On 8/5/2014 12:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
The green beans get their own trellis or other support .
I made my trellises from half inch diameter steel electrical conduit and
bought nylon (long-life) trellis netting from Amazon. Works great for
cukes, climbing beans, etc. Even used the conduit fixtures to tie the
pieces together. Made them five feet tall by four feet wide, drove 1/2
inch rebar into the ground and set the conduit right down over the rebar.
I let them go
over onto the tomato cages because they were making the corn that was
supposed to support them fall over . This has adversely impacted the
sunlight to the tomatoes , and yields have suffered .
Several other things I'll do different next year ... like not grow corn .
Mine sucks , and the yield/area isn't that great .
I found out years ago that growing corn is hopeless in a small garden.
For a few years we did the old Indian thing, plant corn, climbing beans
and squash around the base. Corn grows tall, beans climb, squash shades
the ground. Even put a fish or two into each bed. Worked well enough to
get some corn, beans, and squash and taught my kids how my ancestors
gardened. Finally gave it up as there are more modern methods nowadays
that produce more produce.

Lettuces and spinach
will be in the ground before the snow if any melts , I'm tired of it
bolting as soon as it starts to produce . I pick lettuce , spinach , red
beet , bok choy as soon as the leaves are big enough to make a salad . Too
bad it all bolts before the tomatoes are ripe . Potatoes are still on
trial , we'll need to see what the yield is .
Right now , the list for next year is topped by strawberries worked hard
to get them established ! green beans Kentucky Wonder , I'm letting some
seed tomatoes variety not decided green onions we love 'em and a few
varieties of squash , including summer , zukes , acorn , and pumpkins .
What's your USDA heat zone Terry? We lived in 9b for years and moved to
8b a few years ago. Lettuce here grows for months before bolting in the
heat of summer. We planted chard last fall and are still harvesting some
on a weekly basis. Our chard is sheltered from the sun from noon on to
darkness and that is probably why it is doing so well. Now that it is
August the chard is slowing down a good bit.

A friend gave me starts of "bunching" onions twenty odd years ago, still
got them growing, even after a move. When we harvest a bunch we leave
the roots on one onion and trim the top back to just above the white
part and replant that one. A few weeks later we have another bunch
growing. Grew leeks last winter, they got huge, found out we don't care
for the taste. Planted Texas 1015Y sweet onion seed, got golf ball sized
onions. Won't do that again, they're cheaper at the supermarket here.

That's what gardening is all about, trial plantings sometimes make
sense, sometimes they don't. Keep on trying, it's still a lot of fun and
sometimes you're amazed at what you get.

George