Can we talk beans?

[SaltyNuts]

Growing beans, in particular.

I've got a 12" raised 4' by 4' garden I just set up.

I've also got some very young plants of:

Green beans (Tendergreen)
Green beans (Blue Lake)
Pinto beans (store bought, they sprout easy as FUK, actually all these beans do)
Cherokee wax beans.

I've got an awesome mix of top soil, manure, compost, peat moss, humus, etc. in my garden. On the very top I have potting soil so the plants can ease into the more powerful stuff below.

So, do I just plant them? How far apart? I think they all like lots of light? Do I need to put sticks in there for them to climb on? Is a stick good enough or do I need something better like a "trellis" or something?

Thanks for any tips! Love me some beans, we all know from 1st grade how good they are for the heart!!!

- Bean lover out

Moved from OT.

Perknose
Forum Director

 

[DigDog]

growing no.

cooking yes.


there's a whole host of vegetables that it's just not economical to grow yourself. Potatoes, carrots, root vegetables in general, it's a waste of time and effort, when they cost so little at the store.

Instead, grow spices; basil, rosemary, bay, chili, because these have a disproportionate cost to the effort, with one chili plant you can get a pound of chilies which is a lot of money from the shop, AND you get to keep them on the plant to pick them when convenient.

Tomatoes are worth growing because the tomatoes from the shop are pumped full of nitrogen, doesn't make them poisonous, but they are not properly matured and taste of nothing. Homegrown tomatoes are the bomb.


i mean seriously, beans? What's it cost these days in the US a 1-kilo bag of dried borlotti beans, a couple bucks?

 

[SaltyNuts]

Thanks DigDog! Naw, I'm not doing it to save money really, just want to see plants of different types grow! I'm planting TONS of stuff, including peppers and what not, but this thread is about growing beans!!! Thanks!

 

[FelixDeCat]

I used to grow beans back when Jimmy Carter was president. Post some pics of your sprouts.

 

[mindless1]

If all you've got is a 4' x 4', you're not growing much. Beans are usually grown in rows, a few inches apart (3-5"), and 2-3 ft between rows. In a 4'x4' bed, I'd try squeezing three rows in (two of them nearer the edge of the bed) and put each of them 5" apart, except that DigDog put it well, that this is a lot of work for a low value crop that you might eat up in a single meal if they had become ripe all at once.

Typical grocery store tomatoes aren't just bad because they're picked early, but also because they are a variety bred to have a longer shelf life before rotting and be more immune to bruising. In exchange they are soulless translucent red blobs of despair.

Lookup the exact variety you're growing. Bush beans take up a lot of space but need no support. Pole beans need a pole/stake/trellis/etc.

 

[Leymenaide]

9-12 seeds per foot on 30 inch rows, You can get 2, 4 ft rows on your bed.

 

[SaltyNuts]

If all you've got is a 4' x 4', you're not growing much. Beans are usually grown in rows, a few inches apart (3-5"), and 2-3 ft between rows. In a 4'x4' bed, I'd try squeezing three rows in (two of them nearer the edge of the bed) and put each of them 5" apart, except that DigDog put it well, that this is a lot of work for a low value crop that you might eat up in a single meal if they had become ripe all at once.

Typical grocery store tomatoes aren't just bad because they're picked early, but also because they are a variety bred to have a longer shelf life before rotting and be more immune to bruising. In exchange they are soulless translucent red blobs of despair.

Lookup the exact variety you're growing. Bush beans take up a lot of space but need no support. Pole beans need a pole/stake/trellis/etc.

So, it appears pinto beans can be either variety, bush or pole, seems weird. Any idea what variety they might be if I just bought the hard beans from one of those cheap bins in the store?

Cherokee wax - appears to be bush, but they sure are shooting out one long stem or vine for a bush type.

Tendergreen and Blue Lake green beans - both appear to be bush.