Question about growing vegetables

Since we have always planted our beans in the garden location where they get the most sun, I vote for afternoon light.

Just remember if you are starting the seeds indoors, be sure to wait till its safe in your area to plant outside. Always plant when the soil is workable. Sounds good to me with PM light.

I think it depends on how hot it gets in the afternoon, but in general, the more sun the better. What I read to do on a seed selling site was to track how much sun was in an area, go with the area that gets the most if you have that choice. I found out of two spots I was looking at to grow, one received morning and late afternoon/early evening sun and that was more than the other spot that just received some in the afternoon. It may be worth tracking how much sun is in the area total and go with the longest time, or if you have another possible spot you can compare the two.

I grew runner beans in a barrel late summer and they did great. I went with three different kinds (I think two each at the base of the "tee-pee") and loved harvesting them. I wish I'd grown scarlet, maybe this year!

Another easy one is cherry tomatoes. I started out with herbs, then added tomatoes and peppers. I didn't even like tomatoes until I grew my own! I found instructions to make self-watering containers (like the Earth boxes) out of storage containers and did that with my tomatoes for about 5 years. Peppers do real well with afternoon sun, at least mine did. Good luck!

Unless you are in a very hot southern climate, you will want as much sun as possible, and where ever you can get the most sun, as well as good drainage, is important. We plant our garden near the top of a slope in our backyard. The water will drain well, but it isn't so high on a hill that it dries out too fast. If you are going to use raised beds, know that they will dry out very quickly, and need regular watering as well.

If there is two locations you can choose, and each has a sun/shade part of the the day, I will say that I prefer shade in the morning, because it is cooler, and the sun isn't burning the leaves when they are wet with dew. Also, it is more comfortable and cool to go out in the shade in the morning and weed, till, and pick the garden. Shade in the evening is ok for working in the garden, but it is still hotter work than getting out in that early morning shade.

We have been growing 'Scarlet' and 'Painted Lady' Runner Beans for several years on our 10' trellis...FULL sun ALL day long. We have no shade from trees in our yard for any of our 4 gardens.

Below is a pic of one of our gardens with the 10' trellis...HTH

I agree that more sun is better as long as you're not high in the mountains or in a desert. Then a shadier location may be preferable. One of the nice things with beans is they're a legume that uses nitrogen fixing bacteria. That means no fertilizing needs to be done by you as long as the proper bacteria are already in the soil. Those bacteria will take nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form of ammonia that the plants will use as fertilizer. You may find you get a better crop by inoculating your bean (or pea) seeds with a nitrogen fixing bacteria inoculant. Nodules of bacteria will form along the plant roots with the bacteria working hard to keep the plants fed and then stockpiling excess nitrogen. That excess nitrogen can then be used by future crops. It'll just sit in the soil until it's needed.

Susan Louise ~ how in the world do you harvest those beans way up there? I'm not that tall!

Stella ~ good luck with your garden It's been many years since having my own and i do miss it.

P.S. Susan Louise ~ your gardens and lawn are beautiful! You're giving Ina a run for the money!

On 3/4/2015 SuesCat said:

Susan Louise ~ how in the world do you harvest those beans way up there? I'm not that tall!

Stella ~ good luck with your garden It's been many years since having my own and i do miss it.

Hi SuesCat,

LOL...we grow them for the Hummingbirds, not to eat. However, I will harvest some at the end of the season for seeds the following year (the ones I can reach ). Several plants in our gardens grow up over the fence-line by the time the hummers migrate in the Fall...intentionally planned that way so it's a beacon for any passing. Then they realize, once in our backyard, it is a total oasis for the little bundles of joy with feeders and shorter plants to feed from...

Even when there is no shade in our yard, the hummers will get shade within the bean vines themselves...here's a juvie male happily perched on a bean vine