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Yard long green beans

1K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Ranger99 
#1 ·
i wanted to post about these beans.
this is the first time i'd ever planted any. i heard of these a
year or so ago, but never searched any seed out, or seen any
for sale here local. i finally saw some this year and decided to
try some. that's the best chance i ever took as far as vegetable
gardening. these plants have produced more for the least effort
of anything i ever tried to grow. i've made quite a lot of beans
with plenty to eat and give away and put in the freezer. if i'm
thinking right, i have a bit more than 9 gallon bags in the freezer
right now. i wasn't sure what i needed to grow these, but now
i know they need a TALL STURDY structure to grow on. the little
stick pen i put together at first was very much inadequate. i added
some taller sticks cut from brush trimming, but the thicker vines
have nearly pulled the biggest poles over. i'm thinking of t posts
and panels for this next year. mulching has also helped a lot.
i'm thinking i could have mulched more (as in piling more on)
and done better. there's not really much labor involved in bringing
in a good crop of these beans. one thing i didn't do that i don't
know yet if i needed to was to blanch the beans before i put them
in the freezer. i just cut them off the vine, cut off the ends, and
cut them up into short lengths and put them in a freezer bag in
the freezer.

i'll sure be having a spot for these beans in my garden from now on
 
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#2 ·
Now this may seem a little fancy-pantsy but one thing to consider is buy one of those cheap archways you can get at Menard's and similar stores in spring for not much money.
Wood rots and had a grape vine pull apart a larger wooden archway, but you will find the beans will cover it and you not only can pick the ones on the outside but you can stand under it and pick those on the inside.

I did this with grapes and it is bar better and easier to pick from than a frame I made with two by fours and lathes before.
 
#3 ·
good idea ^ ^
 
#5 ·
something i should have posted with this and didn't realize-

these beans make a short shoot, then two really pretty purple
looking flowers pop out that almost look like insect wings.
these really attract the humming birds like crazy, maybe enough
reason alone to plant these beans. maybe a day or so later, the
flowers wilt and the next time you notice there are two little
green pegs there where the flowers were, and this is your beans.
they fill out and get long pretty quick, and are ready to harvest
before you know it. (i've been taking them before they get too
awful big- they seem more tender to me )

the deal is that at first, i was just lopping off the vine itself where
the beans sprout out. i noticed later on that there's kind of a
spot that almost resembles a tiny piece of broccoli, then a short
piece of vine that attaches the bean itself to the vine. if you cut
off the bean close to the pod instead of lopping off an inch or two
of vine, this tiny broccoli-looking growth sprouts more bean flowers
and has tiny beans growing in a very short time. i was unaware of
this and this may be common knowledge among more experienced
"bean growers" but i had no idea this was what i needed to do.
 
#6 ·
Reading about your beans always makes me hungry for the bean pickles Grandpa used to make; sadly only he knew how to make them so that died with him.
Beans are the one thing I screwed up this year, accidentally poisoned them the first time and accidentally pulled them while weeding the second time, so I gave up on them for this year.
 
#8 ·
i'm thinking mine are done in for the year by all
this heavy rain and cold snap we've had.
there's very few to harvest, and i've been getting
a double hand full daily
 
#10 ·
i cut mine up and washed them and put them in freezer bags,
except for one jars worth of pickled beans i made for one of
my nieces. i didn't get any feedback on those, so i don't know
if i made 'em right or not.
 
#11 ·
Leaf vegetable Vegetable Plastic Plant Food


managed to get 1 photo at least
 
#13 ·
Plant Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis Grass Vegetable Grass family


midway through the game
 
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