Camp, I too cannot stand butter beans from a can nor frozen, these are just as terrible and overly large and tough as the green peas found in tv dinners, yuk. Wayne, thanks for the Fordhook bush tip but my bush days are over except for snaps (green beans) which is the best way to freeze large fresh batches at once. My back ain't what she used to be so my days bending over to pick BBs is behind me. Last year while I was expecting a dismal repeat of King of the Garden limas I planted Butter Peas bush variety as a back-up, these were productive and tasty but way too much effort bending over to harvest. Sticking to pole picking. PN, wonder what the heck happened to Sieva seed beans? If King of the Hill seed wasn't offered around here we'd have zero pole varieties on the market today. Wish too that I had saved some Sieva seed :(

I would like to do a trade. I'm interested in your: stevia: natural sugar plant black eyed susan vine: yellow and orange mix celosia: tall plume variety white celosia: tall plume variety pink millet: red/purple gomphrenea: (globe amaranth) dark purple, lite purple, white and strawberry fields red tithonia: mexican sunflower I have 12 different varieties of zinnias and 8 different varieties of sunflowers (maybe some you don't already have?) Also check out my trade list. Please email me to discuss. Thanks! Becky

"If I put one pole bean plant every 24 inches will that plant branch out and produce more than 5 plants in the same 24 inches planted 6 inches apart." Probably not... but that would depend, in large part, upon the variety. Note the single plant of "Pole 191" below: This plant alone produced nearly a pound of dry seed! Less rampant varieties (such as "Fortex", "Emerite", "Trionfo Violetto") would probably benefit from the close spacing. I tested that theory with "Emerite" this year, which has been noted as a relatively low-yielding variety. When thinned to hills of 2@12" (same as one per 6"), it produced a spectacular yield - and is still bearing. Most half-runner varieties would likely give their best performance at this spacing as well. However, the more rampant varieties (such as "Goose", "Pole 191", "Kentucky Wonder", and "Garafal Oro") might be more than a little crowded. Their optimal spacing seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12" between plants. For beans with the tendency to branch heavily, they will indeed spread out if given space... but 24" between plants would probably be excessive for most pole beans. To me, when planting in rows along a trellis, the optimal spacing for a variety is the widest that still produces an unbroken canopy of foliage at maturity. As a rule, while the yield per plant will be lower when plants are more closely spaced, the yield for a given area will be higher. This concept works well for farmers, since they need the maximum attainable yield per acre. They are not concerned with size, or quality... only bulk. Smaller ears of corn, for example, don't matter, as long as there are more of them. For gardeners, though, aesthetics matter. We want the largest, the most attractive, the most flavorful. For snap beans, crowded plants might produce more, but smaller, pods. I personally prefer the results of wider spacing, since it allows each variety to exhibit its true potential, and because I believe it produces larger & stronger seed... but if space is limited, that may not be an option. Yield aside, there are other considerations for pole bean spacing: - Beans are more prone to disease when the foliage becomes dense enough to block airflow; so in moist climates, or where disease is prevalent, wider spacing may be advisable. - Since close spacing may stunt the vines, it may be a desirable tactic if growing pole beans on a relatively short support, such as a 4-5' fence. - While the yield for a single picking of snap beans may be greater with close spacing, it may be less sustained. Years back, when I planted my beans closer together, I noticed that the vines "tired" soon after the first picking, regardless of variety. They would often bounce back later in the season, after a period of little to no yield... but with wider spacing, I usually have nearly continuous yield. The overall yield of snap beans for a given area - for the entire season - may be higher for plants given wider spacing; but I have, at present, no data to support this. It would be a really great experiment, but every picking throughout the season (for each spacing) would need to be harvested, weighed, and recorded - a truly arduous task, which is why I have never done it.

Sheri, The blossoms themselves have nothing to do with blossom end rot. It is really just a physiological problem involving calcium uptake, and the blossom has nothing to do with that--once the fruit has set, the blossom is just "an innocent bystander". You can pick the blossom off after a fruit has formed, but it won't have any effect either way. I think you and I both should be VERY grateful that our plants are alive and producing in this wild and wacky weather, because it appears we are in the minority who are having success. One of my "old rancher" neighbors stopped by to see me yesterday. He said he was being nosy and just wanted to know how my tomatoes were doing. I told him that it was a rough year and that I was getting ripe tomatoes, but not as many and not as early as in previous years. He told me that "no one" in Love County was getting any tomatoes at all---well, that is, except for the two of us. He ran down the long list of tomato growers we both know, and some that I don't know, describing what was wrong with their plants or what had happened to their plants. He described the plants of one of his friends who farms down on sandy river-bottom soil as being totally defoliated ("not a single leaf") and wanted to know why. I told him I assumed they were in high water underground since he was so close to the river, and that the leaf drop was a sign the plants weren't going to make it. He said that was what he thought too. He then asked me what I was doing with my tomatoes, and I told him we'd been eating them. I told him I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce earlier in the week, and a big pot of tortilla soup later in the week. He asked if I made them with my green tomatoes, and I told him I used ripe ones. (I didn't really understand his question----was he trying to imply I didn't have ripe tomatoes?) Anyway, I think maybe he was hoping I would offer him some of our ripe tomatoes---but I didn't. I have plans for them, and I know he IS getting ripe tomatoes, so I am not giving him mine. What I think he REALLY wanted was for me to give him 5 or 10 gallons of ripe tomatoes to take and give away to all his farmer/rancher buddies who have suffered a tomato crop failure this year. I did that in 2004, but I am not giving as many away this year because I feel like the harvest could cease anytime, especially if the rain continues. So, there you have it....I am being selfish and stingy and not giving away tomatoes this year, and I am unapologetic about it. In the good years, I give away hundreds of tomatoes, but in the bad years, everyone else is on their own. After what I have had to go through to get this harvest, it is not walking out the door with someone else. Isn't that a terrible attitude--I am NOT usually like that. I really cherish each and every tomato I get this year, though, because it has been such a hard year and a large harvest is not guaranteed. With six inches of rain since Friday evening, I am afraid my plants are in serious trouble. Watch your plants---they can go downhill VERY fast at this point. If the yellowing progresses rapidly up the plants, you can take cuttings from the healthiest foliage at the top of the plant and root them in water or soil. In just a couple of weeks those cuttings will provide you with new plants in case yours decline/die quickly. I have gone from a garden full of semi-healthy plants to a garden full of dead plants in about a month's time in very rainy weather. Once the sun comes out and begins stressing plants already stressed by excessive moisture, early blight and other problems gather steam like a fast freight train. Dawn