KS/MO Border...it's cooled down from 101 F to 95 F. (Would still not want to be in the park watching the Royals playing!) Given the temperature I have watered twice today and it needed it! Three days ago I planted bush beans (Contender--45 days) and I hope the germinating seeds do not cook in the ground! Supposed to be heat tolerant and mildew resistant. so far so good.
Have either of you ever tried growing beans in an 18" grid pattern rather than spaced every three inches in a straight line? If you have, what were the results? Trying it this year. (More room between plants is supposed to result in a larger yield.)
I Set out squash--Italian Striata and Cocozell zucchini, and Early butternut--and Beit Alpha cucumber plants. I have a small Trellis frame and hope that the Butternut can be trained climb onto that trellis. I will cover the cucumber with insect barrier since it is parthanocarpic and does not need insects to pollinate it.
I lost 1 of 3 okra, but since I was told not to grow them by herself I can live with it. Sweet potatoes (Carolina Gold) are growing in "bottomless" pots along the fence. I expect the vines to grow all over the fence and looking for some larger tubers this year since I am not allowing the runners to set down roots anywhere but the pot. For fun I put some Dwarf grey peas into the pots with them to see if they benefit from nitrogen fixing by the peas. So far so good!
I found a volunteer squash growing in one of the Sweet potato pots. I replanted it outside where it can have some running room. I can't say what variety it will be. (Based on last year's squash purchases the seeds in my compost would be butternut or possibly Red Kuri.)
Never tried it that way, but I don't plant bush beans - too much bending over. The pole beans I space ~10" apart on a line close to some sort of trellis - I use cattle panels.
Great yields that way but they still turn into an impenetrable mess by the end of the growing season.
“Have either of you ever tried growing beans in an 18” grid pattern rather than spaced every three inches in a straight line? If you have, what were the results? Trying it this year. (More room between plants is supposed to result in a larger yield.) “
I do pole beans, too - sometimes I’ll throw in some purple or yellow bush beans when I have spots to fill in the summer months.
Square Foot Gardening recommends planting bush beans 9 seeds within their 1-foot squares so I do that. My beds are 4 feet across, so I can get a ‘square or two of bush beans’ tucked in here and there. I will most likely end up doing that this season to replace a few FAILURES due to all of our @#$%^&*! rain.