a fence that goes all the way to the ground. To get them started to climb when I need to I sometimes tie a string up high and let it hang, then wrap it around the bean plant to show it where to run. If I need to tie the runners to hold them in place long enough for them to start climbing on their own I usually use a trip torn from an old T-shirt. With pole beans it's not as important, a regular string will do, but I use the torn strip to tie up tomatoes as it is wider than string and less likely to cut the stem. I'm just in the habit of ripping up a T-shirt when I'm going to tie something. Sometimes I get in a rut.

If it is a wire mesh fence pretty close to the ground I usually try to weave the runners through the mesh enough for it to hold and climb on its own. They are pretty brittle so you need to be careful or they break. Sometimes runners refuse to stay woven, they just want to sprawl or the wind keeps blowing them back out. These I tie up.

Ducks, what do you give them to climb on? Same as practically everything else there are different ways to do it. Some people make Teepees out of poles or maybe bamboo. Dad would sometimes just stick a tree branch in the ground. I've set two pretty sturdy fence posts and strung 2x4 welded wire between them across the garden. In Arkansas after I fenced my garden I grew them in that fence. The deer weren't too bad most of the time but I had to mulch inside and outside of the fence to control grass. Some people set posts and put a bar across the top if the distance isn't too great and dangle strings down for them to climb on. If that distance is too great it would take a real sturdy bar. With my four feet wide raised beds I'm planning on driving T-posts on each side and putting stiff welded wire (probably 2" x 4") up high to gain more height and dangle strings to get them to climb. What you give them to climb on might determine what you have to do to get them to climb. Usually once they start climbing they just climb but occasionally I weave a few back in when they start hanging off too early or to point them toward a bare spot.