Hello Everyone,

These cool nights have slowed the growth of my beans in the garden. I'm giving away Jade 2 bush beans as we have more than we can eat. Here is a picture of my pole beans.

Helda Romano Pole Beans

It will be a few weeks before they are ready,
Luther

Hi Luther

Those beans are looking perfect! very professional and healthy looking, you are going to have an abundant harvest.

Silvia

Luther - Wow, your bean plants grow fast. Mine are just sprouting. The pole beans planted are the Fortex and Helda Romano seeds that you gave me plus some Algarve and Rattlesnake. The bush beans planted are the Giant Tarka Shelly beans and Maxbel French fillet beans that you gave me plus Trofeo, Advantage, Contender, and Derby. It's a tad bit early for the limas (I presume.)

I've never used a preventive spray. It would be nice to know what works if I feel the need. I forgot what brand you use. Can you tell me again?

Christine

Silvia, thank you for your nice comment. We would dearly love to come to your garden party but due to health issues we won't be able to make it. You and your family are wonderful people to open up your home for the occasion.

Christine, I use "Liquid Copper Fungicide" as a light preventive spray. Here in this climate we have everything ready to pounce on the bean plants. Sounds like you have a nice garden started.

This next week will be time to plant lima/butterbeans. But plant the seed only 1/2 inch deep. Make sure the soil is moist enough for the seed to absorb moister thru & thru. This is what I have learned to do over the years in the early spring for the seed to germinate.

Happy gardening to everyone,
Luther

I went with 6ft bamboo poles from lowes tied with hemp twine. All 16 of my Fortex beans from Johnny's Seeds sprouted. I like to presoak my bean and large sunflower seeds in water for 15min or so before planting them. The good soaking speeds up germination a bit. It's important to soak them until they get wrinkly but not so long for them to split in half.
So, in my little box I have 15 fortex (I think my 2yr old pulled up one of them) and 4 mammoth sunflowers all getting their first leaves now. I do wish that I had put the box somewhere else though. It doesn't get good direct sun until 3pm or so, but the beans seem to be doing well anyway, though I'm sure they'll be a bit leggy from the lack of full sun.

I talked the grand-kids into pulling out all the spent pea plants this past weekend, wow what a great harvest we had this year. So hopefully by next weekend I can plant the beans, I like the pole beans the best because they continue to produce longer than the bush beans. But last year we didn't have a good crop, but don't know why, it was a very wet Spring here, maybe that's why.

Luther, I understand about the health issues but at least I am happy that we got to know you and Dottie the last time that you came to the party. It makes all the difference when we meet the gardeners and share some time together...

Silvia

croStitching you should do good and have a nice crop. Yes you will need plenty of sun for them to make.

ritaweeda, we learn from our experience. Sometimes we have failures but don't let this discourage you. I'm sure you will have a successful crop this year. I agree with you ,the pole beans do much better.

Luther

Luther -oh, yes. CuSO4, very safe. Can't wait to get those giant limas that you sent me in the ground. Thanks so much.

Christine

Luther,
your bean plants in the pictures always look very lush and healthy. What fertilizers do you use?

Julianna

Garden_Gal, Any fertilizer with all the trace elements. I even use citrus fertilizer that has trace elements sold at Home Depot. You can use Azomine to get some of the necessary elements. I make a deep furrow row in my raised bed and fill with my own home made soil mixture. Which consist of Peat, pine bark fines, Black cow, fertilizer, lime and mix together well. After filling furrow row I make a small shallow furrow row in the mixture and plant my seed. According to what I plant is the amount of Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of the fertilizer.

Luther

Hello Everyone,

We have ate the Jade 2 round beans for several weeks. Now we are ready for some flat Romano beans. Several of our neighbors we have kept supplied in green beans.

Helda Romano Pole Beans

This next week we should have plenty of Romano Beans.
Pulled up all my Broccoli, Mustard greens and turnip greens, as the Broccoli was all blossomed out. It sure drew the honey bees.

Happy gardening to all,
Luther

Luther......You certainly are MR Green Bean !....Nice crop

Best wishes to You and Dottie

dougandpam

Doug, thanks for your nice comment on my green beans. Sorry we won't get to see you and Pam at the garden party.

Luther

Hello everyone,

Picked a pile of Helda Romano Pole Beans this morning. These made in 59 days even with all the cool nights we have had this month. Planted Fortex pole beans at the same time and they won't be ready for a couple more weeks.

Helda Romano Pole Beans

I will have to share these beans with the neighbors. We can only eat just so many beans.

