Kidney Beans

United Kingdom

My beans were planted end of may , the first two plants grew the full height of the frame the rest grew upto 3 feet tten stopped the leaves turned a darker green and wrinkled slightly they had lots of flowers watered each evening, now3 weeks later the plants are growing again wiht hardley any beans on the plants.
I had prepared the soil with horse manure and have been told this is not good to grow beans. the row faces north but is rather sheltered. can anyone please advise

21 Jul, 2009

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Answers

Bertiefox

I think you are right that beans don't like rich soil, and horse manure is about as rich as it comes. Beans are legumes and fix nitrogen in nodules on their roots so don't need fertiliser. They do like moisture by their roots so in future use home compost or something that will hold water. North facing isn't helping either as they like lots of light. I find that the beans on the outside of the row in my polytunnel produce a lot more beans than those in the middle, where they are shaded.
Are yours a climbing type of bean or a dwarf? Three feet is quite tall for a dwarf and rather short for a climber!
with dwarf beans you can get a second 'flush' after the first heavy crop but these come several weeks after the first ones when the plant has produced new growth, and always assuming you have removed ALL of the beans that have formed before they mature.

21 Jul, 2009

Rivington

Thanks to Bertie Fox for his information on my Kidney Beans I think we shall have some produce if very little, I will ask at our local garden center for a nitrojen base fertilizer for next year.
As a very much so novice with very small garden I did have a good crop last year rather dissapointing this time so anyone with any help I would be grateful to hear from you
your
Rivington

28 Jul, 2009

How do I say thanks?

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