Beans, Field Peas, and Radishes Grow

It's hard to believe how quickly radishes grow! The seed packet says 20 - 50 days to maturity. We started eating our first crop 40 days after sowing the seed. Those early plants will soon be consumed. I should've followed the seed packet suggestion of putting in successive plantings every two weeks. Maybe it's not too late! This morning I planted another 12' of radishes, sowing the seed between two rows of beets. Seemed like a good use of dirt. Maybe I can get another planting in before temperatures get too hot.

I currently have white onions planted down the center of the "green bean" bed. The idea was that the onions would be ready to harvest (as "green" onions) before any beans planted down the sides of the bed overwhelmed the space. Just today I read on the website Seedman.com: "Try companion planting with bush beans. Bush beans are excellent grown with most vegetables except the onion family, basil, fennel, kohlrabi." Oops.

Moving on... On the upper side of the green bean bed I planted about 4 feet of Lek's pole beans. Lek, my hair dresser, raves about them and gave me some seed. She says they produce long pods. I finished out that row with Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, a bush-type plant. These beans are supposed to be round, tender, juicy, and stringless. On the bottom side of that bed I planted a purple-podded, Romano-style (flat) bean, called Sequoia. It also is a bush-type plant. Although the pods are purple, they cook to a bright green. This is the first time I've planted bush beans. They will mature in 50 to 60 days.

Once I harvest those badly placed white onions, I intend to plant a row or two of pole beans down the center of the bed. Pole beans offer great use of vertical space since they are climbers. They also have a longer growing season and are more tolerant of hot temperatures than bush beans. Consequently, they will yield two to three times more than bush beans from the same amount of space. So why bother with bush beans? I guess I'll know better after this summer. Pole beans mature in 60 to 90 days. Looks like we'll have bush beans early in the season and pole beans later.

Also got a bed of "southern peas" started. Sugar snaps are currently growing down the center of this particular bed. Today, I planted two rows of Pink-eyed Purple-hulled Peas down the long outside edges. Fresh field peas can't be beat!