Luther

Hello Everyone,

Today I picked a bucked of Fortex pole green beans. They took 67 days to make from the day I planted them. These are the French Fillet green bean type. Some say they are the best tasting beans. We plan on giving them a taste test today and will know our opinion. We all have different taste buds.

Fortex Pole Green Beans

Have pulled up all my winter vegetable plants. The hot weather caused them to all bolt. Starting to get some Zucchine and squash at this time. My wife Dottie will make some Zucchini bread soon from Silvia's recipe we acquired from her several years ago . This was served at one of her garden parties.

Have several other varieties of green beans that will be ready in a few weeks. This taste testing will determine which ones fit our taste buds in the future.

Happy gardening to all,
Luther

Hey Luther,
How many plants did you harvest from? I'm curious to see if the flavor and yield of the Fortex live up to the hype.
Thanks!
Erin

Hi Luther, that is some great bean harvest! I am sure you will enjoy the taste, there is nothing like homegrown, fresh from the garden!
You and Dottie are so sweet and I am glad that she is still making the zucchini bread, it is one of my favorites. I always try new ones and I will be making french toast with whole wheat zucchini bread tomorrow, the zucchini harvest is coming in already in my garden. I planted this season Cavilli, Costata Romanesco and Golden Egg, I like them all. Today I made zucchini ribbons with tomato sauce that I froze last harvest.

Silvia

""I will be making french toast with whole wheat zucchini bread tomorrow""

Now the keyboard is covered in drool.....................dougandpam

CrosStiching, I only had about a 16 foot row and they were as good tasting as I have ate. I have had 3 different varieties this spring and they are tops.

Silvia and Doug, we haven't tried the French toast zucchini bread. This will be something new for us to try. Dottie makes several loafs of the zucchini bread when she whips out a batch. She also freezes it for long periods of time when we don't have it growing.

We gave some fresh vegetables to some neighbors and they couldn't believe the difference in the taste of the fresh vegetables we gave them and what they purchase at the store. It blew their minds.

Luther

Hello Everyone,

Picked some Emerite pole green beans this morning. Have several varieties planted so I can give them a taste test. We all have different taste buds and others taste buds don't always compare with mine.

Emerite Pole Green Beans

Luther

Planted 3 kinds pole beans, a green romano, a yellow romano, and a rattlesnake..and the yellow are pumping some out to eat now, they are delish.... my Calvin rigged up my trellis w/paving cement-wire-grid, w/4 inch openings, it works good for so many climbing things but looks awful! The sweet 'taters are getting big, the mulberries are ripe now, also Papaya...and the roses love this weather! Can't ask for anything better, can we?? LOL, sally

Sally, sounds like you have you have a nice garden growing. I agree, the weather is wonderful for growing most everything this time of the year.
I looked at my Monte Cristo pole beans and decided they needed picking. I like to eat them before they get fully mature while they are young and tender.

Monte Cristo Pole Green Beans.

These are really good beans as I grew them this past year.

Luther

This is my little box of Fortex green beans. They are looking really nice and thankfully, thus far, I haven't had any battles with my usual bean enemy, aphids. Several weeks ago I found some aphids on a handful of bottom leaves, so instead of waiting for them to multiply, I plucked the problem leaves off the plant and tossed them. I have done that a few times and haven't seen any of the black aphids on the plants for a while. I have a large sunflower and several smaller sunflowers that should be a trap crop. I've seen lots of little buds on the plants and can't wait for them to start blooming. I planted the seeds the first week of March.

CroStiching, You have some beautiful plants. They will give you plenty of beans to eat. It is surprising how many they will produce. Keep us posted on the progress.

Luther

I planted Jade bush beans from Johnnyseeds and I will be getting my first harvest today. I grew them last fall and I was pleased with them. They produced a good crop, rested, and then went to flower a second time. The pods stay tender even when overgrown.

Hello all,

Very new to veggie gardening here! I started 3 raised beds almost 1 year ago and have had nothing but terrible results - bugs and critters (rats??) are definitely my biggest problems. Sun patterns here in Orlando/Winter Park are pretty weird too with all of the trees. Last month, I ripped almost everything out and started fresh by planting tons of beans (that I am still succession planting), tomatoes, and eggplant. I hope I didn't get too late of a start!

I really don't know how you all keep your beans (and other plants) looking so healthy and robust in this area! My beans are already riddled with tons of holes despite spraying them with insecticidal soap regularly - any suggestions?? I did see some pretty purple flowers starting to peek through so I am optimistic that this year will be better than last...

I am also thinking about planting some pole beans (Kentucky Wonders) next to some tomatoes, green onions and bush beans. Worth a try, I suppose.

