Topic: Too Early for Beans?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Kelvedon Wonder are a wrinkled pea, but they'll be fine outdoors now. The seeds rot easily, so just don't expect to plant them outdoors in March!

[superspud]

Thank you for that Robert. I will put them out tomorrow then. and seed some more as well..

[chriscross1966]

See now I am confused ( not hard ), mine are round and wrinkled !. Kelvedon wonder. I have trays of french beans (Suttons ), broad beans, a tray of kelvedons that are looking like they want to emigrate fast, and some others I forget the name of, and I keep thinking I have to put them out fast or watch them die, I read broad beans were hardy and nearly put them out today regardless just so my garden has something in it this end!.

Why is this so confusing.

Broad beans are normally winter-proof unless we get a winter l;ike the last one.... Round peas are rouind whjen they are dried, wrinkled ones have more sugar in them and when they dry they go wrinkly... the difference is obvious if you compare the seeds.

I wouldn't bother with a dwarf wrinkled pea, you might as well grow the tall ones cos they'll put up a bigger crop and go all summer....unless.... you want to put something in there place later in the summer... ... typically things like late small leeks, spring cabbages/cauli's, garlic, overwintering onions etc.....

All the french, runner and butter beans are non-hardy, that said there are varieties that toperate less high temperatures. If you're growing for green beans once again I'd not bother with dwarfs, the tall ones are more convenient to pick, crop longer etc. More complicated with the shelling beans cos there might not be a tall version, tyhe best kidney bean for red kidneys is a dwarf (Canadian Wonder), and there are any number of uniquely pretty bean forms that are only available in dwarf too, Ernie's B ig Eye leaps to mind, as does Yion-Yang, though there are similarly patterened climbing beans but not the classic black and white.

It's pretty easy:

Broad beans: Aquadulce go in in in the autumn, Sutton's get sown indooors in January and go out in March to fill the gaps, Imperial Green Longpod and Crimson FLowered get sown a bit later and stuck in whenever convenient.

Peas: you can try Meteors going in at the same time as the Aquadulce, also sow some at the same time as the Suttons. In the propagator gap in April between the peppers/tomatoesd etc coming out and the cucurbits going in get some tall peas (Alderman, Telephone etc) going, they can go outside middle of May, but be ready with the fleece and don't put in the final climbing frames until the end of the month.....

French beans/kidneys/haricots/canellini (they're all French beans)  sow in April indoors, hjarden off in May, out at the end of Mayu or directy sow late May.
 
Pea-beans: treat as French even though they're "Egyptian"

Butter beans in heated props in April/early May, harden off in May, out end of May/early June.... they only take a week to germinate tops ......

most of the other exotics you can treat as butter beans.....

...

Anyway that's what I've done and will do again probably....  :D...; certainly the butterbeans are streaking away in the root-trainers... they've only been in a few days and half of them are up....... THey'll be on the windowsill tomorrow and I'll rotate something else into the prop....

chrisc

[fi]

i rather foolishly put out my some beans cherokee which were coming along nicely in their cold frame, thought they'd be OK in the garden in a raised bed. lost about 80% of them to cold nights. Weggeiser the mange tout that i usually  plant out is OK. so yep too early even in a sheltered spot.

[superspud]

Theres a bloke who lives behind me called Percy, he's a lot older than I and in his late 70's or older. To me he is a Guru, every year I have watched that bloke dig and manure, plant and pole up, rain, shine, snow or whatever, I watch him in amazement, yet I rarely if ever ask him anything, why ?, not out of embarrasment but because he always looks so busy and I don't want to pee him off by asking him questions all the time. People must think "read a book" or something, and get the hump, so I try to only ask the harder things of him and as I said, rarely.

He gave my ten year old about 70 or so of his runner beans to plant this year, and so I was stood there with beans and peas ready to plant and all I could see is confusion!, I often think to myself "Help! Percy look over and tell me what and how to do it" and yet the older generation probably think even when seeing you looking like that that they dare not in case its taken the wrong way, or they get abuse for it, i find that so sad. We seem to be drifting inexorably to a population of hermits too scared to talk or interact with each other. So if you see me standing there looking lost, for gods sake gently ask " you ok lad?, want some help". Incidentally I am everywhere, on many allotments and many gardens, I dont always look the same either.

Thanks for the info on Peas.

[betula]

Kelvedon wonder just peeping through.

[betula]

Decided to plant out the beans as staying in a pot was not a good idea,put too many in in the hope that some will survive.Have also put some beans direct into the ground under another support and planted some more in pots,determined to have plenty of beans this year  ;D

[gwynnethmary]

My runner beans ,alas, were sown too early, in my enthusiastic newbie rush!  They're now about 18" tall, and all of the stems are twisting round each other.  I've been popping them outside during the day for little excursions into colder territory, and yesterday put them in the mini plastic greenhouse with the door rolled up.  They survived the night in there, so now I'm thinking they might be Ok left in there for the next 10 days or so as we're going on holiday and I think I may be right in delaying planting out until we come back.  I think I'll put some seeds in at the same time though, just as a back-up plan!

[Emagggie]

Superspud, just ask Percy. I have a 'Derek' near my plot, he has never minded me asking anything. In fact, he seems to enjoy giving advice, but never volunteers it unless asked. Percy might think you think you don't need advice. I bet he's longing to help. ;)

[tim]

The Cotswolds are COLD - so this is what I do - end April photo.

As to size in pots - not to worry until they are 10" tall - so long as they have water.

These are some of our follow on lot.

[superspud]

Hi Emagggie.

I spoke to Percy about some things, In fact I asked him if my beehives were a nuisance ot him at all to start with and he said he had noticed them a year or so ago and that he was happy with them as his crops benefit so that was something, he told me he wouldn't be putting his out till next week just to be sure and I said I would follow his lead  ;D. Next door who is an alcoholic trouble maker of 80 odd also overheard and decided to go put his canes up in one upmanship !. Weird person he is.

So I then checked my peas etc and found a nasty surprise in the toms in my g/h. so far no one seems to know what it is.