I've never planted two packs of beans at one time so I can't speak to that. But I did sow early (Feb instead of May). My first of Feb sowing are blooming now. During the nights when it'd freeze, I cover them and remove the cover in the morning. But I live in zone 8 and only had to do this a dozen more times. I also only do early sowing for bush beans that can stand the cold, like Royal Burgundy. I'm not sure if I'm doing this right because I've only grown beans for two years. But I sow only a few bush beans at one time and sow again in a few weeks, and continue sowing into early fall. For pole beans, I sow twice a year. Last fall, my last sowing never harvested and I only lost a few beans. Maybe try the successive planting next time so you won't lose all your beans to mother nature. If these were my beans, I'd probably leave them there and cover with some fabric or cheap weed barrier. When they sprouted, I will remove the cover and only use the cover during freezing or frost day. If all that fail, buy another two packs in May knowing I will harvest hundreds from them, plant them next year, and feed an army with beans.

I have posted this in the Allium forum... Thank you

"Part of me wants to pinch out the flowers and possibly the internode leaf sets, but another part of me wonders if maybe this is normal or should be left alone." I think they are doing what is natural for them. I would leave them alone. "Should I lift the lights up a bit to get them to reach up and grow taller for more light? Is an 18 hour photoperiod detrimental to their growth?" Keeping the plants short is not detrimental. It's best to keep the lights close, which is always beneficial. I use 14 hrs. for various plants I don't grow beans under lights) but 24 hrs. has been used by some folks. I think there is nothing wrong with 18 hrs. "What factors would be involved with setting flower at 4 inches tall? Should I scrap these greenbeans and start new ones, or are they worth saving?" One fact you didn't mention is age of the plants. Height of the plants can be affected by distance from lights and hours of light per day. Blooming at 4 inches high may be fine if the plants are mature enough for that. If the plants are healthy I would continue to grow them. "Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to use the correct terminology, and include all information necessary to solve the confusion." You did well except for omitting the age of the plants. Jim

Some years it's too early, some years it's just fine. And there isn't a perfect way to predict ;-) Seed is relatively inexpensive, and I usually have way more than I need, so an early (take a chance planting) is fine in my opinion. If it freezes out, or grows poorly, what's the worst that happens? You just replant. You can try covering things at night with old blankets or a couple of layers of bedsheets. I haven't really done this with new seedlings, usally I am covering things on the other end of the season, to avoid autumn freeze. The important thing, is keep a journal of this. I simply use a themebook, as I can take it out into the garden to write notes. You may find that your particular yard is warmer or colder than your surrounding area. Mine is a bit colder than what the weather predicts for my area. The fact that my yard sits lower than all the neighbors allows the cold air to settle, it seems. Then again, I have my veggies in the highest area of my yard, and use raised beds, which are geting higher every year, so maybe I'm slowly counter-acting that. What I'm saying here, is there are variances from garden to garden. You might be just perfect for your yard, with your plantings :-) I hope I'm making sense with this. Anyway, keep lots of notes about your garden in a journal. You will be amazed at what you can learn, by looking back a year or two, and realizing, there might be a trend. Then you investigate a bit. A journal is great winter reading when the plant catalogues come out, too. :-)