-K

featherhoof, sound like you are doing real good growing those green beans. I know you will enjoy eating them. I certainly have been enjoying my green beans.

kcg1231, I would suggest using a stronger insecticide spray. It is almost impossible to grow an organic garden here in this climate. You will need at least 6 hours of full sun for vegetables to make. From looking at the picture the soil looks very wet. That may also be one of you problems. I have had been successful growing pole beans. So you may want to give that a try. Don't give up, find a solution to your problems and correct them. Good luck to you.

Luther

Luther,

Thanks for the response! I watered right before taking the picture and I only water when the soil gets very dry, so I don't think that is the problem... but sun could definitely be a factor.

What sort of spray(s) do you use and how often do you spray, if you don't mind me asking? I hate to use anything too extreme, but I will do pretty much anything to get a better crop this year!

Just planted the pole beans, so fingers crossed! Hopefully it isn't too late for them!

-K

Hi all.
I had lots of green beans but in the last 3 weeks my plants started to look unhealthy ,discoloration on the leaves and not many flowers so I decided to killed the bush beans I had left ,around 6 pots plus starting to get hot here in Central Fl.I was harvesting between 5 to 10 green beans per plants. It was fun and I will do it again when it cool off.

kcg1231, I would use a light Sevin insecticide spray weekly until I get the insects under control. You can buy it at home depot or Lowes. You will need more sun than you are getting. Beans will not grow in the shade.

Lunanegra, if you are growing beans in pots the hot sun will overheat them. You might try giving them some shade in the heat of the day. I use raised beds for my garden. You might need to go to raised beds to solve your problem.

Luther

Hello Everyone,

Happy Easter to everyone. I picked my garden of all the different varieties and gave to the neighbors. Asked what varieties they liked and which vegetables they didn't care for before giving them away. Wanted everyone to have plenty of fresh vegetables for their dinner today. We are also eating fresh vegetables from the garden today.

Here is a picture of some Flamingo beans I have planted. They will be a bright pink color when mature.

Flamingo Beans

Luther

Hello Everyone,

We are getting all types of vegetables from the garden. My green beans have seen their better days but I need to leave them in to save some seed.

Ma Williams Shelly Beans

Happy Gardening to all,
Luther

Hi Luther,

How long to you leave the bean pods hanging? How will you cook them? Have you grown this variety before?

Well, the Helda Romano pole bean seeds you gave me are the first to produce in my garden. They are the superstars right now. They are so prolific and they taste great. There is no sense in me taking a photo because they look just like the pic you posted a month ago!

I planted the 'King of the Garden' lima seeds that you gave me last week. They are just starting to pop out of the ground now. Can't wait to see those. I hope they produce lots of beans.

Christine

Wow Luther! Lookin' Good!

I took your advice and applied pest treatment to my beans. They appear to be doing better, although they are very tall and spindly. I think I spotted the culprit (or- more likely, one of the culprits) - flea beetles.. I think! I spotted one on a bean yesterday, and then this little guy on a seedling today!

I planted some beans in another part of the garden around a tomato plant that I don't really care about (just experimenting to see where they do best) and both the tomato and the beans look fantastic and lush.

I also planted a late planting of heirloom french beans in an extra pot I had laying around, and I have never had beans come up with so few pest issues! Not a nibble in site!

I definitely got my garden off to a way-to-late start and my 1st planting of beans is just starting to produce little baby beans and my tomatoes are starting to develop baby fruit. I vow to get my garden going at the right time next year, but for now will just keep experimenting and hope for the best :)

Really appreciate the advice here! Happy harvest for those that planted at the right times :) :)

Christine, the Ma Williams will turn different colors and then I will harvest them for fresh eating. They can be cooked with butter, or bacon, salt pork, ham hocks etc... Ever what you like cooked with them. The same way with your green Romano beans. We all have different taste buds and mostly how we were raised eating them.

I would spray those new beans with preventive sprays periodically also.

kcg1321 if the plants are spindly that is an indication of not enough sun. That is how we all learn is trial and error. I have gardened for more than 60 years and I'm learning something new every week. Here in Florida we have every type of Fungus or insect ready to pounce on a new plant. We don't get those hard freezes here that will keep some of those items under control like they do up in the northern states.

You have some nice pictures of your plants. Keep up the good work.

Luther

I've got lots of Fortex beans coming on now. Some of the pods look full length and just need to plump up a bit. I am concerned about the plants themselves though. I've been consistent with water, aphids haven't been a problem so far, but the lowest leaves look dirty on the top of the leaf only and they are kinda yellow, not the lush green I expect. Thoughts?

