# Pole beans/pea vine questions



## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

That should be enough sunshine for all your pole bean wishes. I like Kentucky wonder pole beans, they have a great flavor. 

I have a sugar snap pea that I grow, but it's a bush not a pole variety. Look around, you should be able to find a pole variety. I do have a pole variety of sugar pod pea, which is the flat stir fry sweet pea pod.

I dunno about the other bean you were talking about.

The bees will pollinate, but I see more carpenter bees on mine than I do honeybees, probably because when I grow my beans, there are other blooms in the area that are more nectar producing for the bees such as clover.


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## wmgysi (Feb 14, 2009)

*Peas and bees*

They go together well even in a poem. But seriously, I plant the pot peas that climb about 3 feet (our own seeds since 1981) and we get bumper crops every year (we do crop rotation and companion planting). They seem to like sandy soil but lots of water. You got lots of sun with your hours mentioned. they don't like too much sun so it is good that the hot evenings are cooled of by the back fence. Peas can go in right after frost or even a week before. Last year it was May 2. and 17. in our region 5 - 6. Like this you don't get all peas at once. They are a good selling crop at the local market too. People love them. I will do sugar snap peas this year as well. They are a legume and will bind nitrogen so you could plant something more demanding after, maybe garlic that goes in in October in our region (after the first frost). If you homestead I published a book called Harmonic Farming: a love style http://goolymooly.freewebsites.com and you can see some chapters about it there.
take care



NeilV said:


> I have a flowerbed where I would like to plant pole beans (green bean vines) or vining peas later this year. This area gets sun from about 8 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. (there is a privacy fence behind it to the west). If they will grow there, I figure I can get more yield and free up space in my other vegetable garden plots. I've got a decent sized yard, but it is very shady.
> 
> I have some questions regarding this plan:
> 
> ...


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

Peas come in varieties that can reach 6 ft., but they don't climb as well as beans, some type of mesh or trellis would probably be better than a smooth pole.

I would put the peas in a month before last frost, then when they wind down put beans in. Maybe some buckwheat around the beans to suck up all the N


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## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

Sounds like that is enough sun to produce.

The classic "Sugar Snap" Pea will grow to 6 feet. Several others like Sugar Sprint, or Sugar Daddy are much shorter; around 2-3 feet and can be grown without support. I agree with dcross that the peas are weaker climbers and will need more than a pole.

In hotter climates it's important to get the peas growing as early as you can. They really fade fast when the conditions warm up in late May or June. I already have pea plants germinating. They are pretty tuff and can take cold down into the low twenties for brief periods of time.

I don't know of any vinning crowderpea types.

My bees are always busy with other plants when the peas are in bloom.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

Walliebee,

what do you mean "already germinating"?
are you starting them inside?
I direct sowed last year
I have my seed sitting here on my desk, was hoping to plant after this next little cool snap

Dave


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

Thanks for the feedback.

I've ordered some Kentucky Wonder and sugar snap pea seeds, and I'll see what happens. It looks like the sugar snap peas are somewhat hardy and can be planted before the beans. My grandmother always used to grow Kentucky Wonder beans. As far as she was concerned, that was the only kind of green bean there was. And its good to see they are still around and available.

I would encourage anybody who has not tried them to plant some brown crowder peas. They are heat tolerant (but not frost tolerant). Here in Oklahoma, you can plant them in places where lettuce or onions were planted after those crops are harvested. If watered regularly, they can grow in the hot part of the summer. They are easy to grow. They are similar to black-eyed peas, but they are best harvested fresh, after the peas have developed and are crowded in the pod (that the reason they are called "crowder" peas). You hull the peas and discard the pods. I suppose you could dry them, but they are good cooked for 30-35 minutes with a little water, onion, salt, pepper and bacon. You definitely can leave some pods to dry for seeds.


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## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

drobbins said:


> Walliebee,
> 
> what do you mean "already germinating"?
> are you starting them inside?


Mine are just starting to emerge from the ground.
I also direct sow, but I help them out a bit before they go in the ground.

First, I try to time when we will have a break from really cold temperatures.

Then, I soak the seeds overnight. Drain them, dry them in a towel, and put them in a ziplock bag with a slightly moist paper towel.

After a couple of days they just start to germinate. Plant immediately!

Peas, like many other seeds will not germinate well in soil that is too cold, but once germinated will grow just fine.

It's just a little trick to get a nice stand of peas a few weeks ahead of normal.


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

I've grown sugar snap peas, and my experience is that they don't get very tall, but it could be that it warms up too early in this area for really good production. Peas like cooler climates in general.
I grew pole speckled butter beans last year, and will grow them every year now. They held up to the heat well, produced like crazy in late summer, did not succumb to the diseases that green pole beans do in this area. The bees did work them fairly heavily, but they are in the same vicinitiy of my large rosemary plant, which they definitely prefer.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

DF,

I think it depends on the exact variety
I had some last year that got 7' tall
it was a problem since I had inadequate scaffolding so they fell over
the ones I have this year (Sugar Lace II)are supposed to be self supporting and only get to 30"
There are quite a few varieties

Dave


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

I actually grow my pole beans on the edge of our property to act as an edible privacy fence


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

*Butterbean questions*

DF,

Are butterbeans like large Lima beans but taste better? I think my grandmother used to grow them.

Do you shell them fresh or let them dry?

When do you plant them? 

Thanks,

Neil


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

*pea picking good*



NeilV said:


> DF,Are butterbeans like large Lima beans but taste better? I think my grandmother used to grow them. Do you shell them fresh or let them dry? When do you plant them? Thanks, Neil


On running sweet peas, sugar peas are usually some type of sweet pea that is picked before the pea develops in the pod. A good way to get around the problem of stakes is to plant a block of seed then just toss some old Christmas trees or other dead brush over the pea patch when you get a stand. No need to build a trellis or hunt up some poles or stakes.

With your weather or mine I doubt you getting a second or third picking (for the reasons dragonfly mentioned) so if you kill the vines picking the first crop, no great lost. The best sweet peas I ever grew in Alabama was planted on New Years Day. If the vines don’t get to large they will tolerate light frost.

I always considered butter beans to be a smaller version of lima beans but I agree they taste better than limas. The best tasting Butter Beans in my opinion is the speckled, colored, or variegated bean. Butter Beans come in as a bewildering number of varieties as pole beans, from bush one crop types for machine harvesting to full pole climbers and every color, and size etc in between.

The Crowder pea is a member of the field pea family. Pigeon peas, purple hulls, black eyed, pink eyed purple hulls, and lady peas are just some of that family. These also make a good Nitrogen fixing green cover crop followed by sweet corn.

Shell um fresh and don’t let picked beans/peas heat up in the hull. Then blanch and freeze what you can’t eat then. They can also be dried and shelled then cooked like pintos. Green beans can even be dried for winter use.


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