I already use succession planting rather heavily. Sometimes I feel that I need to let some of my beds 'rest'. To give an example, Two of our trellises that were built for pole beans, already have pole peas climbing on them. One of them has some pole beans still, just because i planted them pretty late. I plan on putting pole peas there in a few weeks as well. Here are three 'new' things i plan to do next year:

1. Next year I will plant the pole beans that do not tolerate heat really early in the spring, and then when they bite the dust I will plant the yard long type cow peas in their place (maybe around July). This way i can get:

Peas => non-heat tolerant common beans => cow peas => peas again

(he he I told you, no rest for that bed.....)

2. Another strategy I will try is planting epazote and cilantro near my cow peas. Also near my Fortex (bear with me, I'll explain). I am doing this for my artichokes and it seems to be working. Epazote repels ants, and cilantro flowers attract lady bugs. This way I can discourage the ants from farming aphids on the cow peas. The lady bugs can eat any aphids that still want to get there. The same thing happened with some of my Fortex beans, so same planned strategy.

3. Do not freeze any beans, (except for shellies and peas) but pickle more! lots more! Everybody is loving the dilly pickled beans, and we did not make enough. All the frozen beans on the other hand are going into the dog food. It is OK, the dogs do not mind.

For several years I planted in blocks going north to south, but next year I'm planting in long rows going east to west, with the shortest plants in front to the south. This way they should all get the most sun. Corn will still be block planted on the north side.

Also I might finally get over the intensive gardening compulsion to crowd plants, and leave more room between them. I usually plant beans every six inches, I might plant every 12 inches, and put tomatoes 4 feet apart instead of 3 feet apart.

Usually I rototill the whole area in spring, plan the beds, and shovel paths between them, so I walk on hard soil and have raised beds. Got tennis elbow two years in a row and can't shovel that much any more, so next year I'll roll out plastic IRT mulch on the beds and hold the edges down with long two foot strips of discarded carpeting. I'll walk on the canvas side, and will be able to roll the carpet up to check for slugs spending the day underneath on the moist plush side. That ought to cut down on the weeds too.

Oh yeah, a new tip from this year. Usually I cut plant markers out of white plastic containers and write on them with "permanent" marker, but the ink would fade in a few weeks. By fall most markers were unreadable. This year I wrote on them with a Super Mark Ear Tag Pen. This is the first fall that I can save and reuse markers, as they are still as bright as the day I made them. The pen was 7 bucks at the farm supply, but worth it.

Mini blinds make good labels and I use china markers (grease pencils) these don't fade, don't wash off, if you want to reuse the label just wipe the label off with a cloth. Ink pens are good too, if you want something permanent.

Annette

Dean, maybe you have really different conditions than do I, but my tepees almost never blow over. I use a 6' breaker/pry bar and make holes at least a foot deep to sink my poles. I tie the tepees at the top, and they will stand through almost anything. Still, I believe cattle panels make better use of the space.

I'm going to be sure to give my bean varieties at least 20' space, between them, and my greasy beans will be 100' away from all others (to avoid crossing).

George
Tahlequah, OK

George, if you run out of cattle panels, concrete reinforcing wire and a couple of metal posts work well too. You can cut CRW into any length, the openings are 6" by 6" so easy to measure. Also you can roll into circles and cut off the bottom lateral wire to make a dandy tomato cage that sticks into the ground.

New strategies:

String a better trellis. Garden twine is cheap and easy to take down between plantings (cut right across verticals, vines and all) but just can't stand up to the wind and weather for more than a few months. CRW probably.

Continue to experiment with perennials.

Join SSE to get better access to interesting bean varieties and maybe connect with island growers.

12" row spacing is tempting but i don't think my haphazard approach to watering supports that. This year i used 24" spacing, maybe i can try 18"?

Better planning to provide a small but continuous harvest, enough of this feast/famine business!

Either create a better windbreak or find bean varieties that don't mind being pruned to a lower height.

mauirose,
I bought nylon trellis netting last year and have really liked it. It has been up since last spring and still looks brand new. It is soft like yarn, not hard like plastic or fishing line. Here is the description ... Trellis Netting is made of high-quality nylon and will maintain 60% of its original strength after 20 years in the sun. It has a lifetime guarantee, so that if it should ever fail mail it back for a free replacement. This is heavy-duty nylon netting with a 60 lb. breaking strength will support extremely heavy crop loads.

One of the manufacturers ... http://www.gardeneer.com/nettingfencing/b1_trellisnet.html
This is where I bought it ... http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/category/garden-trellis-netting

After an extensive internet search, I listed the best prices I found in the following thread ...
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg0623341120512.html
When I bought it, it was on sale for $13.50 for the 60 foot long netting. The regular price is $18.00

Wow Angela, that is so nice of you to do all that research. Thank-you.

very neat strategies, cabrita, happyday andothers.

For marker I use wooden popsicle sticks, from dollar store.

For treliss, I use plastic fencing. The holes are 1/2 by 1". It should be fine for bean and peas. But cucumbers got stuck in them(Not recommend for cucurbita).Get from HD>

For eggplant; To prevent those nasty flies making holes on the leaves, I think I have found a dandy solution that I will try this year. That is a very fine woven nylon French tulle. They come in various colors. I will get green.
They can be also used as rabbit deterent where there is no fence. Because they are super light weight, you can just throw them over plants/seedling. One draw back is that pollinators like bees cannot work. But with self pollinating plants like eggplants, peppers, .. not a problem.