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In The Garden: Growing Yard Long Beans
Posted by Adina-
- Yard Long Beans On 6 Foot Fence
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- 8" Short A Yard
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- Yard Long Bean On Sisal String
In The Garden: It is nearly planting time and Pole Beans make a great hot weather crop and a great way to start out in the garden this August. There are several types of beans that grow on poles. The Yard Long Bean, Vigna ungulculata is my favorite so far. Yard Long Beans look like real long string beans, and they taste really good raw or cooked, tending toward sweetness at their best. The variety I am growing right now is called Gita. My friend Vicky says her Yard Long Beans only get to thirty five inches. That’s amazing and I don’t know if she is pulling my leg or serious, but my yard long beans are ready to pick at about 20″ and my longest one was 28″. I never measured Yard Long Beans until Vicky told me about hers!
Long beans should be harvested before the pod part begins to collapse around the swelling seed. Those that stay on the plant that long are best saved as seed for the next season. (See the article: Why We Should Be Saving Seeds.) If it is very dry outside I let them stay on the plant until they begin to lose their green color. If it is raining a lot then I will harvest an old bean and let it dry out on my counter top. Once it is dry, I crack off the pod and save the seeds which in the case of my Yard Long Bean variety Gita, are black. I put them into a paper envelope, mark the name of the seed variety and the date saved, and seal it. I used to make envelopes out of old brown paper, but more recently I have been saving return envelopes from junk mail. I seal the envelope, and cut it in half parallel to the short ends. That gives me two reasonably deep paper envelopes for seeds. Once I have put the seeds in the envelope I fold the top down once and seal it with some tape.
Pole beans need something to grow on, hence the name. It is fine to give them a pole. I think the pole should be at least five feet high. I prefer a fence for them though, or if your garden is a mound consider using long pieces of rebar that arch over the garden from one side to the next. You can plant the beans where the rods go into the ground, or you can plant them beneath the rebar going across the garden. Run a few lines of Sisal or Bailing twine from vertical to vertical parallel with the ground, and tie sisal strings or bailing strings to the rod long enough to reach the ground, knot them at the strings that run parallel with the ground, and bring them down to the ground where the beans will come up. I make a loose loop around the base of the bean plant to make certain the plant notices the string is there. It is so loose a loop that it will slip down over the existing leaves and stems easily so as not to damage the plant. Once the bean plants find the string they fly up it. One more idea for bean support is to sink two 6′ or 8′ 2×2′s vertically on either side of the bed along its length, with another secured horizontally across the top of the two and one more half way down also horizontal and again run sisal strings or bailing strings (if you have a surplus) from the top 2×2 down to the middle, knot them there and let them hang to the ground where the beans will find them, looping loosely around the plants.
I sow my bean seeds directly into the soil about 6-8 inches apart, and no deeper than the longest end of the bean. I pretty much let them fall how they will in the depression I make for them in the soil, and then cover them up loosely and water the soil.
Pole beans are Legumes. They are plants that are able to draw nitrogen gas out of the air and store it in nodes on their roots. They are great soil fixers though other plants will not derive a benefit from their presence until they have died and their roots have rotted into the soil. For that reason once your Legume plants are done you should cut them down to ground level, chop up the leaf and stem parts leaving them on the soil surface for mulch, and leave the roots behind.
You can plant your next crop right there where the old stems are.
Companion Plants for Yard Long Beans are those in the cabbage family, carrot, celery, chard, corn, cucumber, eggplant, pea, potatoes, radish and strawberry. They will benefit from being near nasturtium, rosemary, and summer savory. Pole beans should be kept apart from beet, onion, shallot and garlic plants.
The only insects infestations I get on my Yard Long Pole Beans are aphids and their ant tenders. Soon after the aphids show so do wasps, lady bugs and lizards. While I will see aphids on my bean plants for several weeks after the insect battle has begun I rarely lose more than a couple of beans to the ants and their aphids before the predaceous insects strike the balance.
Yard Long Beans are used the way we use string beans. They can be steamed or stir fried or eaten raw in salads or as crudite. Healthy plants will produce flowers and beans continuously for many months. For the best flavor and a good snap, beans should be picked while their shape is still smooth and before the seed or bean shape shows thru the skin. Even if that means they are not actually a yard long. My best performing Yard Long Bean plants this summer are in a bed mulched with old tree leaves. What I love about these beans is it doesn’t take very many twenty some inch beans to make a side dish for the family. In ten to twelve snips I have harvested a side dish for dinner, and these beans grow up to me so I don’t have to bend to get them, and they are easy to see. I know there is also a burgundy colored variety of Yard Long Bean. I imagine that would be lovely in the garden, and so easy to see at harvest time.
Good luck with your Yard Long Beans.
Doug and Christina, I read on another website (gardenersnet.com I think) that the flowers drop while it’s too warm, but when the weather cools, the fruit (ie, the beans) develop. This is my first year growing them, and I’m in the Northwest where it’s not particularly hot, so I can’t say from experience. Mine seem to be growing quite slowly.
