Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Snoop on March 28, 2014, 09:11
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I've just been reading the multi-coloured veg thread, on which Surbie says she (I think) grew six climbing French bean plants, which produced more than enough for her needs.
I've been pondering on the issue of how many beans is reasonable. I guess it makes a difference whether you're talking dwarf or climbers and what your needs are. I was thinking about 40 climbing French beans, 20 climbing borlotti and maybe 40 each of Sonesta and Nassau dwarf beans - grown successionally if I can manage it. There are just the two of us, though any surplus is gratefully received by friends and neighbours. Maybe I'm totally overdoing it. I should say I haven't grown climbing beans successfully before, but am more hopeful this year as they'll be going into a relatively sheltered site.
So how many bean plants do you grow?
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I grow 20 purple French climbing beans,
20 runner beans,
20 climbing shelling beans Spagna Bianco
20 dwarf French sown later to fit into gaps wherever they appear :D
That's enough fresh for 3 adults & 2 kids and enough to freeze for me for winter use.
The dried ones are just for me.
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Last year I grew 50 runner beans (from Growster ) 20 Blue Lake climbing french beans and 40 Tendergreen
dwarf french beans .
That was enough for our family ( 12 of us )and plenty for friends and neighbours .
The year before last I grew Cobra climbing beans , and will be growing again this year, as I thought the yield
was greater than blue lake .
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I grew about 16 climbers (for both pods and dried beans) and 12 dwarf, and that was more than enough for me alone. I had them coming out of my ears for weeks!
having said that I have even more planned for this year, though only because I have so many varieties i want to try ::)
I'm already clearing freezer space ;)
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Because it's so windy here, I grow my French beans in the greenhouse. I found two climbing ones (Cobra) was plenty for the two of us as they grew like triffids! The last couple of years I have grown dwarf ones with my sweetcorn and had plenty from 2 batches of 5 plants (one early and one later on). Picking regularly helps in their production. This year I'm trying one purple climber and some Montano dwarf - maybe in 2 batches of 6 so there's more for the freezer.
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Looks like I was going to be totally overdoing it! This is great news, mind. More room for other things... Now where's that seed catalogue? :D
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I've just been reading the multi-coloured veg thread, on which Surbie says she (I think) grew six climbing French bean plants, which produced more than enough for her needs.
So how many bean plants do you grow?
Yes, I am a she. ;)
Also grew 8 yellow dwarf French beans and a few purple ones, they are ready before the climbers are I find. I eat a lot of beans...
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Thanks Surbie. I'm really glad I started this thread. I'll have lots of room for other things, maybe even some Spunta potatoes which our plot neighbours have bought locally and which my oh said looked quite impressive (good size and very healthy chits) and only a euro a kilo... More peppers and chillies... More fancy-coloured carrots...
You guys have really made my day!
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Is there a chart somewhere with the average yields per plant for the more obvious veg? I'm in my third year and still getting it very wrong and running out of freezer too soon. I know it varies plot to plot, area to area, and even year to year, but it would give us relative newbies a clue if there is such a thing out there. I might try gurgle, but I kind of trust you guys...
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This may help
http://www.organicgarden.org.uk/gardening/vegetables/how-much-veg-to-plant/
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I prefer the type called filet beans, a slimmer, smoother and slightly smaller pd variety that's a bush type. I grow between 30-40 plants per year but never have enough for fresh eating and bottling, so this year I plan to grow about 80 plants. Runner beans produce so heavily that I limit them to 4 now, my fave being White Lady. Lovely pods and a good producer.
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Hi Trillium, how many people do you feed?
And MoS, thanks for that link. Very useful.
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looks like I may of over done it then :lol: 10 dwarf french and runner for poly to get earlies ! and 20 ft rows of french and runners outside (thats double rows) and only 4 of us :blush:
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You could well have overdone it there man unless you have a big freezer, lots of friends and are prepared to pickle a few ..... :D
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I do have freezer space and I do like runner chutney but think I may cut back on the planned french .
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The trouble is - that while they are in season I could live on beans :D
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We're 3 in our house but only 2 eat beans (the other just sneers at them :D) I like to pressure bottle lots with a clove of garlic in each jar for winter eating since my climate won't stretch to growing anything like that through winter, and the freezers always burst with our homegrown fruit and other edibles.
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We grew two rows with about 10 plants in each row, they were claiming French beans (sultana) and were the most successful we have had.
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The trouble is - that while they are in season I could live on beans :D
Likewise, MoS.
Trillium, I read somewhere that bottling beans is difficult to do at home. Do you have any special techniques you wouldn't mind sharing over on the cooking forum?