CrosStitching, from the looks of the leaves they need more fertilizer. Spread some fertilizer with trace elements around the plants and water it in. If you have azomite use a little of that also. Spray with liquid copper fungicide will take care of the rust. It will take a few days for you to see results.

Luther

Hello Everyone,

Took a picture of the Giant Tarka Bean plants today. They have several weeks to go before they are ready to harvest.
I was unable to get a good picture of them as they are a bush plant.

Giant Tarka Bean

Luther

Christine, here is a picture of the Ma Williams I grew this past fall for seed. Had about a hundred seed saved to plant this spring. They turn almost a rust color when mature. They are very good eating and I hope to save plenty of seed this year.

Ma Williams shelly Beans

Luther

Luther, how about a photo of the flamingo beans when ready? How do they taste? Are they productive? My beans have pretty much run out after a great harvest for several weeks.

Luther - So, maybe Ma Williams will be a variety for me to try in the future. Your pic shows a fall harvest, the tougher time on plants due to fungus. They look good. Can't emphasize how much I'm impressed with the Helda Romano beans. So tasty and prolific. My other varieties are going to be producing like crazy this week, just getting started.

I presume that I will be picking the Shelly beans that you gave me when they look like your Ma Williams pods. (?)

shuffles, Pull up those spent green beans and plant Lima/butterbeans or cowpeas in their place. If you have raised beds make a furrow row and fill with a mixture of peat, pinebark fines, black cow, fertilizer with trace elements and azomite. Plant your new seed in this mixture.

Christine, I can't remember which bean I gave you. I think it was a bush Giant Red Tarka. If this is the one, when it starts turning a reddish color it will be ready to harvest to eat in the fresh stage. The Ma Williams is a pole variety sometimes called Goose Shelly. Will save you a few seed and let you try them. But you prefer the bush variety as you have plenty of space.

Flamingo bean

They are filling out and turning pink. The sad part is I have to pinch off the leaves in front of the beans so you can see the beautiful colors.

Luther

Hi Luther

You are having some great bean season and so am I! :) I had to pick a lot of beans today but it was raining all day, have been picking every day and giving it away, we cannot eat them all. I am still surprised that some people have never seen a bean like the variety Musica, they asked what it is and how to eat them. I planted some varieties, small amounts some of them just 2 rows but my very favorites I planted more. Too bad that seed like Jeminez is scarce these days, I probably will have to save seed if I want those again.

Some very rainy pictures....

Musica

Blue Marbut

Lamon

Picked some, some Helda, Ma Williams, Purple Podded, Emerite, Fortex, Musica, Lamon, Borlotti, Jeminez, and others. I still have to pick one whole bed of bush beans haricot verts purple and yellow. Hope tomorrow if it does not rain....

Silvia

Silvia, as usual you have a beautiful garden. The Musical I planted last year and it is very good. The Jeminez is suppose to be a very good bean. I'm not familiar with the Lamon. Do I see a cantloupe in your picture? I planted some last year and My garden was too small to handle them.

Silvia, if you will, please save me a few of the jeminez seed. I would like to give them a taste test. If I have any you would like to try let me know and I will save you some seed.

Luther

Here is a photo of my 16' cattle panel just like Silvia's. As I mentioned my beans plants are producing like crazy too. I can pick these in the rain but the bush beans are a different matter. Of course it's been raining here for the last couple of days too.

This is a photo of my bush bean patch. There are SO many beans in there that need to get harvested but every time I get out there is starts to rain again. There is at least 6 different varieties planted in the bean patch.

Christine

Wow, that's impressive, Christine. Your plants look beautiful. I have a question for you about your Tower Garden, but I'll start another thread so as not to highjack this one.

Hi Luther

I ordered some Jeminez seeds from the usual Sandhill, but this time they were out of stock so they sub Uncle Steve. I will try to save some seed for both of us, the Lamon is an Italian variety and I can also send you some, maybe you can save some of your Flamingo seeds to give them a try, they look interesting...

And no, it is not a cantaloupe but a pink pumpkin, it is getting big almost ready to pick.

Silvia

Christine, You have a beautiful garden. Those bush beans are a pain to pick. I have a bad back and have had two disc fusions and they weren't successful. Should have went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to have the operation.

Silvia, will save you some seed as they could be used as a flower. Only problem is they are hid by the leaves. Your pumpkin had me fooled. You have an early start this year on the pumpkins.

I have a little stool to sit on when picking the bush beans. That is why I try to plant pole beans.

Luther