Thanks for your comment Julie. Have fun with those beans. They are great eating.
Thanks so much for the info on beans. I live in south Florida and would like to plant something in July…so this is perfect!!!
Doug and Christina. I’d be interested to hear how this plays out. Lots of luck and beans,
Adina
Adina Thanks for the comment and yes we have insects we will just wait and see
Stay well
Doug and Christina
Hi Doug and Christina, thanks for your comment. I am afraid this isn’t a forum, but anyone who reads your question is able to comment. I know your weather is warm enough there in Maryland for pole beans. I think if there was too much nitrogen in your soil the flowers wouldn’t even form. Do you see any flying insects there? I wonder if you are missing some key pollinators. You might try spreading pollen from flower to flower yourself if you don’t see any insects, and you might consider ways to attract insects to your garden if that is indeed the case.. If you have insects buzzing around your flowers then this may just be a case for patience.. that is remain patient. You should get beans.
I have a question for the forum and any help would be greatly appreciated. We planted a bunch of (Royal scarlet?) pole beans in our garden here in Maryland the plants are over 6 feet and have been growing since april. They flower and the flowers then drop off but no beans!?!?!? Can anybody give some advice?
Thanks
Doug and Christina
Kay, The spacing you have may be sufficient. I don’t know for sure how close is too close. I guess if both crops do well you have your answer. Look on this experience as an opportunity to learn first hand about companionate relationships. Is there another crop between them? That may provide a perfect buffer zone. Thanks for reading, and for your comments.
Adina –
Thanks for your comments. Can you tell me how close is too close since the garlic is about 3 – 4 feet away from the pole beans. Still too close?
Hi Kay, thanks for your comment. If you check out companion planting charts, and specifically an herbal companionate you will see that it is not recommended that onions, shallots, or garlic be planted with pole beans or peas as it may inhibit their growth. However you have a good opportunity to discover for yourself if this is true. Though it won’t be a perfect experiment, you might try planting some more pole beans anywhere else in the garden where there are no onions or garlic, and see which crop does better.
You said that pole beans should be kept away from garlic – why is that? (I just plant my pole beans in a bed that is half planted in garlic).
Hi Tami, thanks for your comment. Seeds that are for our hottest season I don’t refrigerate, while the cold season seeds, like lettuce, carrots, onions, cole crops like cabbage, collards and mustards I refrigerate. So choose your best beans (probably early in the season, and plan to leave them on the plant until they are dry. If the weather is very wet, or if you are getting bugs that infest your beans bring your biggest best beans indoors and dry them in the pod on paper. Once dry you can shell them and put them in a paper envelope. Mark the date and the variety of bean you are saving, and put them aside until the next growing season. If you are planting the beans in a garden that has never had beans or peas before then invest in some bean and pea inoculant. You can get a small pack that will treat about 8 lbs of beans for under $5 through the mail.
Hi Adina great article and site. After you save the seed do you refrigerate or freeze I live in the virgin islands so I don’t know if keeping in a drawer would be to hot or even make a difference. Also to use the seeds for planting is there anything special you need to do them? New to gardening in case you cant tell.
Thanks for all your great info. Tami
Hi Benny, thanks for your comment. Those yardlong beans are amazing. Drought can cause flowers to drop, though you didn’t say how much rain you get, and whether or not you irrigate.
I hope you will communicate again when you figure out what is going on.
Hi, My name is Benny Robles and I’m from Bonaire,The Dutch Caribbean.Our island is dry and further we have the sun 365days/year.Not easy to grow veggys but we try.We grow the yard long beans too.Further our island has good soil.I still wonder why our plants are loosing a lot of flowers but maybe this is normal.We do have a lot of wind on Bonaire but we grow our veggys in a protected spot. Hope somebody can help us with some answers.Thanks.! Benny
Thanks for your comment John. That is excellent information on the relationship between Corn Squash and Beans, the Three Sisters of the garden.
Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, thereby improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry years. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans. The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the mound at the end of the season, to build up the organic matter in the soil and improve its structure.
Hey Suzanne, thanks for your comment. I have seen what you grow at your farm. You do beautifully with your crops. Sorry about your aphid experiences so far. This has been a banner year for aphids. I have been lucky to have had the right predaceous insects on hand, and lots of food varieties for those aphids! This year I learned that having nasturtiums growing nearby is supposed to help with that.
Hey Sara, thanks for your comment. Any bean that needs a pole to grow upon is called a pole bean. There are several different ones. Some have large flat pods, others are round and long, or round and short. The burgundy ones are very cool for sure, but the ones I am familiar with loose their red color when steamed.
Hi Adina, great article. I have tried yard long beans but the aphids love them, too much! I never had luck getting any. They like my other pole bean varieties too. I I wonder what it is they love so much. So I have given up for the time being until I can find a remedy.
You are a true inspiration for gardening in Florida. Keep up the great posts!
suzanne
What other kind of pole beans are there? The burgundy sound interesting.
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