I'm planning on planting 8 squares next year, against trellises. I just didn't want to come up short..we like green beans, and wanted to can some as well. Maybe someone else can shed more light on the subject.

EG

I'm thinking I'll do the same thing, EG. I've got 4 more squares that are being used for a bush variety of acorn squash. I can claim the backs of the squares for pole beans.

I was just thinking....I wish you should display your avatar on here...that's so funny! Hee Hee

EG

OK, let's try this....you mean this one?

One more attempt:

Ha! That's it...hee hee. OMG...that's so funny!

EG

It's like my own version of "a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll". I'm a little bit stuffy, a little bit punk rock. LOL!

I also would like more info on yields of both pole and bush beans. It was a joke what I got from my fall garden, but I'm assuming it'll be much better in the spring/summer.

Blessings,
Angela

I planted a kentucky pole bean and a scarlet runner bean.

These were planted June 7th I ended up getting almost none of the Kentucky Runner beans whereas I got lots of the scarlet runners.

Left side is Kentucky right side is Scarlet runners
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While both vines gew well and at about the same pace the kentucky was about 35 days later to flower and they got hit by frost before producing almost anything.

I had planted about 25 of each in amongst the corn. 2 sisters :)

Funny I left a bunch of the Scarlet runners bean on the vine to try and get some seed but looks like the critters have eaten most of them.

Mike, I probably asked this before (short term memory, ya know), but did you like the flavor and texture of the Scarlet Runner beans? I planted them one year and loved the flowers, but really don't remember much about the beans themselves. Nice to know they are so much earlier than K. Wonder. I planted K. Wonder pole beans in July and they froze before I got more than a handful of beans, mid October. Had good luck with K. Wonder bush beans, though.

By the way, I am setting aside a 1'x7' strip for pole beans next spring, but I am going to plant my usual double row spaced 4" in all directions. This has worked the best for me in the past, so I'm sticking with it. I should get just about the right amount for two people, plus a few to freeze. I was considering the new Kentucky Blue pole beans, which are supposed to be the best of K. Wonder and Blue Lake. But Mike might talk me into Scarlet Runner.

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

It is nice to have both bush and pole beans if you can manage the room. The bush are harder to pick, but they are ready much earlier when you are craving that first taste of spring vegetables. They mostly come in at once over a period of 3 or 4 weeks. That is a good time to freeze or can a few, then you can take out those plants. The pole beans planted the same time will likely not be ready as early, are easier to pick because you can stand up, and provide a continuous supply until frost so they are great for the "garden to table" times. Just my 2 cents. Carol

Peel, those red noodles look SO cool! I was very unhappy with the kentucky wonder this year, also. They grew fine, but I really didn't get much of a per plant yield and the fall group was even worse. I'm going to try the scarlet runners, royalty purple pods and the dragon tongue (if you don't have these seeds, send me a note Angela, I'll mail you some of mine). I'm going to put a 2x8 box along the front gate for pole beans.
Mike, did you buy netting for those? Or is it a homemade trellis? I really appreciate the pics of the runners. I'm thinking I may try cattle panels, but it needs to be attractive because it'll be in the front yard.

Carolyn, I heard some negative stories about the Kentucky Wonder as well. From the limited things I've read about the Kentucky Blue they seem a lot more reliable. Does anyone else have any experience with them?

Granny: Yes you did ask but I am also of the age where memory is a very temporary thing so I understand :)

The scarlet runner beans are flat and long 8-12 inches and very meaty. The bigger they get the tougher they get. I like them but it depends on your taste. They are not a delicate texture, that is for sure.

Here are some scarlet runner beans beside the corn..

Quote: Mike, did you buy netting for those? Or is it a homemade trellis?

It is earlivee Corn holding it up, Two sisters style, the third sister(pumpkins) is off in another area. :)

well until the corn blew over and i had to support it with sticks :(

I inter-planted almost all of my corn with either pole beans in the box or bush peas and beans as in these rows of corn. In this pic you can see the flowers starting in the intermixed beans and corn.

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Next year I am not going to bother with the Kentucky pole beans. In amongst the corn I mix several different types of peas and beans and I had the best luck with the yellow wax beans.

Carolyn: If you want attractive go for the Scarlett runner beans as people love to see these. I had these on the side of my house a couple years and I had many people walking by stop and ask my what these were. Plus they flower and produce for a long time.

The picture of the garden on the side of the house looked so nice that I just had to post a contrasting winter picture (not that anyone ever goes off topic here :) of the same spot.

Taken March of this year.

This happens to me about 3-4 times a year.

