nancyjane: well, at least she knew it smelled like COW poop- that City gal!!ha Now pig & chicken poop smell entirely different but 'poop' never- the- less! The manure x the dairies around here smells awful ... those cows do not belong in a dirt enclosure & fed heaven- knows- what from bins... they belong in a green pasture to eat normal 'cow food'-grass! The cow manure x a pasture smells different & when dry & dug in the garden actually smells good & makes me homesick for the 'country'which cracks my husband (city slicker) up! Thanks for all the help everyone!! : I put the cut beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes, drained them & fill the kettle with cold water and ice cubes. I then drained the cooled beans & filled gallon zip-loc bags half full, squeezed the air out & froze them. I did not dry them first so wonder what that will do to the texture when I thaw them? Yes, I like to add onion, garlic & crumbled bacon in them & for me I add some vinegar like the Germans back home did but hubby wants none of that vinegar! It has been a long time since I grew beans so I had forgotten how to freeze them correctly as earlier I later just boiled the beans I froze with out blanching them first before freezing & they were TOUGH when thawed & cooked! I had forgotten how many beans a 10 ft. single row would keep producing! The yellow bush wax beans are not quite ready yet & I do like the too!

Many varieties will set a smaller second crop. The easier way is to do the succession planting suggested by nhbabs. Some 60 years I tried a variety named Commodore which was touted as an everbearer. It did bear continuosly for a fair period, but not many at a time. I am one of those folks who like to get a crop in and out, I hate dribling harvests so I did not care for Commodore.

I have the exact problem - vigorous vines but no flowering for 2 years now in the same location that 3 years and before I had many beans. My treliis is actually an arbor than can be walked under @ 7 feet high. My pH is 7-7.5, micronutrients are not lacking, N is low but P &K are excessive. Am adding sulfur to lower pH but suspect the problem is something else. I've checked into toxicants from tree roots (not too far away) but not sure on that. I regularly add hardwood leaf compost mixed with grass clippings so am wondering if that is a factor. Sunlight is 6 hours a day so don't think that's the problem. We had severe Spring droughts for the past 2 years, but I've watered every other day though wonder if I was getting enough down for uptake during the bloom period. Temperatures were excessive - mid 90's- so am suspecting that as the main culprit. Am to the point of pruning the layering vines in hopes of getting results when things cool in the Fall. I've typically had excellent blooming & bean production just before the first frost. Other experiences? Advice?

If yours was raised from seed fruiting is possible. If it was instead a grafted named form, significant fruiting is much less likely as nearly all modern cultivars have been selected in part for setting few fruits. Like the thorns the pods are considered a detriment when planting for amenity use. Since this is a large-growing species it seems seed-raised trees might take many years to reach flowering age, this is common with other kinds of tall trees. Grafted cultivars now prevalent have the sexual maturity of the parent plant and are therefore likely to flower at a small size. Possibly this has produced an impression that it is normal for trees to bloom young.