By gisette
Outdoor Beans and Peas 2010
Submitted on Mon, 2010/05/03 - 1:35pm
Following winter-sowing suggestions I found on the web, I planted sugar snap peas a long while back... maybe early March. They didn't start taking off until it was bean-planting time, though, and I care more about a bean harvest, so... Only left 2 sugar snap peas to try.
Bush beans and pole beans emerging now. Have 3 containers of bush beans planted at the same time. Keeping one indoors at night, to sort of stagger the harvest.
Sun, 2010/05/09 - 12:19pm
#1
Offline
Sun, 2010/05/16 - 9:33pm
#2
This week's cold snap doesn't seem to have done them any harm. Biggest bush beans look likely to bloom by next week.
I've never grown sugar snap peas before. Do these look likely to get anywhere soon?
Mon, 2010/05/24 - 5:42pm
#3
Sugar snap peas finally started to bloom. Not expecting a lot out of those plants... No bean flowers yet, though looks like soon on the biggest bush beans.
Sun, 2010/05/30 - 6:55pm
#4
The laggardly sugar snap peas (did I plant them in February? March? the winter-sowing thing just doesn't work for me) finally have a couple pods. And I expect to harvest first bush beans in about 1.5 weeks. I like that about bush beans. 
Tue, 2010/06/08 - 12:27am
#5
The sugar snap pea pods are delicious! Really sweet, eaten raw right off the vine! Wish I had more...
Beans coming along - should eat first bush beans later this week.
Sun, 2010/06/13 - 5:26pm
#6
I think the heat wave last week kinda did in the sugar snap peas - a shame, because they were excellent. Bush beans not yet harvesting, pole beans still weeks from blooming.
Sun, 2010/06/20 - 10:07pm
#7
No comeback - the sugar snap peas died. Need to try growing them somewhere else next year - the few we got to eat were delicious. Bush beans coming into harvest. The pole beans... not many survived the air conditioning and the onset of bean rust. The A/C is on again, and there's just not enough plant above the danger zone. They may not make it.
Mon, 2010/06/28 - 12:58pm
#8
Bush beans all harvesting now - older ones petering off. A/C on nonstop the past few days (blasting hot air through their trellis), but the remaining pole beans seem to be doing just fine. No flowers yet on the pole beans.
Sun, 2010/07/04 - 2:08pm
#9
Slow week as the bush beans' first (main) harvest dwindled. Pole beans just started flowering. Planted some more of those delicious sugar snap peas, but it may be too early to plant for fall at this point. They were good...
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 7:10am
#10
Hi Gisette,
I think you asked what variety of beans I grow? I like Jade for summer and Masai for a fall crop. I managed to harvest the first picking of beans on the one day it wasn't 100 F (Last Friday). I am truly amazed at the amount of beans I can grow in a 4' by 8' spot. I've even spaced the plants farther apart this year. The first harvest was 4 lbs 12 ounces. Blanched and frozen the same day in 6 oz portions so that is 12 meals for two people. The next picking will be eaten fresh (got people visiting next week).
Beth
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 12:14pm
#11
Hi, Beth,
Wow that's a lot of pole beans! 4x8' is a big space! I get enough for snacks out of just a few plants in a truly lousy spot!
< wince > So you didn't get the 3-day cool snap last week that we got? I'm sorry. That was such a lovely break from... this.
When do you plant the Masai beans for fall? Do the summer Jades just peter out after a bit?
Thanks for the info - wonderful how you preserve and use them!
Wed, 2010/07/07 - 2:33pm
#12
Jade are bush beans. Gave up on pole beans because of mexican bean beetles. May try them again because the bush beans are a pain to pick. I keep them covered from planting to picking with floating row cover. Here's a link on how I do it. Can't get it to cut and paste below. I do two pickings in the garden then pull the plants out of the garden and do the third (small) picking next to the compost pile (in the shade!). Masai gets planted end of July for a much cooler (hopefully!) September/early October harvest.
Beth
Wed, 2010/07/07 - 2:43pm
#13
Very cool, Beth, thanks.
Haven't seen any bugs on my beans, except leafhoppers, which do chomp some. The pole beans seem to get rust a lot, tho. This probably has a lot to do with their rotten location. But - they bear more in that rotten location than they did in the GrowBoxes, for some reason.
