Vacations tend to curb the style of garden planning, both from the standpoint of care and of using — or losing — the products.
Bush snap beans are an exception. They grow quickly and can be planted and harvested before or after a vacation or both. Ordinarily, the crop matures in seven or eight weeks from seeding.
True, beans are tender to frost and will not return as well as sweet corn after being nipped on a snappy morning. On the other hand, it takes only a few days for them to get above ground, and one can plant reasonably safely two weeks after the average date of the last killing frost.
And one may take a chance a week earlier. However, it does not pay to plant beans too early, for they do not grow as well as peas or radishes when temperatures are low.
In much of the North, a July 15 planting will likely come through, and seedings may even be made as late as August 1, according to the local climate.
Most bush snap beans are being bred for “concentrated” maturity to save labor in picking. This is no disadvantage for the home gardener. One can make as many desired plantings as two weeks apart.
Fairly Tolerant Beans
Beans are fairly tolerant of acidity in the soil, though limas are less so than ordinary bush snap beans.
They do well in a wide range of soils, light to heavy. Adequate general fertilizing for the whole garden is sufficient for beans.
But do not be misled by the adage, “That land is so poor it won’t grow’ beans”.
Recent breeding has given us a magnificent new crop of varieties of green snap bush beans.
Varieties Of Green Snap Bush Beans
Topcrop
Topcrop, bred by W. J. Zaumeyer of the United States Department of Agriculture and his associates is not unlike Tendergreen and is now available from many seedsmen. It offers high table quality and heavy yield.
Contender
Contender, from U.S.D.A., Charleston, S. C., is a better variety than Black Valentine but is hardly up to Topcrop for table quality. It is handsome and somewhat more rugged against adverse conditions. Both of these offer resistance to certain forms of mosaic.
Tendergreen and its Cousins
Tendergreen and its cousins are still desirable varieties. Bountiful is flat-podded and thin-walled but it is early, and some like it because it has a more pronounced bean flavor than the round-podded sorts. Pencil Pod and Brittle Wax still rule as wax-podded varieties.
Planting Bush Beans
Bush beans are planted in rows 30 inches or three feet apart. Eight seeds per foot usually give a good stand. The yielded bean plants are not as greatly affected by planting too thickly or too thinly as sweet corn. There is a considerable capacity for adjustment to spacing.
Disease And Insects On Beans
Many people harvest beans without having done anything about diseases and insects. But sometimes, the enemies are destructive.
The seed com maggot may destroy the plant before the beans are up. Some plants get above ground but have lost their growing point, and these are often called “snake-heads”.
There is not much to do about the maggot except to plant when the county agricultural agent proclaims (or reveals) the maggot-free period.
Shallow planting favors quick “come-up,” which helps against maggots but this is not so good when the soil is dry. Planting a bit thickly is also useful.
Spergon, dusted on the seed, helps control root rot. Buying disease-free seeds best controls anthracnose (rust) and bacterial blight arc. Most seeds offered by reliable seedsmen meet this requirement.
Another story could be written on the widely diverse groups of beans that are available. They are:
- The horticultural, beloved by New Englanders
- The pole beans, for the rich quality and prolonged picking
- The limas for toothsome richness
- The white and scarlet runners for beauty, as well as green shell use, and others besides
Yellow Wonder Poppies Forty-Four Plants
Yellow Wonder Iceland poppies on four plants were counted one May morning. The aging poppies were a brilliant yellow, the younger ones a fresh lemon color. They were never still. A slender peduncle, often two feet tall, supported each lovely flower.
The slightest movement of the air set them swinging. The ajuga, Armeria, and heartsease were all quiet and serene while the poppies above continually fussed.
Honeybees alighted and walked around collecting pollen from their numerous anthers; the pollen was abundant, and the swinging was more violent at that moment.
A red and black flower bug was another visitor, but its slight weight made no difference in the swaying.
When a bumblebee came for its share of pollen, the pretty flower dropped over, almost touching the ground. Those burly bees are heavyweights.
Convallaria Lily-of-the-valley runs riot at the back of our rock garden. The flowers seem to be made for the house; outdoors, they hide in their foliage.