All the beans I have grown before have a short grow season - you pick a few beans one week, wait a few days and pick a bunch, wait another few and pick the rest.

If I was really limited on room and wanted to grow enough beans to have some to eat fresh and some to preserve I would look at a DWC hydro setup. A friend grow a lot of stuff outdoors last year using hydro and got great results.

Mike

Below is a GardenWeb discussion about spacing pole beans in containers.

Pole beans continue producing for several weeks. In fact, my Italian green pole beans produced all summer, as did my Kentucky Wonder pole beans.

I like to blanch beans before freezing, not because I enjoy it but because then the beans are more flexible and fit in a smaller freezer bag.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pole Bean Spacing

1. The bucket ought to be plenty big. I do square-foot gardening, but plant my beans in a row, about 4 to a foot in lenght.

2. The teepee ought to be just fine. The beans will get as tall as the teepee and fall back down on themselves. My trellis is 7 feet or so high and they have a LOT of beans at the top!

3. I pick Kentucky Wonder all summer and into fall. Keep them picked once they start producing and they'll keep producing. You might have a lull during the hottest part of the summer, but they'll start again.

4. I blanched mine last year like I was told - first hot then ice water - but I don't really like them. When I cook them (steam them) they seem to have a "skin" on them they don't have fresh. I think this year I may try tossing some in the freezer without blanching and see how they do.

In a 5 gallon pot you can probably grow two easily and possibly three. I actually plant my beans close together...Pole beans start producing and don't stop as long as you keep picking them until frost or some calamity.

To freeze them you just blanch them, cool them off in ice water, let them dry a bit and bag...be sure and use freezer bags...not just plastic storage bags. I love green beans, fresh, as shellies, frozen and when my freezer is full, I let them dry on the vine...

It's true that bush beans don't produce very long, but pole beans give you your money's worth!

WOW, thank you all for the speedy responses!

Seems like I am generally on the right track with my intentions and I will feel more confident when sowing them this weekend. Seems like a small amount of plants will actually go a LONG way with the variety I have. I have a couple more questions I thought off though!

1) How do you know when the Pole Beans are ready to pick? Remembering its the "Kentucky Wonder" variety I have, is there a certain length / sign I am watching for? The packet says when they're about 7 inches but I'm worried I'll pick them too early / late!

2) Also, for those that have grown in pots, has anyone actually tried growing them in hanging baskets? Reason I ask is that I thought they might actually look pretty cool hanging off my hammock support!!!

Anney - That's a great thread, thank you. Answered some other questions I had too.

Thanks Everyone

scbnymph2009

You can pick them at any stage, but if you want tender beans when cooked, that 7"-8" for Kentucky Wonders is usually about the upper limit (for me anyway). I think you'll be able to tell when it's time to pick them. They'll be about the diameter of a pencil with no or very little bean bulges visible (my primary indicator, not the length). You'll also need to pick them daily -- with sufficient water they grow very fast! If you don't have enough to cook one day, refrigerate them and add the next day's batch to them.

Try the hanging basket thing if you are feeling creative! I haven't heard of anyone doing it, but it should work as long as they have sufficient water and nourishment.

You know, with a teepee support, I think I'd plant 4 or 5 bean seeds about an inch from the side of a 15 inch container with none in the middle and put the teepee on the "inside" of this arrangement. They'd grow to be a jungle at the top but the most important thing would be space for the roots, and I think this would be enough.

Everything boils down to container size, soil surface and depth measurements, and ordinary spacing converted to a round container, of course!

Are you starting them indoors? It's WAY too cold in your zone for beans outside. I'm in a zone 6 microclimate in the middle of a zone 5 area, and I won't start them until May!

As to the hanging, I haven't tried it, but I expect they'll hang down for a bit but when they get longer they'll climb back up themselves. They'd definately climb up the chains that suspend the basket, and they'd likely wind all over your hammock ropes. These suckers REALLY like to climb! Could look pretty cool though. If you try it, post a picture after they're big and let us know how it goes.

FWIW - Cucumbers do beautifully in hanging baskets and look pretty too!

@Anney

Oh, very useful information THANK YOU!! I will pay more attention to the visual cues you describe then. Do the beans grow from small showing the bumps?

I think I will try a couple of beans in hanging baskets, may or may not work but if it does it would look pretty cool!

@alys

Yeah, starting seeds inside to give me something to do!

As for the baskets, I wouldn't use nearly as many plants and I was kinda hoping they would grow back on themselves. My hammock actually hangs from a pergola and they would spread over that providing a little shade!

scbnymph2009

The beans inside the pods are very very small when the pods are young and aren't visible as the "bumps" you mention. As the beans approach maturity, they enlarge so they eventually become apparent in the pods.

They'll climb a pergola and you may need a ladder to pick them all! ;-) My trellis is 7' (I'm almost 6' tall) and they would easily go 8' to 9' tall if they had someplace to climb.

I had 5 yellow wax bean plants in about a 20 inch by 20 inch by 16 inch container growing up a 5 ft trellis last year that grew just fine. I'd definitely recommend the yellow wax. =)

scbnymph,
I have heard from numerous seasoned gardeners and read that beans dont like to be transplanted. In my experience that is true. But I do usually start beans indoors anyway. If you use a peat pellet setup beans don't seem to get jostled at the roots and do just fine for me. There are two problems with starting beans indoors in my experience, aside from having to use peat or something else you can just drop in the ground. First, when you start beans indoors, they grow VERY fast and will soon outgrow the germinating space. This means that you have to start them late indoors or repot them indoors, before moving them outdoors. The second problem with the peat pellets is they get moldy very easily. Just one day with the cover on can be a problem. Just take the cover off and it will likely solve itself. Starting beans indoors can be very complicated and not really worth the trouble in the end. But it can be done if you realize that they might not work as well as perennial flowers or slower growing veggies. I start them because it makes me happy to see pretty green growing things this time of year. That makes the trouble worth it to me.

Tim

@Outnproud

"[...]I start them because it makes me happy to see pretty green growing things this time of year. That makes the trouble worth it to me."

My sentiments exactly, its more so I can satisfy my need for new little green babies than anything else! I will bear in mind your experiences though and be prepared to sow directly out doors later.

Thank you everyone for being to helpful and knowledgeable, you've all been a wonderful help! =)

blanching beans is imperative as the beans have an enzyme called protease and one other I can't remember form my introductary food science class in college. Anyway, the blanching the beans inactivates the destructive enzymes contained in the beans harmless...if not deactivated, your frozen, unblanched beans will be garbage.