Bush Beans

MY STATUS: Unsuccessful 

What I Did 

DAY 1 - SOWING

I purchased Ferry-Morse Tendergreen Improved Bush Bean seeds at Home Depot in California and kept them in the fridge for about five months, while I focused on other things.

Today, I put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of a wide but shallow pot (I'll be attempting to grow 5-6 plants in one container) and filled the rest with a standard mix of potting soil. Seeds were pressed into the soil in pairs at a depth of about 1 inch--three pairs in total. This variety of beans aren't climbers, but I set up a network of twine strands running up to the roof of my garden shelter to give the growing plants some support. As they develop, I'll gently wrap the plants around the twine to keep them from falling over.

DAY 5 - GERMINATION

Five of the six beans have sprouted and grown in 24 hours to a height of about 1/2 inch. I've kept the container in full sun and water deeply often enough to keep the soil moist at the surface--which is to say they get a lot more water than the herbs.

DAY 19 - QUICK GROWTH

The plants have grown relatively quickly, putting out true leaves only 48 hours after germinating. They are now about ten inches tall with lots of leaves, and seem to like the light they get in the roof-top garden shelter.

DAY 32 - CHUGGING RIGHT ALONG

I think the fennel and cucumbers are still the winners when it comes to speed, but the beans are close behind. My plants have tripled in height in just under two weeks.

There have been some mystifying issues: three of the six plants inexplicably shriveled while the others growing right next to them thrived. I can't figure out why. It wasn't the water or the soil, since those factors were the same with all the plants. I don't think the sun was different either, because I keep these plants in my garden shelter, which has a clear roof.

Six in one container was probably over-kill anyway, but it was odd--this shriveling. I wondered if it might be whitefly related, but it hasn't happened again and I haven't seen whiteflies on these plants, even though they are on some of the basil plants. The point is, the conditions were identical for all 6 plants.

Whatever the reasons, the remaining three are thriving. Despite these being bush beans--not pole beans--they have demonstrated huge climbing potential. They seem very comfortable scaling the twine I rigged up. Not only that, but I'm already see flower buds. There should be open blossoms in a couple of days.

DAY 44 - YOUNG BEANS

These plants have been in full bloom for more than a week now, but I wasn't sure if anything was really happening until today. I'd noticed some blossom drop, even though the plants are well-watered. Today I saw that many of the original flowers and turned into tiny, cute little bean pods about a 1/2 inch long!

DAY 75 - SUN SCALD & TERMINATION

These plants started so strong, so it was surprising what ended up happening. Beans quickly developed all over the plants shortly after they flowered. A lot of beans. Scores and scores of beans. But, then everything just stopped. The beans never got larger than a 1/2 inch--clearly immature. No new flowers opened either, and the plants stayed the same size. One obvious culprit, since there was no evidence of disease or pests on these plants. Sun. Too much. I didn't set these plants up with shade, because at the time I started them, we'd had a long period of cloudy weather. But then an unusual summer came and we had hot dry days every day all summer. Temps in the 90s. No rain. Few cloudy days. And the beans baked on the vine. The leaves turned brown and got dry and crinkly. All four plants went dormant. And that was that. Lesson learned. Like the cucumbers, these guys need more shade, so finding another place to grow them is essential before I start again.

ATTEMPT 2 / DAY 1 - SOWING (12/23)

This time my bush beans were sown in huge pig feed bags. One of the issues last time was the amount of soil available for the growing plants. Now they have 3 to 4 times as much room. Sun was also an issue, but with the cooler weather of the last month or so, hopefully they won't scald this time. I'll probably also employ some shade cloth. Beans were sown in the same manner as the first attempt.