When is the correct time to start off sowing green beans indoors?
Some people say March, others say April...
The idea is to get them started indoors, then plant alongside a garden
fence.

I get through lots of plastic coffee cups from the vending machine at
work -- Could I use these to start seeds off? If so, do they need a
drainage hole in the bottom.

Thanks
Bruce

Now is a good time to prepare their eventual bed in the garden

Thanks, I gave it a dig over a few weeks back when it was pretty mild.
Then came the hard frosts, so thats OK.

My new veg patch is about 6ft x 4ft. I plan to grow green beans up
round two sides which are covered by fences. Then maybe a couple of
rows of spuds in the centre (I'm currently chitting these indoors).

Question: I would also like to grow a few carrots. Could I do this in a
compost bag?
Bruce

wrote in message
ps.com...
When is the correct time to start off sowing green beans indoors?
Some people say March, others say April...
The idea is to get them started indoors, then plant alongside a garden
fence.

I get through lots of plastic coffee cups from the vending machine at
work -- Could I use these to start seeds off? If so, do they need a
drainage hole in the bottom.

Thanks
Bruce

OK short answers
Yes, yes,yes!

Start the beans when you are ready. March is good. April is also good.
Start some now, some in two weeks and some more two weeks later.
Plant half of each batch out when you think frost has passed and the other
half three weeks later.

This should give you six trenches in different stages of readiness. Try some
planted out directly too.

Make a note of which give you the best results, remember for next year!

Plastic cups for starter seeds. - Yes. But consider newspaper pots.
Should they be holed? - Yes

And sat in a tray/window box of gravel.. Water the gravel, not the plants.
Let the plant find its way down to the water.

HTH

Dave

4 weeks later on and Batch No. 1 is shooting up. The shoots are about
4-6 inches high!
It's not yet warm enough to plant out. Should I "pinch off" the top
growth -- looks like they may get spindly if they keep growing.

Thanks,
Bruce

" writes
4 weeks later on and Batch No. 1 is shooting up. The shoots are about
4-6 inches high!
It's not yet warm enough to plant out. Should I "pinch off" the top
growth -- looks like they may get spindly if they keep growing.


What sort of beans? Are they climbing or dwarf?

--
Kay

wrote in message
oups.com...
4 weeks later on and Batch No. 1 is shooting up. The shoots are about
4-6 inches high!
It's not yet warm enough to plant out. Should I "pinch off" the top
growth -- looks like they may get spindly if they keep growing.

Thanks,
Bruce


Don't pinch off the tops. Very gently secure the end of a piece
of string* at the edge of each pot and very gently wind the string
around the stem. Clockwise if they're runners, anti-clockwise
if they're climbing french beans * and find some way of securing
the strings above the beans. They're not too long as such, but
if they're allowed to flop over, and grow horizontally, they
could get tangled up. And you'll damage them trying to
untangle them. When it's time for planting out, you can
continue to train them up their strings - based on a framework
of canes - you tie these strings to strings already hung from
a cross piece above. Or you can simply wind the strings
very loosely and carefully around the foot of the canes.
Being very careful not to pinch the stems at any point.
Vessels in the stems will be supplying water and nutrient
to the plant when it's 8 ft tall. Once they're damaged
in any way, that's it. Finito.


michael adams

....

* long enough to secure it to something overhead

** In the Northern hemsisphere, from above runner beans
wind clockwise all other climbing beans anti clockwise.

Climbing.
The advice I have had seems to be not to pinch 'em, but to try to
support them.
I won't be planting out until after Easter, but I should be able to
prop them up somehow.

Bruce

wrote in message
ups.com...
Climbing.
The advice I have had seems to be not to pinch 'em, but to try to
support them.
I won't be planting out until after Easter, but I should be able to
prop them up somehow.

Bruce


If you pinch them out, all you'll do is get two new leaders
growing from the first leaf node back. Where the leaf stalk
joins the stem. Just twice as much trouble, in a few weeks
time.

You shouldn't plant them out until all possibility of frost
has passed in your area, wherever and whenever that is.
Usually around late April in the South East and around
the coasts, not forgetting any Scottish islands warmed by
the Gulf Stream, Mid May in the Midlands and inland generally,
and earliest of all late March in Cornwall and other areas
benefiting fully from the Gulf Stream. This is the sort
of information you need to research for yourself.

This year has shown how fast they can grow and so might suggest
planting a bit later next year.

Or sow some more later this year.

Growing them up strings inside, does give them a bit of a
head-start for when they can be safely planted out, nevertheless.


michael adams

....

wrote in message
oups.com...
4 weeks later on and Batch No. 1 is shooting up. The shoots are about
4-6 inches high!
It's not yet warm enough to plant out. Should I "pinch off" the top
growth -- looks like they may get spindly if they keep growing.

Thanks,
Bruce

Think you've planted a little on the early side bruce, I've done this myself
in years past and now your problem is going to be managing the rapid
climbing growth until safe to plant out. It's a pain unless you've got a
queu gardens size greenhouse. Even then the "tangles" need sorting
regularly. I've found early planting of the likes of beans and tomatoes a
waste of time as once they sprout given the improved light they soon catch
up on anything that's been planted earlier.
Good Luck
You'll know better for next year