2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[HmooseK]

Boy, I sure crowded these, didn’t I?

 

[heirloomgal]

Boy, I sure crowded these, didn’t I?

I hesitate to admit this on a bean thread, but in my less experienced years as a gardener I used to space my beans wayyyy too close together. You'd be surprised what you can get away with! If you are going to keep them in a pot that really lessens the risk of the fungal issues that plague beans that are too close together. You might want to pluck out just a few if you are worried about those issues or competition for nutrients. The beans are tinier too I think when grown closer together, but I've had really big harvests of dry beans from plants that were spaced 2 inches apart...in a dry year that is...

 

[flowerbug]

the last time i grew any beans in pots was when i was a wee sprout myself. i'm tempted to try to grow some Fort Portal Jade beans in a pot this season to see if i can get any return that way from them.

the problem for me with trying to do anything in pots here in the house is that i may not get enough light and space is at a premium. i have four seeds left of unknown germination rate but i think they'll sprout. do i have any potting soil around? no. do i have a way to get some? perhaps i can raid some old containers in the garden that are out there now waiting for me to break them apart and get the potting soil out of them. if i mix that with some good garden soil i can probably get one container large enough to grow a bean plant.

if i'm lucky enough to get a plant to grow that flowers enough then i can perhaps also give a try at times to hand pollenating crosses from Purple Dove if the timing works out. it would be very interesting and fun to see if that turned out and how.

yes, i need more projects. hahaha... N O T...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

the last time i grew any beans in pots was when i was a wee sprout myself. i'm tempted to try to grow some Fort Portal Jade beans in a pot this season to see if i can get any return that way from them.

the problem for me with trying to do anything in pots here in the house is that i may not get enough light and space is at a premium. i have four seeds left of unknown germination rate but i think they'll sprout. do i have any potting soil around? no. do i have a way to get some? perhaps i can raid some old containers in the garden that are out there now waiting for me to break them apart and get the potting soil out of them. if i mix that with some good garden soil i can probably get one container large enough to grow a bean plant.

if i'm lucky enough to get a plant to grow that flowers enough then i can perhaps also give a try at times to hand pollenating crosses from Purple Dove if the timing works out. it would be very interesting and fun to see if that turned out and how.

yes, i need more projects. hahaha... N O T...

I sort of have the reverse problem. I have to grow things in pots because the places where pots can go (like the patios) are pretty much the ONLY places that get sun on the property (as well as being the only places where the plants will have some protection from animal damage, if the pots in question are placed on the patio pedestals)

 

[meadow]

I'm trying to decide how many bush beans to plant per square foot, 4 or 9 (9 is the recommended number for the Square Foot Gardening method). This is for production beans, not Network beans.

So far I'm leaning towards 4 green beans per square foot, mostly for ease of access, and 9 per square foot for dry beans.

That pot does seem a bit crowded, @HmooseK. You mentioned that it's the same pot you used for them last year, but how many did you grow in it then? How did they do? In the past I've grown bush beans pretty close together (maybe 3-4" apart?) and they've done well, although it was a pain to pick them.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I'm trying to decide how many bush beans to plant per square foot, 4 or 9 (9 is the recommended number for the Square Foot Gardening method). This is for production beans, not Network beans.

Since square foot would involves the main number 12. The largest number that 12 is divisible evenly by is 6. So I would plant your beans at least 6 inches in any direction from each other in that square foot. That would probably give you 9 plants in the first square foot. Any square foot next to the first square foot would have 6 plants in it because your square foot sections would share one common border with each other. That's my logic. Maybe not correct but that's it.

 

[Jack Holloway]

My seeds arrived last Friday, I think it was. I'll be growing out :

• Up The Valley - Bush
• Dalmatin - Bush
• Trevio Nun - Semi Runner
• Cedar Creek - Pole
• Glade Springs - Pole
• Karachaganack - Pole
• Tartan - Pole

The beans I bought will go into the freezer. I have a 50 x 90 foot block of blackberries coming up that I'm going to have to deal with this year. I've got places to plant the network beans, but that is it. Ugh, killing these blackberries is the worst. And my neighbor doesn't keep hers down, despite how much she complains about mine. So it is a never ending battle.

 

[meadow]

Since square foot would involves the main number 12. The largest number that 12 is divisible evenly by is 6. So I would plant your beans at least 6 inches in any direction from each other in that square foot. That would probably give you 9 plants in the first square foot. Any square foot next to the first square foot would have 6 plants in it because your square foot sections would share one common forder with each other. That's my logic. Maybe not correct but that's it.

Yes, that is the gist of it, although they center the grid so that no plants are on the edges. A 6-inch spacing would make 4 plants per square.

Strangely they recommend a 4-inch spacing for beans. I know that I don't want to be picking bush green beans at such tight spacing! Been there, done that.

 

[flowerbug]

Yes, that is the gist of it, although they center the grid so that no plants are on the edges. A 6-inch spacing would make 4 plants per square.

Strangely they recommend a 4-inch spacing for beans. I know that I don't want to be picking bush green beans at such tight spacing! Been there, done that.

without any other indication of how big a plant might get i'd space things by seed size giving more space to larger seeded varieties. if the plant is semi-runner or pole i'd give it even more space.

in the bulk bean patches i've noticed that the beans mostly selfregulate each other in terms of productivity. more plants will give fewer beans for each plant but overall production will be about the same. i don't mind planting a bit more because i know a few plants here or there aren't going to germinate or might die off due to animal damage or conditions - the nearby plants tend to pick up and fill the space.

this year i'm going to try some different things to see if it helps. two rows in one raised row instead of each row being raised with a small trench between them. i had pretty good results last year despite the weather conditions but i think this will help even more and also let me get a few more rows in each space. so it will be more like a block planting but still allow me to give them enough drainage in our mostly clay soils.

block planting gives me some advantages in that the plants can provide some support for each other and also all the plants are the same so there isn't issues of one finishing before the others. that's been a problem for me in the past where i've mixed plantings and then found out that some die back too early and causes fungal issues for the remaining plants that haven't finished yet.

 

[HmooseK]

I'm trying to decide how many bush beans to plant per square foot, 4 or 9 (9 is the recommended number for the Square Foot Gardening method). This is for production beans, not Network beans.

So far I'm leaning towards 4 green beans per square foot, mostly for ease of access, and 9 per square foot for dry beans.

That pot does seem a bit crowded, @HmooseK. You mentioned that it's the same pot you used for them last year, but how many did you grow in it then? How did they do? In the past I've grown bush beans pretty close together (maybe 3-4" apart?) and they've done well, although it was a pain to pick them.

I grew 3 last year for a seed saving endeavor. I had a couple buckets of them. I’ll be transferring these into 3 maybe 4 buckets. I Had good luck last year with my bucket beans, so it’s mostly an experiment. Last year was for seeds, this year for fatback and leather britches.