OK, I have a trellis at the front of my house and did plant the Scarlet Runners there one year after the clematis expired. I think I'll do that again, and try Kentucky Blue or Fortex for my garden pole beans. I'll probably plant Contender or Provider for my bush variety, as both have proved to be reliable.

Mike, your Scarlet Runners are beautiful against your house. Brrrr, all that snow makes me glad I spend winters in Arizona!

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I'm kind of excited about the runners now. I hope I like the taste. I will have the other varieties to fall back on, I guess. I just want to get started now, lol. The snow is so beautiful but I can't help thinking of it as an obstruction now that I'm into gardening, lol. Your home is lovely Mike!

Thanks, everyone! Wow, this thread has been helpful! I, too, had the Kentucky Wonder poles... I guess those other seeds are worthless to me now then, I see, after reading this thread. Oh, well, they sure won't be missed! I do have the Fortex and hear that they're wonderful and great producers. (I was gonna surprise ya, Carolyn, so SURPRISE!.... you're definitely getting some! I do have just a few of the dragon's tongue, too, but thank you anyways, you sweetheart, you!)

Mike, my goodness! Thanks for all the pictures and information. I'm sorry that your corn blew over! I have to be careful out here as we get tons of wind. My fence blew clean over twice this last year. I'm getting chain link now to plant my Fortex beans all along this spring. I can't wait! I also have some of those HUGE HONKING beans you showed in the picture. What on earth??? I had NO idea that they got that big!! Are you sure you're gonna eat them and them not eat you? :-)

Blessings,
Angela

Quote: I have to be careful out here as we get tons of wind.

LOL, Look at where we are, we are stuck out in the Atlantic on the tip of an island with no land anywhere to stop the wind. We always get wind and it is cold wind.

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Actually the wind is a huge problem for us gardening. Last year with my conventional gardens I lost about 40% or more of the early crop due to wind breakage. I put the square foot garden up behind the cabin and beside some trees to try and break the wind.

That is the reason that I put the fence around the Square Foot Garden this year. According to the local gardening experts all you need is a 1 inch wire fence to break the wind. I installed that this year around the square foot garden and I did not lose a single plant to the wind.

My biggest problems with beans was the critters eating the young seedlings. I think that it was the crows.

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In this picture I planted over 2/3rds of this box with yellow and green bush beans. The other 1/3 was onions. Less than 30% of the beans survived the critters. I kept planting lettuce, chard, broccoli etc in the eaten spaces and if you look at it, it is hard to even find the bean plants.

Angela you've got to be careful listening to folks who don't get long hot summers......I mean summers with temps over 85/90 for 120 days or longer. And nights over 80.

I'm going to try starting some of my beans indoors this year. Beans don't germinate in cold soil but by the time they start here it's getting too warm. So I'm starting some indoors and some outdoors and comparing them. It got too hot too fast last year and I had terrible rust.

And remember bean flowers are affected by heat too so pray for milder weather.

Angela! You are SO cool! I would like to try those, lol. Hope the hubby is up for a LOT of beans this year.
There was a really good article in Hobby Farms magazine about pole beans that had every bit of information you could imagine EXCEPT average per plant yields!! I am actually going to blog about this I think. Most frustrating!
I did find this link: http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/beans/beans_snap_pole.html
Victory seeds is supposed to be great, but I have yet to search their catalog when they actually had anything I wanted, lol. They are sold out of everything always.

I had two tomato cages that I was not using and I used them for my Kentucky wonder beans. They were 2 in diameter and about 7 high and I only harvest the dry beans, not the hulls. I get about 1 ½ lbs per tower. I do not know why you can not buy them in the store cause they make fantastic ham and bean soup.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Thanks, Carolyn, the Victory Seeds link gave me a good indication of how many beans I can expect.

Here's the quote for everyone else:

Pole beans and half runner beans tend to have more flavor. Additionally, pole beans mature throughout the growing season and therefore yield a larger overall harvest in the same amount of garden space as bush-type beans. A ten-foot row of pole beans should provide the average family of three or four with fresh beans about twice a week through the season.

Quote: Angela you've got to be careful listening to folks who don't get long hot summers.

Great point!

That is true about a lot of advice as we always have to remember that we all have different climates and different soils which can dramatically affect how our garden grow and how different plants produce.

Mike, wow! You really are out there! I hope you don't have as many wind problems this year. Yikes!

Shebear, I totally understand. That's why I was actually GLAD that my first garden was my fall one. It's hard to believe most crops would enjoy 100+ temps for soooo long. I am going to try some shade cloth as it seems to work well for the local nurseries.

Carolyn - Yea! I am so glad you will enjoy them. And, thanks for the link as well.