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I salt mine successfully in sweet jars
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I have what's known as a pressure canner and I use mason jars in the canner. The canner is under 10 lbs of pressure (regulated) for about 25 minutes and that raises the temperature much higher than just boiling water. All bacteria, etc are killed in the process yet the beans still have a nice texture after processing.
Pressure canning isn't that common in the UK but units can be obtained. They're an excellent investment for the long term as I even do meat in the jars, and the open pot can be used as a water bath pot as it's fairly heavy duty.
I have this unit HERE (http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican915pressurecanner.htm) but I'd like the bigger one that will stack twice as many bottles. Sadly, I'd need to win the lottery to buy the bigger unit as they're wickedly expensive, about $600 Canadian.
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Had 12 climbing French beans and despite the fact we love I was giving them away - but I will repeat the number this year as it's a nice thing to do!
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Wow, Trilllium. I have an ordinary pressure cooker, but that thing looks like a monster. 21lbs - I guess you don't move it once it's full!
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Well, it is sort of heavy once you put in 7 quart or 8 pint jars and 2" of water but it's manageable if you need to move it (which I don't). It's made of thick aluminium to withstand the internal pressure which is how you get the higher heat to process whatever. But there's no real reason to move it when you're cooking with it. I have special lifting tongs to remove individual bottles once they're done and all that's left inside is maybe an inch of water.
I've successfully done butter, meats and all sorts of veg. The past summer I did fresh corn off the cob and wondered if it would turn out soggy. To my surprise, it was nicely crisp and tasty. Same with the french beans.
There's also an easy technique to bottle your own dried beans to be ready to add to chilis, soups and such.
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Well, I've had a look on Amazon.co.uk and they list your beauty but say it's no longer available. :( I may not have green fingers, but I'm certainly green with envy. This is just what I'm looking for, as we live off grid and have no freezer, so it's impossible to store surplus produce unless it's bottled (canned).
Maybe, by the time I've managed to save up enough, Amazon will have yours back in stock. They have a Presto now, but I like the idea of yours being gasket free. No spare parts to worry about and no concerns that the gasket might fail.
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The gaskets tend to be fairly durable. If anything, someone damaging or losing the gasket is the bigger problem. You can always order a spare gasket to have on hand when needed. Order it the same time as the unit to guarantee availability and you get the right size. I have friends with the Prestos and they love them.
Off grid living is the perfect scenario for pressure canners. I've recently bought an outdoor cooker called a rocket stove and am getting a local welder to construct a simple yet strong 4 legged cooking stand to set just over the cooker. The weight of a full canner would, over time, crush the actual cooker unit so the strong stand guarantees long life to everything. And by using twigs and other biomass (dried manure, pinecones, etc), you greatly reduce the cost of canning/bottling.
I have this same unit and found an old bbq table on wheels to set it on (rather than the ground) to move it where needed easily. STOVE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsDjcv5vO4c)
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I do have freezer space and I do like runner chutney but think I may cut back on the planned french .
French beans make perfectly good chutney (in fact I prefer them to runner beans).
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looks like I may of over done it then :lol: 10 dwarf french and runner for poly to get earlies ! and 20 ft rows of french and runners outside (thats double rows) and only 4 of us :blush:
Unless you are planning to feed the neighbours as well, that sure is a lot of beans Sparkyrog :ohmy:
There are two of us, plus the our two adult children and their families, who benefit from our harvests too, so I grow 24 runner, 24 climbing French beans and 12 climbing Borlotti type for drying, plus 24 dwarf French beans for outside, with six or so for early beans in the greenhouse (which are now three plants since I dropped the tray of cucumber plants on them ??? )
That gives up plenty to freeze as well
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looks like I may of over done it then :lol: 10 dwarf french and runner for poly to get earlies ! and 20 ft rows of french and runners outside (thats double rows) and only 4 of us :blush:
Unless you are planning to feed the neighbours as well, that sure is a lot of beans Sparkyrog :ohmy:
There are two of us, plus the our two adult children and their families, who benefit from our harvests too, so I grow 24 runner, 24 climbing French beans and 12 climbing Borlotti type for drying, plus 24 dwarf French beans for outside, with six or so for early beans in the greenhouse (which are now three plants since I dropped the tray of cucumber plants on them ??? )
That gives up plenty to freeze as well
I can sell surplus if needed the pub who's garden I do will take them ;)
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Earning a few pence for more seeds, sparky? :D
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At least with beans, they store extremely well, so no need to worry about over production. In fact, I highly recommend podding any runners and freezing the beans. Delicious during the Winter. I tend to dry the French beans.