How many plants do I need for a decent crop?

I plant my runners two-per-cane and put a seed in when I plant out (for a later, follow-on crop).  I do the same for Climbing French (which tend to have a shorter cropping season, the Runners go on pretty much until first frost anyway)

Maybe depends a bit how far apart your canes are though

I was going for 8" apart.

I agree.

I grow my climbing peas like this:



Peas scattered in a 6" wide trench, approx 12 to a foot.

Doing the sums, I make the length you propose each side 4.666 feet, you could therefore accomodate 112 plants, a bit more realistic. Using netting, you will not need 8 canes each side, just sufficent to support it. You'd probably only need 3.

Thanks for all the responses, they're very helpful. Having digested all this info, here's my amended plan.

On the basis that Alderman and runner beans are bigger and more vigorous, I think I'm going to do a cane row for each rather than wigwams (6 each side for runner 1 plant/cane and 8 each side for Alderman, 2 plant/cane). This would give me 32 plants Alderman and 12 plants runner, to balance out the relative cropping densities. For the 2 French bean varieties, borlotto, mangetout, sugarsnap I'll do a wigwam each, and I'll risk 2 plants a cane. If they get too overgrown I can always chop bits out. That sound about right?

Shokkyy


See DD's post @8.41am

You should get far more than 32 peas in, just as he says.

I agree with lucywil,  beans up wigwams peas up netting.   Cheers,   Tony.

When you say net are we talking the plastic netting you get from the garden centres? And could they just be attached to a fence panel or do they need canes with the net secured away from the fence. Sorry if this seems like a silly question but i'm new to anything veg.

Cheers Bill

Not sure what you mean re feeding, I'll be feeding all of them with BFB

I actually meant how many people you are feeding, 4 people need more than 1 person so that would determine what would be classed as a decent crop

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  Sorry, it was a bit early in the day for me.  And I am blonde. There's just the two of us, though I would like enough to be able to freeze a few.

DD - I didn't see your post before, but thanks for that. That sounds like a good plan. I was going to start them off in modules and plant out seedlings, but maybe I'll sow them straight out, as you say. It would certainly be less hassle, I just tend to start most things off inside because I'm always convinced half of them either won't germinate outside or will get eaten by something. Would you also use this same method for mangetout and sugarsnap pea?

Mangetout go straight in, staggered sowings of about 6' at a time. Supported in the same way I support my "normal" peas. (You must have seen the piccies by now!).

If I use this same cane method for the mangetout and sugarsnap, I'd end up with a much bigger crop. It's an 18' bed, so I could cram in 3 X 6' cane rows for each of the three pea types down one side. And there's nothing to stop me sowing 2' of seed trench (on one or both sides) then the next 2' in a couple of weeks, which would stagger the crop a bit. The bed is 8' wide, so I can use one side for the pea canes, then on the other side do 3 wigwams for the 2 French bean varieties and borlotti, and then a 6' run of canes for the runner beans. and I might manage enough space in the middle to cram in a couple of squash plants.

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Shokkyy - hate to burst your bubble, but i've not managed to freeze mangetoute successfully at all, they go soggy and bitter whether they're blanched or not - if anyone knows how to freeze them properly I'd love to know.
I plant mine direct and they wind their way up string tied to posts as DD does, but I don't use net. I grew carouby de mausanne last year and Lidl's cheapy unnamed variety, both cropped well, this year I am going to try to repeat sow from March to August so should have some from Late May until October with any luck - love 'em (unlike runner and French beans which for some reason I cannot grow - and I will try White Lady this year DD !! 

Yes, I know. I wasn't planning on freezing the mangetout because that stuff just has to be crispy and nothing that's been frozen is ever going to be crispy again. But I do love mangetout as a green veg and in stir fries and salads, and we tend to get through quite a lot of it when it's in season. I did read somewhere that because carouby is a heritage variety it doesn't bear its crop all at the same time, as modern varieties tend to do, so I was kind of hoping it would stagger itself a bit.