THIN THE BEANS! THIN THE BEANS! They are too tight in their space, and none will do well. Bush beans should be eight-ten inches apart so that the beans can develop.

Your garden looks beautiful, and should be productive. But THIN THE BEANS.

Please.

Your plants look very nice.

It's a little difficult to evaluate the pole beans from the picture. One bean for each stick in that structure would be about right I think so far as light and air are concerned. I don't know if that would be right for the size of the container since I don't have experience with container growing.

The bush beans are fine. No need to provide support or to thin them.

Jim

I was typing while Nan was posting, so my message was not intended as a refutation of hers. However, I must disagree about thinning the bush beans. The site linked below advises 2" to 4" spacing in rows 18"to 24" apart. My experience supports that. I think the row spacing in your raised bed could be slightly less because you don't need to walk between the rows.

The site has pole bean information also, which requires you to interpret for your particular trellis situation.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Beans

The pole beans need thinning, but not the bush beans. I think the neighbor is correct about 4 plants per pot. Just take some small scissors and cut off the plants at the soil line. If you try to pull them out, you could disturb the plants you want to leave growing. Next year, thin these before they get 6-inches tall.

There is always 'next year!'

Leave the bush beans alone, but thin the pole beans. Also, it looks like the raised box bed is rather narrow, I am guessing 3 feet wide max? If so, teh squash will crawl its way out. I have never grown eggplant or brocolli, so no advise there but the cauliflower will need to have the forming heads "covered" to produce a white flower. You can either tie the leaves around it, or cover with some landscape fabric. I will admit that I never had luck with it.

Happy harvesting!

I agree with Teresa and others about thinning the pole beans. Beans don't like to have their roots disturbed, so using scissors to cut the plants at the soil line is a good idea.

Ann,
I'm no expert, but how many plants are there in the pole bean planters? How big is the pot (diameter)? I grew 4 plants per container in square kitty litter buckets (cleaned of course). I think they are about 2 gallons, maybe 10" square. So...if your pots are large, you may be able to save 6-10 plants per pot. It would break my heart to cut them off, but the others are right. No point in watering them for weeks and only getting a handful of beans.

I would suggest a flat type trellis and let the beans spread out as they climb.

My yellow wax bush beans are in a raised bed, 4 feet by 8 feet. I have 2 rows planted 6" apart the full 8'. Each seed within the row is about 3" apart (clear as mud??).

I'd leave the bush beans alone.

You'll have to trim a few leaves off your squash and if they are a vining type (acorn, butternut), train to the outside of the bed and let them crawl beside it. The vines can get 10' or longer!! If they are summer squash, they spread out by adding more "stalks" around the center. You can trim off any big ol' leaves that shade something else (sparingly, of course).

Broccoli can get big, but it depends on the variety. Mine isabout 18' high now and hasn't even started to head.

Never grown cauliflower or eggplant.
The peas will get 36" tall or better. Will they shade other plants? Which way does your raised bed sit? East/West or North/South? Or somewhere between??

Looks like you're going to be in pesto heaven!! Wish I liked the stuff..... I use a little basil in sauces, but don't really care for it otherwise. My daughter gave me a plant for Mother's Day called Red Rubin Basil. Looks like this (photo from web, not mine):

Deanna

Ann, you definitely do not need to thin the bush beans, mine are closer together than that, I never thin mine, ever. Not even when they are planted by the Monkey Princess and her Bruvver, as this year. I always plant them close together so I don't have to weed between the plants!

I've not much experience with pole beans, Elery says they grew them in Tennessee when he was a kid and he thinks that if they can crawl up the trellis they'd be OK, but his preference would be to thin them.

As has been noted, beans don't like to be transplanted, so you may not be successful in moving some to other pots.

The cauliflower only needs as much room as a head of cauliflower, although the outside green leaves will spread quite a bit further. I crowd mine with no apparent ill effect, much as I do brussels sprouts and cabbage.

Eggplant will grow up, but not out so much, I think those are also fine. Mine are further apart but don't look any healthier!

I'm envious of those little green tomatoes, but my basil is big enough to use, so I'll just have to be satisfied with that.

Annie

Thanks for the advice. I took the scissors out and cut the pole beans off at the sole level as suggested. Damn I hated to do that. LOL! And I left the bush beans alone.

Peppi, what do you mean by "covering the heads" of the cauliflower? All I have at the moment are leaves. Haven't seen anything that looks like the start of a cauliflower head. Do I do nothing until the head starts to grow (if it starts to grow). The broccoli is growing, but the cauliflowers do not look like they are doing anything.

Deanna, I knew that the squash would grow outside the box, but I had no idea that they would get that long. They are acorn squash. Thanks for the warning. There is lots of room for them to spread out. Will the English Cucumbers grow outside the boxes too?

Annie, I'm glad to know that your bush beans are planted close together. I hated the idea of having to pull out some of them too.

My yellow beets have finally started to grow. But they are only up about 1/2 inch or so. I don't know if they are just slow growers or if they aren't doing well. The Radishes are growing well and it looks like the small white turnips are thriving too. I'll be disappointed if I don't end up with yellow beets.

Last year was a bad year for basil but this year it is really healthy.

Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate your advice.

Ann

Ann, even my Detroit Dark Red beets are slow to start. I had no luck at all with the golden beets, they didn't like my climate, I think. I hope yours does better, but don't give up on them.

My beets right now are less than an inch tall and they've been in the ground for over a month. You'll be surprised, I think, suddenly they'll have a growth spurt and you'll wonder what in the heck happened!

the cauliflower will make heads eventually, you'll see them starting in the very middle, much like cabbage starts with just loose leaves and then gets a tiny head in the middle. It'll happen.....

Annie

Don't thin the bush beans is right. The only thing you want to be sure of is that when you're picking, you carefully look over all the plants. In the past I've planted them very thick and find that when I'm picking I have missed a lot of beans because of the tangle or thickness. Get some pretty big ones next time around.

Ann,
I use the cheapo metal tomato cages on my English cucumbers.
Works great. They'll get about 3 feet high or so. I like to keep the cukes up off the ground for two reasons....
1. I have trouble with "critter" when they touch the soil, and
2. The cukes grow long and straight. If they touch the ground they start to curl. Still good, just bent. LOL

I love my English cukes. I'll never go back to slicers!!

Deanna