Sow seeds 1 to 11/2 inches deep where the plants are to grow, since beans are particularly difficult to transplant. For bush beans, set seeds singly about 3 inches apart in rows about 2 feet apart. Good poles for pole beans to climb on are freshly cut saplings with the bark still on; they can be set to stand singly and upright, or angled in groups tepee fashion for stability.
To ensure that enough bacteria are present, bean seeds should be dusted with a commercial preparation of bacteria, available from garden supply centers, before they are planted.
When both bush and pole plants are about 6 inches tall, sprinkle a 6-inch band of 5-10-5 fertilizer along each side of the row at a rate of 5 to 8 ounces to every 10 feet of row. Keep the fertilizer off the leaves and 3 inches away from the stems of the plants. Avoid overhead watering, and never touch the plants when the leaves are wet.
The most valuable bean for the home gardener is the snap bean. (The alternate name string bean is no longer accurate, because modern types are stringless; the term refers to the tough fibers that joined the two halves of the pods of older varieties.) Snap beans come in bush varieties, which usually grow about 11/2 feet tall, and pole, or climbing, varieties, which twine counterclockwise around any support and become 6 feet or more tall. The plants produce green, yellow and, occasionally, purple pods. Among bush-type snap beans, excellent green-podded varieties are Executive, Improved Tendergreen, Tendercrop, Toperop and Bush Romano (the latter has tender, broad pods and the meaty flavor usually found only in plants known as Italian pole beans). Fine bush types of wax, or yellow-podded, snap beans are Brittle Wax, Cherokee Wax, Kinghorn Wax, Pencil Pod Black Wax and Goldcrop. A variety of purple- podded bush that is green when cooked is Royalty. A 15- foot row of bush beans yields about 7 pounds over a period of two to three weeks. Among pole beans, the most popular green-podded type is Kentucky Wonder, but Blue Lake and McCaslan are also fine; a top-quality Italian pole bean is Romano. A 15-foot row of pole beans yields about 12 pounds over a period of six to eight weeks.
In frost-free regions sow seeds of Lima beans, baby Lima beans and edible soybeans in early spring when night temperatures no longer can be expected to drop below 50. Continue to sow bush varieties of Lima beans and baby Lima beans until about 10 weeks before night temperatures are again expected to drop below 50, pole varieties until about 13 weeks before 50 nights, and edible soybeans until about 15 weeks before 50 nights.
If you have an oversupply of beans, you can dry them for future use by letting the pods mature on the vine until they become beige-colored. Then remove the beans from the pods and heat them in a 130 to 145 oven for an hour to kill any bean weevils that may have burrowed into the pods while they were still green. - 16035
To ensure that enough bacteria are present, bean seeds should be dusted with a commercial preparation of bacteria, available from garden supply centers, before they are planted.
When both bush and pole plants are about 6 inches tall, sprinkle a 6-inch band of 5-10-5 fertilizer along each side of the row at a rate of 5 to 8 ounces to every 10 feet of row. Keep the fertilizer off the leaves and 3 inches away from the stems of the plants. Avoid overhead watering, and never touch the plants when the leaves are wet.
The most valuable bean for the home gardener is the snap bean. (The alternate name string bean is no longer accurate, because modern types are stringless; the term refers to the tough fibers that joined the two halves of the pods of older varieties.) Snap beans come in bush varieties, which usually grow about 11/2 feet tall, and pole, or climbing, varieties, which twine counterclockwise around any support and become 6 feet or more tall. The plants produce green, yellow and, occasionally, purple pods. Among bush-type snap beans, excellent green-podded varieties are Executive, Improved Tendergreen, Tendercrop, Toperop and Bush Romano (the latter has tender, broad pods and the meaty flavor usually found only in plants known as Italian pole beans). Fine bush types of wax, or yellow-podded, snap beans are Brittle Wax, Cherokee Wax, Kinghorn Wax, Pencil Pod Black Wax and Goldcrop. A variety of purple- podded bush that is green when cooked is Royalty. A 15- foot row of bush beans yields about 7 pounds over a period of two to three weeks. Among pole beans, the most popular green-podded type is Kentucky Wonder, but Blue Lake and McCaslan are also fine; a top-quality Italian pole bean is Romano. A 15-foot row of pole beans yields about 12 pounds over a period of six to eight weeks.
In frost-free regions sow seeds of Lima beans, baby Lima beans and edible soybeans in early spring when night temperatures no longer can be expected to drop below 50. Continue to sow bush varieties of Lima beans and baby Lima beans until about 10 weeks before night temperatures are again expected to drop below 50, pole varieties until about 13 weeks before 50 nights, and edible soybeans until about 15 weeks before 50 nights.
If you have an oversupply of beans, you can dry them for future use by letting the pods mature on the vine until they become beige-colored. Then remove the beans from the pods and heat them in a 130 to 145 oven for an hour to kill any bean weevils that may have burrowed into the pods while they were still green. - 16035
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