Sun, 2010/07/11 - 5:15pm
#14
Pole beans starting to harvest, but not expecting much - they've taken a heat-beating. The bush beans are dwindling off. The week-old peas are doing surprisingly well with the heat. Maybe fall would be better for peas here...
Sun, 2010/07/18 - 3:28pm
#15
Surprisingly, the bush beans revived bigtime after I gave them some seaweed fertilizer! Shall try that again... The pole beans aren't dead yet, but that's the best you can say of them. Sugar snap peas growing fast. Planted some Blue Lake bush beans (the others are Contender), but they're not up yet.
Sun, 2010/07/25 - 10:27pm
#16
They live. Barely. Well, the peas seeded in front of the A/C compressor died, but that was kinda expected. Modest yields from the older beans.
Tue, 2010/08/03 - 10:30pm
#17
Sun, 2010/08/08 - 4:21pm
#18
Finally got rid of the old flowerpot bush beans - very, very yellow, though still bearing a little. Pole beans are harvesting.
Sun, 2010/08/15 - 1:57pm
#19
First flower on my sugar snap peas. 
I thought those guys were goners... I should plant some more seeds for fall.
Sun, 2010/08/22 - 5:41pm
#20
Sugar snap peas ripening! I'm amazed - those little plants look so pathetic. As do the all-but-defoliated pole beans - but, a trickle of harvest continues. Tried neem oil fungicide - mites as well as rust? The latest round of bush beans are growing their first flush of fruit, too.
Just today, planted another round of sugar snap peas in front of the trellis, now more-or-less the appropriate time for it. Hopefully we won't need air conditioning any more by the time they're tall enough to die from it.
Wed, 2010/09/01 - 5:48pm
#21
Now harvesting sugar snap pea pods (not many) and blue lake bush beans. Picked a few last pole beans and discarded the plants - they looked terrible, not a healthy green leaf left anywhere.
Next sugar snap pea seedlings emerged for cool weather. But. Following last week's cool torrential rains, and overnights in the high 50's, it turned hot. Like 95 degrees yesterday (35 C). This ends on Friday. Hopefully the baby sugar snap peas will survive it that long... If not, I plant again. It could touch 90 degrees again in September, but not this kind of multi-day heat wave. I hope.
Sun, 2010/09/05 - 7:17pm
#22
Pulled down the pole beans. The older sugar snap peas look dead, but still harvesting a little. The baby sugar snap peas are growing better/faster than I've ever seen them so far. Seem to start well in heat...
Sun, 2010/09/12 - 6:23pm
#23
Discarded the porch peas - none of the leaves were green anymore. Bush beans and the younger sugar snap peas doing OK.
Edit: I wish I really knew what that speckled yellow brown stuff really was. The better to come up with ways to control it.
Sun, 2010/09/19 - 8:25pm
#24
Mon, 2010/09/27 - 8:48pm
#25
The legumes look lousy, but nothing to be gained by yanking them yet.
Sun, 2010/10/03 - 8:43pm
#26
Tossed most of the bean plants, whose leaves suddenly turned dark brown/black. Not expecting much here.
Wed, 2010/10/13 - 1:05pm
#27
Hi Gisette,
My beans look that way when they are old. I believe it is fungal (rust). I don’t spray anything because by the time they start looking bad I’m ready to pull them. Then I wait a couple of weeks to plant the second batch. (in fact I’m leaving work early today to pick beans! They’re still nice and green right now). I made the mistake of doing a succession planting a couple weeks apart in the same bed a few years ago. When the older beans were pulled I watched in horror as the Mexican bean beetles literally walked over to the tender new sprouts. Now I keep the bed covered with floating row cover until first picking and pull them after the second picking. No more Mexican bean beetles and the rest period between plantings (I believe) helps keep the fungals at bay.
Edit: Link to picture of rust:
Wed, 2010/10/13 - 1:12pm
#28
Thanks, Beth.
Agreed, it's a goner. 
But at this point it's too late to plant anything else, so, will grab a few more ripe beans before it's dead. My daughter loves fresh-picked green beans.
Good point re succession planting.
Sun, 2010/11/07 - 1:17pm
#29
The sugar snap peas yet live.
