[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;464945]Attempting to answer my own question, one row of pole beans in a 4 X 8 raised bed, and the rest bush? I'll be using a trellis akin to a cattle panel.

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

A 4 x 8 bed with the 8 foot length going east/west would work the best. About 16 pole beans in 1 row planted along the north side, about 24 bush beans planted in 1 row along the south side, with lots of room in between.

Another option is 2 rows of bush beans and 1 row of pole beans, with less space between the rows, and a fairly long reach to that middle row. If you plan on any dry bush beans, they could go into the middle row, as their harvest would be after the snap bush beans are finished.

After a few weeks of chilly weather, spring is finally here and the 4 inch ground temp is 62 degrees.
I'll go with the 1 pole 2 bush configuration. I'm surprised its a 6 inch spacing on pole beans. I spaced peas 2 inches apart - whoops!
Now to get the peat pots going.

- Lisa

[QUOTE=tnkrer;464656]I plan to drop a twine from top for each bean plant and then use the tomato clips to hold the bean plant to the string. That works great for tomatoes. Hoping that it will work for beans too.[/QUOTE]

I grow beans on tomato twine, they need one clip to get started and a clip every 2-3ft.
The tomato twine is too slippery, they will slide without a couple clips.
The good thing is that you can put all the clips on before the beans grow. No need to clip as they grow, they will grow around them and figure out how to stay up.

Nematode

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;477593]After a few weeks of chilly weather, spring is finally here and the 4 inch ground temp is 62 degrees.
I'll go with the 1 pole 2 bush configuration. I'm surprised its a 6 inch spacing on pole beans. I spaced peas 2 inches apart - whoops!
Now to get the peat pots going.

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

Peas can be grown even denser. Two inch spacing in double rows 3 inches apart.

Just reporting back that most of my beans are now looking like beans should look. They were so small for weeks and didn't grow. I planted about 5 of each variety from the swap - two rows of bush and one row pole. The are now about 6 inches high for pole, about 4 inches for bush. I purchased two varities of edamame and neither germinated so I splurged on 5 transplants in not great shape, very yellow and had little sad beans on them that I picked off.

I have another 9 edamame seeds germinating in peat cups (2 per) to see if I have better luck. In my first attempt I got lazy/busy and stuck to straight inground sowing.

- Lisa

For some odd reason my beans have started to come back in places with new growth.
I fully expected to come home to a dead garden but it has flourished.
Now that the slugs are gone I might plant more beans.

Worth

When using a bean teepee made from bamboo, what exactly do the beans climb? Do I need strings horizontally, vertically or something? I have some started at the base of a teepee but I think I'll go with trellises next year.

I live in SE Michigan so we have the same climate. :D

I am lazy, so I start after danger of frost has past (Mother's Day for us).

Materials needed: a paper plate, 2 squares paper towel, bean seeds, gallon ziplock bag, water.

1. I carefully dampen well (but NOT dripping wet!) one square of paper towel and place it on the paper plate.
2. Second, I lay out bean seeds on the wet paper towel/paper plate ensuring none of the beans are touching).
3. When all the beans are laid out on the paper towel on the paper plate, I wet the other paper towel and place it over top of the beans.
4. I place the paper towel/green bean "sandwich" and place it in the ziplock bag (do not close the ziplock bag!

The beans will germinate within 4 days or so (the root will starting coming out of the seed first; so this is when I plant).

By this time, I'll have my green bean row prepared with fence posts/crop netting so when the beans start sprouting, I place carefully place the bean root down, water in, cover with soil, and water a little more.

Done!

[QUOTE=Tracydr;486496]When using a bean teepee made from bamboo, what exactly do the beans climb? Do I need strings horizontally, vertically or something? I have some started at the base of a teepee but I think I'll go with trellises next year.[/QUOTE]

Hopefully they are pole beans (sometimes bush beans are what you get in error).

The vines will spiral counter-clockwise around and up the bamboo. It's best to tie ( barely loose) the tallest vine to the bamboo. I tie at about 2 feet and then again at about 4 feet. The rest of the vines basically climb up and around that tallest one. If the tallest one slips down the pole, the rest go with it.

I didn't get a single bean last year, so I'm starting fresh in a different raised bed. Its a very sandy lean soil. Last year this bed had onions and they were tiny. My options for amendment is Black Gold bagged cow manure, cheap bags of manure and compost from big box megastore,
wing it with no amendment , or ?

This year they will start in cups in the garden soil where they will reside. Can I use coir pucks as well to start?

- Lisa

Beans don't like to be transplanted they should be sown in their permanent home. Best not to sow them in cups, but in the soil they shall live in. Yes use amendments, even though beans don't require much they require bacteria, and the compost, just about any compost will have them. Black Gold is a decent product. Some use inoculants, sounds like that might be ok too in your situation, Where I live the bacteria needed, appears to be in the soil. I constantly amend my soil. Compost for sure, leaves as mulch, maybe grass, coffee grounds throughout the year, straw, alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, whatever is handy. Organic fertilizer at least a couple times a year. Onions are nitrogen hogs, you need to feed them well.

The worst thing to do is start them in cups - they are not like tomatoes and peppers where they like to be transplanted as seedlings. Beans don't like to be messed after they sprout.

If you have poor sandy soil, then yes, dig a trough, fill it in with composted soil (I like ProMix or Miracle Grow organic), put your beans down about 1/2" below ground level then cover with more ProMix or Miracle Grow organic. Water the seeds in GOOD.

And because you have poor sandy soil, you should sprinkle some Triple 13 fertilizer once a week AFTER true leaves appear. Oh - and remember to water during dry periods.

Good luck!!!


[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;557631]I didn't get a single bean last year, so I'm starting fresh in a different raised bed. Its a very sandy lean soil. Last year this bed had onions and they were tiny. My options for amendment is Black Gold bagged cow manure, cheap bags of manure and compost from big box megastore,
wing it with no amendment , or ?

This year they will start in cups in the garden soil where they will reside. Can I use coir pucks as well to start?

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

I successfully transplant beans every year -- it can easily be done. Just don't start them too early, don't start them in a starter cell or anything so small that they will need up-potting, and get them planted out before they get too big and the roots fill the container.

Since beans start so easily outside I don't really see a need to transfer. As most experts advice to direct sow. You'll be hard pressed to find any experts that say otherwise. I guess you can get a slight head start, but beans grow fast and will only really take off once outside temps and soil temps are right. So it would gain you little, and appears to be risky. Some advice I have heard is to plant over a period of weeks to give a more staggered crop. This I don't get? As they seem to keep growing till frost anyway. Maybe bush beans? I have never grown them, only pole.

I start about 10% of my beans in 16-20oz drinking cups/garden soil, indoors. Advantages are reliable germination, earlier germination (2-7 days earlier), and starts being several weeks earlier. With these tall deep cups, I've had not one single problem with 500+ transplants in the last decade.

If weather turns bad (heavy rains/cold) just after outdoor sowing, everything could rot, and you're starting over an additional week later. A second sowing means you're about a month behind transplants.

Disadvantages of starting in cups is the extra labor. But to some of us, it's a labor of :love:.