It's warm enough for the iris to bloom here, so I planted beans this weekend. I always direct sow my beans. They grow quickly. I grow both pole and bush varieties. The pole beans take a while to start producing and the bush beans fill the void. But they also take up a lot of space, so I'm growing them in large containers this year.
Bush beans are a great vegetable to succession plant every 2-3 weeks. In fact, it's time to sow a last planting of early season fava beans. I'll have to cross my fingers that the temperature doesn't suddenly spike, but that's the fun, and reward, of vegetable gardening.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
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Hi, thanks for the info on beans. I have a quick question on shelling beans. Last year we grew black eyed peas (pole) and LOVED them. This year we are trying pintos(pole), black eyed peas (bush), ying yang (?), and turtle beans(?). Last year I was worried about leaving pods on the plants too long. I was afraid that if I left them on, the plant would stop flowering and producing more pods. So almost daily I picked off pods that were starting to yellow.
Does leaving the pods on cause the plants to go dormant? Does picking the pods off early help increase yields? Does it matter if it’s bush or pole type?
Thanks!
Cole, leaving the pods on doesn’t make the plants go dormant, but they will stop setting new flowers and pods and eventually decline. Once a plant goes to seed, it thinks its job is done. So to keep them producing more beans, harvest regularly and remove any pods that slipped by and are starting to dry.
Pole beans start setting pods later than bush beans do, so they can usually continue producing until the end of the season. Bush beans will start to die off after about a month of setting beans. It’s exhausting to keep flowering and setting seed, only to have to start all over again. That’s why it’s good to replant bush beans every 2 – 4 weeks. The new plants can take over as the old plants fade.
Thanks for the reminder that it’s time to plant the beans.
You said you are saving space by planting them in containers.
How big a container do you need, and how do you space the beans in the containers?
Thanks!
Lauren
Lauren, You need a container that’s at least 8 – 12 inches deep. the roots don’t go very deep, but you want enough soil to hold water and not cause the roots to fry during the day. And if you want to try pole beans in pots, you’ll want a container that is heavy enough not to fall over when the plant become top heavy.
I usually use old 5 gallon black plastic pots, but it really depends on how much you want to plant.
Bush beans can be seeded 2 – 4 inches apart, throughout the surface of the soil. I put 2 – 3 pole bean seeds at the base of each support. So if I’m using a tripod, I’ll put seeds at each corner.
It’s hard to go wrong, because you can always then them out. I start a new pot of bush beans every 3 weeks.
That’s a great idea. Thank you for the tips!