5 Beans Planted Today

[karstopography]

Algarve, Spanish Musica, Nor’easter, Emerite, Carminat.

Sure was fun!

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[Tormato]

They're going to climb bamboo?

[karstopography]

They're going to climb bamboo?

All day long! I leave some of the little side branches on the bamboo so the beans can get a grip. I’ve used this method past seasons and it works great. But, yea, smooth bamboo, with no branching doesn’t work well. Good thing I have a massive, inexhaustible supply of bamboo growing between my lot and the neighbor.

[Tormato]

They're going to climb bamboo?

All day long! I leave some of the little side branches on the bamboo so the beans can get a grip. I’ve used this method past seasons and it works great. But, yea, smooth bamboo, with no branching doesn’t work well. Good thing I have a massive, inexhaustible supply of bamboo growing between my lot and the neighbor.

Edible bamboo shoots?

[karstopography]

Probably, I haven’t gotten to them yet, I probably should look into it. This is the time. Good idea.

[rxkeith]

its gonna be awhile for me.
over two feet of snow on the ground, and single digit temperatures.
you have planted beans a full four months ahead of me.
wow


keith

[zeedman]

Lots of snow here too, so I'm still in "I dream of beanie" mode.

[karstopography]

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Houston, we have ignition!

[JRinPA]

70F ground temp in Feb...you can keep that!

[karstopography]

@JRinPA that was in the afternoon after several extra warm nights, I do believe. Anyhow, not at 70 or 69 or 68 degrees anymore after a damp day around 50°. Looks like 64° on the soil temperature this afternoon. I’m not measuring super deep, more like slightly below seed levels.

I’ll put down mulch later when everything is up. That will keep the soil in the 70s or low 80s well into May and even June, perhaps longer

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.

I mis-identified the beans, those shown in the foreground are Northeaster, a flat romano pole type. Everything thing is popping up in the bean patch inspite of the cool day.

[PlainJane]

Wow, beans already! Still doing peas here in N. Florida.

[karstopography]

@PlainJane people do peas here this time of year. I might try them someday. I don’t get as crazy about peas as some.

[karstopography]

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These sprouted well in spite of the cold snap. There are gaps, but that might be more about my thoroughness than the weather.

[karstopography]

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Up, up and away…in my beautiful….bean patch!

Things are looking up. The romano flat pod types are well ahead of the french filet Carminat. I replanted french filet Emerite so it is naturally behind the rest.

Amazing how fast these go up the supports, big daily differences.

[Tormato]

And, when pods start setting, it can be amazing how quickly they can slide back down the supports.

I recommend that you tie off the innermost vine to the bamboo, just above a branch nub, just loose enough to where the loop of twine cannot slip below the branch nub. You likely already know that the rest of the vines generally twine around that one fastest growing one. With a heavy pod set, if the one "gripping" the support slips and falls, they all fall.

How many vines per pole will you wind up with? Many online searches that I've seen say to have about 3 to 4. With many years of growing, maximum production, in my garden, is with 6 per pole. But, I've never tried more. Maybe this year I will try 7 or even 8.

[karstopography]

I don’t know if it visible in the photos, but I left a lot of side branches attached to the bamboo. The beans then climb up those and get all intertwined and locked into position, at least where they don’t slide down the smooth main stems of the bamboo. In a way, I get more bang for the buck since the beans aren’t obligated to climb just the central poles, but are able to spread their wings to the secondary bamboo side branches that radiate from the main stem.

I keep the bean plants at roughly 4 to six inches from each other and beans seem to almost all germinate so there’s little thinning to do. Not sure how many it is per pole, I go more by plant spacing than beans per pole.

I’ve done this method in prior seasons. Seems to work without issues.

[pepperhead212]

Something I do, to help them grip the bamboo (though I never really had trouble with them sliding, I've heard that it happens), is take some coarse - 80 grit I think - sandpaper, wrap it around the bamboo stakes, and twist it, as pulling the stake through. Sort of makes spiral scratches, and gives the tendrils and vines something to grip, with things like this.

[karstopography]

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Been almost two weeks since my last pole bean post. The beans are now a little over 6 feet tall and climbing all over the place. No flowers yet that I see. I bend down the bamboo secondary branches so that the beans have alternatives to the main canes. The beans hit the stems, then veer on to the side branches then back to the stems. Should not have any chance of slipping down the relatively smooth bamboo main canes.

[karstopography]

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Getting some buds on the pole beans about to bloom. Northeaster, Algarve, and I believe Spanish Musica. The french filets are lagging a little in comparison.

[Tormato]

The last couple of days I've been hunting for new bean poles, as the 5-year old ones are in tough shape. I've harvested the first 36 without having to look far. Fresh cut, rock maple, full of sap, they sink to the bottom if dropped in the brook that must be crossed , 12 feet long, those things are heavy.

With a day of rain today, I get a needed rest. The first goal is gathering 48 of them, which translates to 12 4-pole teepees, each teepee (and space between the next) taking up 4 feet of row. That's enough for two 24 foot rows, about 300 plants.

After that, this will be the first time ever that I actually need a garden plan. That's in order to figure out what to plant, and what goes where, before I run out of room.

After the garden plan, I'll know if I can add more pole beans. I'll be cutting more poles, no matter what. The choicest ones will be stripped of bark after they dry, and coated with some king of protective finish, yet to be determined. The rest are an unknown, as I have less than two months to dry them, peel them ,and coat them. They may just go in, as is.