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Questions and Answers:Q. I have some green bean vines that are beautiful, but no beans. I spray them with a foliar feed fertilizer every week or so. I’m ready for some green beans. What am I doing wrong? A. If the soil conditions are right, beans can make their own nitrogen by pulling it from the air and storing it in their roots, so you don‘t need to add anything once they get going. Average to good garden soil is all that is needed to grow beans. Too much nitrogen fertilizer causes too much top growth and no beans. However, one shot of the foliar feeding fertilizer when they are about 6 inches tall will give them a good start if you don’t have improved soil or planting in a new area. Q. What is the difference between snap beans and string beans? A. Snap beans are simply green beans that are picked before the beans inside the pod mature. They are easy to break or "snap" when ready to pick. String bean refers to the green beans we grew years ago that had a tough “string” that grew down the side of the pod. Newer types of green beans aren’t as tough. Further, shell beans are grown for the fresh seeds as the pod is allowed to mature until the seeds are soft and mealy. Dry beans are allowed to mature on the plant and the beans are stored for later planting or consumption. Q. Pole beans or bush beans? A. Pole beans, which are beans grown on a trellis or “pole,” take up more room than bush beans but the maturity period is much longer. You can pick pole beans over several weeks. In fact the more you pick, the more they seem to grow. Bush beans mature over a shorter period, and grow more compactly. Q. How do I pick beans? A. You need to use two hands to pick beans. Hold the plant with one hand and pull the bean off the plant with the other. If you try to pull the bean off the plant without securing the plant, you will uproot the plant or damage the vine or bush. Q. Where is the best time to plant beans? A. Green beans sprout best in warm weather and produce best when the weather is cooler, so the fall is best around here although I enjoy a spring harvest every year. During the fall, the taste is better and they don’t mature as quickly so you don’t need to pick so many at the same time. Q. What is the difference between beans and “field peas.” A. Up North, anything with a pod is referred to as a bean by many gardeners. In the south, when the summer heats up, we grow field peas, which is a general term to describe Crowder peas, cream peas, or black-eye peas. They are drought tolerant and can take the heat. They can be eaten fresh or picked after they dry on the plant and can be stored for months in a dry container, or frozen. They are an important part of any summer garden and are easy to grow. They generally are bush varieties. Deer also love them and they are grown for wildlife plots. If you live in the country you will need a fence to keep them away from your field peas or plant 200% of what you will use and hope the deer leave you with enough to make dinner. Q. What is the difference between a field pea and green pea? A. Green peas, or English peas or the type of pea you are probably the most familiar with. They grow in cool weather and I plant “Sugar Peas” that have soft, fat, tender and sweet pods in Late January or early February. I don’t know what they taste like cooked because they never make it that far. They mature quickly, but die off once daytime temperatures get above 85 degrees.
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