The versatile Green bean is a staple of most gardens
and itís popularity is well deserved.
Select a variety that suits your gardening
style. If you
are in the garden every day, and like green beans often, try a French
filet type bean. They must be harvested young, which means frequent
picking. For a tender green bean that tastes great even when quite
large, plant the old standby, Tenderette. It also freezes very
well. These are both lush beans. Pole beans can be grown
on saplings lashed to teepees, or inter planted with corn for living
trellises. This type of bean is easier to harvest,and is attractive
in the garden.
Plant seeds 4" apart in good garden soil once
the soil is warm and the weather has settled. Few seedlings can
match beans for the sheer power to enter the above-ground world. Thin
plants, leaving the most vigorous ones standing 8-10 inches apart. If
you have selected bush beans, make the rows about 18" apart.
Early planting may be troubled by Mexican bean Beetles. This
copper colored spotted adults and their soft bodied, bright yellow larvae
can easily be controlled by hand picking, so long as you never procrastinate
picking them off or shaking them into the bag. The danger of beetle
infestation is much reduced when planting is done after the Summer Solstice
June 21.
Like all garden plants, beans need adequate water at flowering
at flowering time to produce their best crop. Mulching young plants
to control weeds until they can shade them out, may make watering unnecessary,
but when in doubt, soak we'll at least once during flowering.
If you plan to can or freeze your crop, time your
main flowering to allow your planting to allow for the heavy load of
tomato processing. If
you can irrigate the bed, early July can be a good time for main crop
planting. This may enable you to utilize a bed that has just finished
producing a spring crop, making more efficient use of your garden space. |