Bush beans and pole beans question?

[Farmer13]

Thanks for the link. I had used Sluggo liquid in the past, but it washed away in the rain. Does this work in the rain?

It works great in the rain also, little pellets that melt & stay in place. Use it around the beds to intercept the slimy buggers before they munch your plants. I find rocks & wood that they hide under during the day & sprinkle it here & there. I'm never going back the picking & giving them good homemade beer. LOL

 

[NanaK]

What a beautiful Garden!!!

Thank you!

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

We grow pole beans for drying (such as for using for soup), and bush beans for fresh eating green beans. I’ve grown pole beans for green beans but did not prefer this bc beans hid among the leaves very well, and they would become tough- could have been the variety.

We have 10 ft trellis for pole beans, and it’s usually full to the top with vines.

Watering as needed, but beans aren’t as water needy as some other things.

We have raised beds, but my biggest challenge is that right when they pop out of the ground something eats them (the new leaves), so I spray with Sevin bc then I only lose a few sprouts, and one spray application at the right time seems to

I stopped using sevin products when I learned how it killed the bees. I do use Dr Jack's organic once in a blue moon but always at dusk when the bees have gone in foe the night. Definitely not trying to tell you how to garden just didn't know if you knew this or not. I didn't. I had the same problem and realized my beans were being eaten by the rolly pollies. They don't bother them once they get a little bit bigger but fresh young shoots they woukd eat in a night! Happy gardening

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

We tend to have hot dry summers unless we have a hurricane. So I find my garden does better planted directly in the ground and I don't have to water as much. The fall/winter garden also seems more hardy. I use wide rows to give me plenty of room to work.
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Your garden is beautiful!!

 

[HeritageFan]

My experience w pole beans is that they tend to produce tender beans longer than my bush varieties, with equal attention paid to picking.

I will also give the disclaimer that I -love- fresh green beans, and also love them tossed into a wok or pan w a bunch of other veggies for a stir fry.

My bush beans are tender and sweet at first, but tend to get a bit tough and less sweet as summer progresses even with consistent and adequate watering.

I’ve gone basically to all pole beans for our green beans, and I let them climb the garden perimeter fence. It’s a 7’ fence, and they grow up, over, and back into it.

I also plant other crops that tolerate a bit of shade in the areas that may be shaded from the beans on the fence... but they don’t shade much the way my garden is orientated.

I do still plant bush beans as well- wax beans (yellow). I love them. More sweet, more smooth, and also get less desirable as the season progresses...
I usually plant them in beds with other things that are slower to start in our growing zone, or that spread out - like small watermelons, spaghetti squash, sugar pie pumpkins, etc - so that they are naturally overtaken as the other plants come to maturity about the time they start to get to the end of their “season”

I’ve also done concentration plantings and let the pole beans be my “high center” on a “tepee” type of trellis, with zucchini, herbs, broccoli, etc around the base. That worked well for the plants but harvesting was a bit of a challenge.

I’m in the PNW, at 1400’, so things here are a different challenge.
The slugs are horrible. I do use the pellet bait around the outside of my raised beds as needed.

I have to put almost everything in raised beds, that I dug down 18” into the ground, laid hardware cloth on the bottom, and they are 30” tall from the hardware cloth to the top of the beds (clad w sheet metal)
....it’s the only way I can keep the darn moles out.

I’ll take all the slugs- they are easy. The moles will come in and tunnel through a planted bed and eat every single thriving baby plant from the roots

My beds don’t make harvest easy - but they do protect from early/ late freezes a bit, and keep moles, wild rabbits, and field voles out.... the fencing keeps the rabbits out along w the deer.

And. I’ll throw it out there- if borage can grow in your area, you should grow it in your garden.
It gets - huge - here. And the bees absolutely freak out for it.
The blossoms taste like cucumber and people add them to ice water / iced drinks....
I’ve not ever used it this way.
But I love the weird plants, blue flowers, and all of the honey and bumble bees that are all over them (and thereby in my garden pollinating the other flowers)

 

[Sally PB]

And. I’ll throw it out there- if borage can grow in your area, you should grow it in your garden.
It gets - huge - here. And the bees absolutely freak out for it.
The blossoms taste like cucumber and people add them to ice water / iced drinks....
I’ve not ever used it this way.
But I love the weird plants, blue flowers, and all of the honey and bumble bees that are all over them (and thereby in my garden pollinating the other flowers)

And, once you have it, you have it. It will readily self seed if you let the flowers go to seed. I find mine all over the garden. If it's in a good place for it to grow, I let it grow. If it's in the middle of a row of something, it's pulled out. Once you see what the seedlings look like, it's easy enough to recognize as it comes up.

 

[Sally PB]

Far and away my most productive bean for the last 3 years has been Dragon Tongue, a wax type bean. I'll be growing this one every year. It has actually made my hubby like beans! we grill them in a cast iron pan, and he loves them! He used to think that beans were not actually food.

 

[NanaK]

Your garden is beautiful!!

Awww, thank you!

 

[PopoMyers]

Bush beans don't need support, but I put tomato cages down the row to give them something to grow into/around. This helps keep them from flopping over if they get heavy with beans, or if we get some wind.

I have read that if the beans remain picked, the plant will keep flowering and producing. Even 1 bean left on the plant can cause the plant to stop flowering if the bean gets to a certain ripeness. The plant "thinks" it's done its job reproducing.

I have some bush beans still going, and coming on with a second batch, more flowers and beans! It was Jade variety. Heirloom, so I'm saving seed.

 

[Farmer13]

It was Jade variety. Heirloom, so I'm saving seed.

I'm not a big green bean eater, however this Jade variety is great in 3 bean salad & you can save the seed.