John, I didn't know Kentucky Wonders were a good dry bean. That's great info! How many plants per tower? Was it two or three? or even more?

Peel, thanks for the quote, and the great thread, too!

Blessings,
Angela

I needed to translate the Victory Seeds info into SFG spacing before I could really grok it. I thought someone else might find this info useful, so I'm posting it here.

If 10 feet of pole beans (120 inches) are planted 2-3 inches apart (the Victory Seeds recommendation), that results in 40-60 bean plants -- let's call it 50. According to Victory Seeds, that results in 2 meals per week for a family of 3-4.

Using SFG spacing of 8 pole beans per trellised square (2 rows of 4, one on each side of a trellis), you'd need about 6 squares of trellised beans to get the same yield.

That's really helpful. For my family of 2 to have green beans 1-2 times a week, I'm guessing I'd need to plant 3 squares of trellised beans, which is quite feasible. I'll probably plant 4 just to be on the safe side. ;)

Thanks so much for that "translation"! That means I'm right on track with what I would need for my husband and me.

Boy, a guy works 14 hour days fo a month and threads he could contribute to wrap themselves up without him. Sheesh! Hehe

Seriously, I wasn't going to post because so much of what I could add was already well said by others.

However, I didn't see anyone planting Blue Lake. I planted three squares plus about three of Blue Lake bush beans that had real problems germinating. I say this because my yield includes the poor excuse for (bush) beans.

I didn't try to harvest multiple times a week. I found I didn't like the texture of fresh green beans *gasp*. So I blanched and froze them. I got about 8 pounds put up last year in two batches.

Quote: "If 10 feet of pole beans (120 inches) are planted 2-3 inches apart (the Victory Seeds recommendation), that results in 40-60 bean plants -- let's call it 50. According to Victory Seeds, that results in 2 meals per week for a family of 3-4."

In my 1'-wide plot I plant a double row, 3" apart in all directions, so I'll round my yield off at 80 plants and feed myself and my husband green beans every night of the week for the duration of the green bean season. That will make him happy (NOT!)

;-)

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

After having done some research on average yields in general, I'm pretty miffed that no one seems to have ANY data on general yields. The guy at OSU was very kind in explaining to me that there are a bunch of variables in play. My response is: how COULD you test your seeds if you have no idea of what normal is? When you go to seed catalogs and they say "this one is a huge producer", they must have some basis for comparison, right? Grrr...I hate endless loop experiments.

Carolyn, this page has the only actual yield weight that I've found for both pole and bush beans. Per 100 plants, the bush beans yielded 280 ounces over a period of three pickings. Pole beans yielded 1136 ounces for eight pickings. I've never heard of the varieties they tested, but this might hold true for most.

GardenWeb won't let me enter the URL, says it's a spam site...it's from the Farmers' Bulletin By United States Dept. of Agriculture

Granny

angelady, I plant the KW bean about every 4" around the parameter. That works out to about 18 plants per tower.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Man, now all I want for supper tomorrow night is ham and bean soup. I wonder if a pound of chocolate would do it????

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Chocolate is no substitute, John. I made my daughter's family a big pot of ham and pinto beans when she was in the hospital having the baby, and I thought they were going to build a shrine to me!

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

No chocolate for me granny, for the chief cook and bottle washer to see if she would make me H&B soup. Have you ever had "leather britches"?

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

No I haven't John. At least not that I remember. It's possible/probable my Grandmother preserved some of her beans that way, but I have no recollection of it.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

re: Kentucky Blue

I planted these this year, not a lot germinated but I think that's because I don't know what I'm doing yet =) (oh, and the birds and squirrels might have helped too, next year I will protect my seeds for awhile!)

Anyhoo, the ones that DID come up yielded very nicely and were really tasty! I'll be growing them again next year (along with way too many heirlooms that I can't wait to try!)

Lori

Good info, thanks for chiming in, Lori! It's also just really nice to see you here, girl! :-)

Blessings,
Angela

Planting pole beans - seen all kinds of info /except the one I need. planting on a deck no problem with a trellis or vines etc. BUT how deep do the plants have to be? right now they are in a 30" rectangle planter but only 5" deep. Is that deep enough? I have access to deeper ones so no problem.
Thanks much.

I'm a newbie, but I would think 5" would be fine. The plants support themselves by hanging by the tendrils above the surface, so I would think the roots don't need to go too deep like larger top heavy plants that are using their roots as an anchor.
I'm sure someone else will say the exact opposite and prove me wrong, though. :)

It's funny to read through this thread again (that I started), since my plan and my bean choices have totally changed since I wrote it!

Thanks peel for the quick reply - glad you doing good. let ya know how this turns out.