every year it seems, its a crap shoot when to put the pole beans in.
i planted seeds the first week of june. the weather had taken an up tick,
warm and sunny, in the 70s. the following week, the weather turned. it rained,
the temp struggled to climb into the 60s, and the lows dropped in to the 40s, and
high 30s. not bean friendly weather. the heat switch finally turned on, so now the beans
are coming up, but are badly damaged. cotyledons are half brown, and several have no growth
tip. even my uncle steve beans that can handle cool weather are looking a little beat up.
i started some seeds inside a week ago of some older varieties that i wasn't sure how they
would germinate. the ones that sprouted are already ahead of the beans i had planted a week
earlier. one of these years, i'm going to get it right.



keith

Mother Nature laughs at our puny efforts to outwit her!

Beans are a big gamble here. We can't plant them out until July, and if all goes well, the hottest weather is still over by early August. One year out of three you may get a nice crop of bush beans from sheer luck. The minute it turns wet and cool, they get all kinds of ick. Beans are more finicky than anything, I believe.

Do pole beans produce till frost? If not, would it hurt to plant later?

I don't know why so many of mine didn't germinate, this year - I even planted another bunch in the empty spots, and some varieties still didn't germinate, and these were "new" packets! So I took some of those, and now have them in my seed sprouter, rinsing several times a day, to see just how many actually sprout! If they do, I'll carefully plant them, and any empty spaces I'll do the same, to fill them.

i could replant some seeds just to get beans to eat, but i would be better off with more bush beans.
they mature faster. pole beans take longer to mature. i need to get them in as early as i can in order
to save seeds. starting in doors is an option which i often do. timing has to be right. start too soon,
the plants get too tall, and stems break. weather outside still has to cooperate. too cold, beans sit there.
too hot, beans stall for a couple weeks.
i should have hedged my bet, and started a few seeds of each variety in doors, and planted more outside
like i normally do. i took a chance.
live and learn


keith