Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my 8
year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
out or do we just let is grow as it likes?

Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so love
for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.

L

"Butterfly" wrote in message
news:jeIoc.86$6X5.34@newsfe1-win...
Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my
8
year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
out or do we just let is grow as it likes?

Let it do its own thing until it reaches the top of the canes then pinch
out.

Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so
love
for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.

He will.
Plenty of water and away you go.

I bet you plant more next year.
That's how it works. :-))

Steve
http://mysite.freeserve.com/steveandmaggiesplot

"Butterfly" wrote in message
news:jeIoc.86$6X5.34@newsfe1-win...
: Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my
8
: year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
: at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
: up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
: out or do we just let is grow as it likes?
:
: Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so
love
: for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.
:
: L
:
The tip only needs to be pinched out when it gets to the top of the cane (or
roughly as high as you want it to go) and then it'll thicken etc. If you
have it in a pot, it will need lots and lots of water once it gets going.
This will also help the beans to set. Dare I say, in case your canes are not
really tall, that you should put something on top of the canes so nobody
gets a stick in the eye?

On Thu, 13 May 2004 12:02:00 +0000 (UTC), "Robert"
wrote:


"Butterfly" wrote in message
news:jeIoc.86$6X5.34@newsfe1-win...
: Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my
8
: year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
: at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
: up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
: out or do we just let is grow as it likes?
:
: Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so
love
: for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.
:
: L
:
The tip only needs to be pinched out when it gets to the top of the cane (or
roughly as high as you want it to go) and then it'll thicken etc. If you
have it in a pot, it will need lots and lots of water once it gets going.
This will also help the beans to set. Dare I say, in case your canes are not
really tall, that you should put something on top of the canes so nobody
gets a stick in the eye?


If you pinch the tip out how will it ever get tall enough for young
Jack to climb the beanstalk to the place where the giant lives in the
clouds?

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 May 2004 12:02:00 +0000 (UTC), "Robert"
wrote:


"Butterfly" wrote in message
news:jeIoc.86$6X5.34@newsfe1-win...
: Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but
my
8
: year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in
secret
: at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to
climb
: up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need
pinching
: out or do we just let is grow as it likes?
:
: Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so
love
: for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.
:
: L
:
The tip only needs to be pinched out when it gets to the top of the cane
(or
roughly as high as you want it to go) and then it'll thicken etc. If you
have it in a pot, it will need lots and lots of water once it gets going.
This will also help the beans to set. Dare I say, in case your canes are
not
really tall, that you should put something on top of the canes so nobody
gets a stick in the eye?


If you pinch the tip out how will it ever get tall enough for young
Jack to climb the beanstalk to the place where the giant lives in the
clouds?

Thank you for all the lovely, warmhearted and helpful replies - I always
knew that gardners were lovely people! this is obviously a newsgroup I shall
want to stick around and enjoy - hello everyone!

L

The message OPLoc.36$sh.26@newsfe6-win
from "Butterfly" contains these words:

Thank you for all the lovely, warmhearted and helpful replies - I
always knew that gardners were lovely people! this is obviously a
newsgroup I shall want to stick around and enjoy - hello everyone!

Didn't you know that butterflies are always welcome in the garden? G
Welcome Butterfly!

--
AnneJ

to the place where the giant lives in the
clouds?

Oh no he doesn't

In article OPLoc.36$sh.26@newsfe6-win, Butterfly
writes
Thank you for all the lovely, warmhearted and helpful replies - I always
knew that gardners were lovely people! this is obviously a newsgroup I shall
want to stick around and enjoy - hello everyone!

Join the happy circle Butterfly! :-)

Just one further tip to add to the good advice already given. Don't get
worried if the bottom trusses of the plant fail to produce pods - that
often happens with runner beans, it is due to non-pollination. Putting
it outside in 2-3 weeks time can aid pollination.

Best wishes to the 8 yr. old gardener.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

On Thu, 13 May 2004 11:37:45 +0100, "Butterfly"
wrote:

Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my 8
year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
out or do we just let is grow as it likes?

Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so love
for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.

Protect from Frost........last frost is later than you think.
Lots of water and feed.
Once you have beans pick them every day if you leave them on they will
stop producing

Dogger

The message jeIoc.86$6X5.34@newsfe1-win
from "Butterfly" contains these words:

Please don't laugh at my question - I've never grown beans before - but my 8
year old has just proudly bought home a bean he has been growing in secret
at school. We've planted it in a big pot and put in canes for it to climb
up - but is there anything else we should do? do the shoots need pinching
out or do we just let is grow as it likes?

Grateful for any replies - 8 year old is bursting with pride and I'd so love
for him to be able to pick beans from his plant.

If he's been growing it indoors, it needs to be gradually acclimatised
to outdoor life. It isn't frost-hardy, either, so beware of clear cold
nights between now and early June.

Janet

shazzbat wrote:

I bet you plant more next year.
That's how it works. :-))

Yes the long slippery slope. I had a red current and a black berry in my
last garden... now I can't move for tubs in the garden or seed trays
around the house. Too addictive.

Kev,

The message OPLoc.36$sh.26@newsfe6-win
from "Butterfly" contains these words:

Thank you for all the lovely, warmhearted and helpful replies - I always
knew that gardners were lovely people! this is obviously a newsgroup I shall
want to stick around and enjoy - hello everyone!

Hello Butterfly. Do stick around.

Runner beans benefit from a rich soil, and need quite a lot of it.

Might I suggest that you get a planter and fill it with potting compost,
having mixed in some bone meal, some hoof and horn, some bits of old
woollies and if you have it or can get some, well-rotted animal manure?
Carefully place the contents of your existing pot in the middle and make
a 'wigwam' from three tall canes and tie them at the top. Three canes
may be more than you need, but the wind can wreak havoc with single ones
when it has a top-hamper of beanvine.

You can grow catch-crops of things like radishes in the top of the
planter, and at the end of the year, as runner beans are very tender
perennials, either take the planter into a shed or greenhouse and allow
it to almost dry out, or dig up the root and store it in dry sand in an
open polythene bag. (or it will go mouldy)

Next year, it will throw up several shoots, and you'll get beans in
profusion, and much earlier. The longer you can do this and keep the
frost from it, the bigger the root will become and the denser the patch
of bean vines each spring.

You will get beans even from a vine in a smallish pot, but the smaller
the pot, the more you will have bonsai beans.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:
In article OPLoc.36$sh.26@newsfe6-win, Butterfly
writes

Thank you for all the lovely, warmhearted and helpful replies - I always
knew that gardners were lovely people! this is obviously a newsgroup
I shall
want to stick around and enjoy - hello everyone!

Join the happy circle Butterfly! :-)

Just one further tip to add to the good advice already given. Don't get
worried if the bottom trusses of the plant fail to produce pods - that
often happens with runner beans, it is due to non-pollination. Putting
it outside in 2-3 weeks time can aid pollination.

And another - while I concede that not everyone is convinced by this, in
dry weather it is said to help pollination if you spray the vine with a
mist of water droplets.

In a slightly haphazard experiment (mixed types of runners) I found that
it did help.

Best wishes to the 8 yr. old gardener.

Yes indeed! Catch 'em young and you'll have a gardener for life. But a
word of warning: once he finds the potting shed, you've lost him........

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from "Mike" contains these words:

to the place where the giant lives in the
clouds?

Oh no he doesn't

Oh yes he does! I've seen him. He comes by in his aeroplane.

--
Rusty (Plagued by low-flying Hercs and Sikorskis ATM)

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:


Best wishes to the 8 yr. old gardener.


Yes indeed! Catch 'em young and you'll have a gardener for life. But a
word of warning: once he finds the potting shed, you've lost him........
What caught me was picking pea pods and eating the peas before they got
to the kitchen. Did that when I was very little and still do that now.

Only a handfull last year ended up on a plate. The rest just a few steps
away.

Kev,