bush beans 2023 a lesson learned.
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rxkeith
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bush beans 2023 a lesson learned.
it has been a mixed bag with the bush beans this year.
jumbo, blue ribbon, gold crop, beurre de rocquencourt all did well for awhile. we canned lots of beans
because of freezer space. now i have a problem. a lot of beans i left for seed are getting moldy, and falling apart.
i will be lucky to get enough replacement seeds on some of them. there is a few cantare in there as well.
from the swap i have dragon tongue, dopple grey hopson silver way and empress out there. some seed harvesting is
going on now. about the only bush bean i will have plenty of seed for is beurre de rocquencourt. i had a short row of
them behind my pole beans, and left them alone.
the lesson learned.
bush beans need their own spot. this years garden has the beans sharing space with carrots coming up every where, lettuce,
volunteer parsley, a few greens that self seeded, and the occasional potato plant from last year. this year has been a wet one.
july and august saw us get frequent rain showers. all that moisture without good air circulation create conditions for mold to grow.
even some of the pole beans are being affected in spots with mold. that rarely happens.
so next year, bush beans get their own spot, probably back in my wifes garden where they have done very well the previous two years.
keith
jumbo, blue ribbon, gold crop, beurre de rocquencourt all did well for awhile. we canned lots of beans
because of freezer space. now i have a problem. a lot of beans i left for seed are getting moldy, and falling apart.
i will be lucky to get enough replacement seeds on some of them. there is a few cantare in there as well.
from the swap i have dragon tongue, dopple grey hopson silver way and empress out there. some seed harvesting is
going on now. about the only bush bean i will have plenty of seed for is beurre de rocquencourt. i had a short row of
them behind my pole beans, and left them alone.
the lesson learned.
bush beans need their own spot. this years garden has the beans sharing space with carrots coming up every where, lettuce,
volunteer parsley, a few greens that self seeded, and the occasional potato plant from last year. this year has been a wet one.
july and august saw us get frequent rain showers. all that moisture without good air circulation create conditions for mold to grow.
even some of the pole beans are being affected in spots with mold. that rarely happens.
so next year, bush beans get their own spot, probably back in my wifes garden where they have done very well the previous two years.
keith
Last edited by rxkeith on Sat Sep 30, 2023 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bower
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- Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:44 pm
- Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Re: bush beans 2023 a leson learned.
I was up at the farm last week, and one of the standouts this season are bush beans planted with black tarp mulch and lots of space around each plant. Not only produced really well, but the plants are super healthy as well. Mind you, it has been a dry september for us, but overall the tarp technique was such a success, she's going to repeat it for sure.
We are less of a bean growing climate than you, keith, so all too familiar with the effects of cold, wet, and crowding on the sad beans!
We are less of a bean growing climate than you, keith, so all too familiar with the effects of cold, wet, and crowding on the sad beans!
AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm
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GoDawgs
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- Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA
Re: bush beans 2023 a lesson learned.
The biggest problem with collecting bean seed here is one of bean beetles and stink bugs stinging pods and laying eggs in them. Too many times I'll pick a nice dry pod only to find rotten or damaged beans with larvae in the pods with them. If I do manage to collect some good seed I'll dry it well and then freeze it for a few days to kill any eggs that might still be lurking. Most often I have to buy new seed for beans I grow a lot of and that's a bummer.
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rxkeith
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Re: bush beans 2023 a lesson learned.
ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!
anothers lesson learned
i was out getting bush bean pods collected for seed saving. it was getting later, so i was putting a couple different beans
with very different seeds in boxes when i came across a few barksdale yellow pole bean pods ready to pick. i got those, and
decided i better bring them inside so as not to mix them up with some bush bean seed. good thinking right? i put them on a plate
with some other ones that were drying. then i continued picking beans out in the garden. i brought my boxes inside. i had dragons
tongue mixed in with empress. later in the evening, i am tired. i had shucked a bunch of seeds out of the pods to dry when i saw the
box with the dragon tongue. well whats a few more. i see the empress beans in there, and i thought they were barksdale. i realize
my mistake when i have just shucked all the beans on to the plate of barksdale seeds. both of the varieties are white seeds of similar
size. there is little chance i will be able to tell the two apart. i will have to plant the mix along the bean fence to figure out which is which
next year.
the lesson
place some kind of label in the container saying what each variety is in there, and don't shuck beans when you are really tired.
keith
anothers lesson learned
i was out getting bush bean pods collected for seed saving. it was getting later, so i was putting a couple different beans
with very different seeds in boxes when i came across a few barksdale yellow pole bean pods ready to pick. i got those, and
decided i better bring them inside so as not to mix them up with some bush bean seed. good thinking right? i put them on a plate
with some other ones that were drying. then i continued picking beans out in the garden. i brought my boxes inside. i had dragons
tongue mixed in with empress. later in the evening, i am tired. i had shucked a bunch of seeds out of the pods to dry when i saw the
box with the dragon tongue. well whats a few more. i see the empress beans in there, and i thought they were barksdale. i realize
my mistake when i have just shucked all the beans on to the plate of barksdale seeds. both of the varieties are white seeds of similar
size. there is little chance i will be able to tell the two apart. i will have to plant the mix along the bean fence to figure out which is which
next year.
the lesson
place some kind of label in the container saying what each variety is in there, and don't shuck beans when you are really tired.
keith
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greenthumbomaha
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- Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 4:13 am
Re: bush beans 2023 a lesson learned.
Two years ago I started growing bush beans in a 4 X 4 raised bed and finally had success after failed attempts with pole beans grown against a fence. They beans got crowded out by cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, etc as they branched out.
The raised bed beans grow in space vacated by garlic and it seems to give the beans a boost. The garlic in the raised bed is substantially larger than the nearby inground patch. You wouldn't expect nitrogen to carry over the winter, or if something else is enriching the area, or if it is a fluke
this year the bush beans were a little late going in, and even later to produce, but the yield was about identical. The blooms were really late to come on, and I expected just one picking. Ha! It's been nonstop of two soup bowls every other day for weeks. I just did a final picking ahead of an almost certain frost to blanket the area Saturday morning.
Layout: Six rows of six plants and they were falling all over the place. Varieties: a thinner bean from Gary he says is not a fillet , Provider, Blue Lake , Roma (my favorite and be packet is several years old), a packet from MIgardener, and Royal Burgundy from my city seed libraray which produced 2 weeks later than the rest of the gang.
-Lisa
The raised bed beans grow in space vacated by garlic and it seems to give the beans a boost. The garlic in the raised bed is substantially larger than the nearby inground patch. You wouldn't expect nitrogen to carry over the winter, or if something else is enriching the area, or if it is a fluke
this year the bush beans were a little late going in, and even later to produce, but the yield was about identical. The blooms were really late to come on, and I expected just one picking. Ha! It's been nonstop of two soup bowls every other day for weeks. I just did a final picking ahead of an almost certain frost to blanket the area Saturday morning.
Layout: Six rows of six plants and they were falling all over the place. Varieties: a thinner bean from Gary he says is not a fillet , Provider, Blue Lake , Roma (my favorite and be packet is several years old), a packet from MIgardener, and Royal Burgundy from my city seed libraray which produced 2 weeks later than the rest of the gang.
-Lisa