Growing Vegetable Beans In Risky Farming Areas

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Protein grows in the beds

Vegetable beans on the "shoulder" - one of the earliest vegetables ripening in summer. Therefore, it would be a sin not to use it, especially since this plant has an excellent taste, nutritious.

For example, the protein included in its composition is close to animal protein and is equated to dietary chicken eggs. In addition, this plant is decorative. Moreover, vegetable beans are used in the treatment of a number of diseases and in cosmetology.

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However, in the Middle Urals, only a few gardeners grow beans, considering it a heat-loving and fastidious crop. In fact, this statement is unfair: beans are really thermophilic, but not at all picky. Apparently, such an erroneous opinion was formed due to attempts to get a good harvest of beans in the open field. In our climate, this is almost unpromising, as in many other regions with conditions of risky farming.

But after all, you can take a place for curly beans in a tomato greenhouse - the harvest will be excellent, and without any hassle. And this will not lead to a noticeable reduction in the area for the main crop, for example, tomatoes, because only 3-4 plants of such beans will provide your family with this valuable product for the whole year. Such a neighborhood will not harm tomatoes at all, moreover, it will contribute to an increase in soil fertility, because beans accumulate nitrogen in nodular formations on the roots.

Seed selection

In principle, you can grow any vegetable bean - semi-sugar, sugar or asparagus, but the latter two are preferable. The fact is that semi-sugar varieties of vegetable beans have a parchment layer inside the pods (although it is not as thick as that of grain beans). Sugar and asparagus varieties have no parchment layer, and asparagus varieties, even in the seams of the valves, have practically no coarse fibers, so the blades of asparagus beans have an unusually delicate taste.

In addition, vegetable beans can be bush and curly. Which one to choose? It depends on the circumstances, since both bush forms and curly ones have their pros and cons. For example, the yield of climbing varieties is an order of magnitude higher than that of bush varieties. In addition, due to biological characteristics, curly beans grow in height and occupy a small planting area, which is important, for example, when planting them in a greenhouse. The bushy forms of beans are erect - they require significant sown areas, but the care and harvesting of such beans is much easier to organize, and it does not need special support structures.

After you decide on the type of beans (that is, make a choice in favor of bush or curly), you just need to focus on a couple of specific varieties. Here you need to be guided only by your own preferences, since there are a lot of varieties of vegetable beans zoned in various regions of the Russian Federation today. For example, I have always been fascinated by yellow vegetable beans. Therefore, there will be no problem to purchase suitable seed material, there is a choice for every taste and color.

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Features of agricultural technology of beans

Bean seeds are usually sown at the end of April. It is easier to sow them directly in the greenhouse to a permanent place. True, for this, the greenhouse soil must be fully prepared and well warmed up, and additional internal frame shelters inside the greenhouse are also provided.

If biofuel is not used in the greenhouse, then you will have to grow seedlings at home, sowing seeds in separate containers. And only in late May - early June (it depends on the thermal conditions in the greenhouse) can seedlings be planted there. It should be borne in mind that sowing seeds in cold soil (at an ambient temperature below + 11 … + 12 ° C) usually leads to their decay, and during the growing season of plants even a short-term drop in temperature in the greenhouse to + 2 … + 3 ° C will lead to their death. The optimal daytime temperature for the development of beans is considered to be + 20 … + 25 ° C.

Beans prefer warm, loose, humus-rich fertile soils with a light texture and a neutral reaction; it will not grow on heavy, acidic and waterlogged soils. Therefore, the best option is "layered" greenhouse soil, which is a collection of all kinds of organic matter - straw, bark and leaf litter, supplemented with manure to warm up the organic mixture. On top of this "cake" is covered with a layer of compost. The height of the greenhouse ridges should be at least 45-50 cm (if possible, more), since the taproot of beans can penetrate to a depth of one meter. To preserve the loose structure of the soil, mulching with leaf litter or stale sawdust is used.

Since beans are very demanding on light, it is reasonable to plant them in a greenhouse in one row along the outer side of the greenhouse. Planting options here can be different - either the beans are planted in different places in the greenhouse between the tomatoes, or in a group in one area of the greenhouse at a distance of about 30 cm from each other. The plus of the first option is a uniform increase in soil fertility throughout the greenhouse, plus the second is the simplification of control over the string of beans, which grow very quickly in comfortable greenhouse conditions and are not averse to using tomatoes as supports, which must be prevented. I have always preferred the latter option in order to avoid the capture of foreign territory by beans.

Beans are very moisture-loving (especially at the stages of seed germination, as well as the formation and growth of ovaries), therefore, the soil should not be allowed to dry out. However, excessive moisture can lead to the appearance of diseases, as well as contribute to the attack of slugs, which are very partial to beans.

To prevent diseases, it is necessary to strictly control watering, ensure regular ventilation of greenhouses and increase the resistance of plants to ailments by regularly spraying them with stimulants (Epin, Zircon, Silk, etc.). When slugs attack, you can try to use improvised means of struggle (various traps), block the access of pests to plants by pouring protective lime circles around them, or use the drug metaldehyde.

As for dressings, in the presence of fertile soil, they are usually not required - at least in the first half of summer in more or less sunny weather. In the second half of summer, when the weather sometimes becomes rainy, the need for potassium increases in plants, and, as necessary, it is necessary to resort to top dressing with potassium fertilizers (potassium sulfate). If the greenhouse soil turned out to be insufficiently fertile, then, starting from the moment of active flowering, it is advisable to feed the plants once every two weeks with complex fertilizer with a set of trace elements.

A fairly common problem when growing beans in a greenhouse is the fall of flowers and ovaries, which can be caused by a variety of factors. For example, beans (like many other crops) shed flowers when the air temperature rises above + 30 ° C, which is common in a greenhouse in the sun, so you need to properly organize ventilation. Another reason for the loss of flowers may be a lack of potassium or boron, however, when using complex fertilizers that include these elements, this is excluded.

The fall of flowers is possible with excessive dryness of the air and soil, which means that the soil must be sufficiently moist and mulched. Cold rainy weather is another reason for flowers to drop. In order to minimize the influence of all these factors (especially since we cannot eliminate the last of them with all our desire), it is necessary to carry out regular spraying with fruit formation stimulants (Ovary, Bud, etc.) - this allows you to achieve high-quality pollination even in adverse conditions …

Garter and bean shaping

In order to use the light space of the greenhouse most effectively, when the central shoot reaches a height of about 30 cm, it must be tied up, and in the future, control the direction of growth of the lashes. As the stepsons appear, tie them up. After the garter, the beans have to be twisted around the rope - this should only be done counterclockwise (when curling the plant clockwise, they will develop). If the beans are planted in a group, then it is easy to simplify the garter process by pulling a plastic net - then you only need to grab the whips in several places to the net, and then the shoots will cling to the net on their own.

Climbing beans are usually pinched when the shoots reach the top of the support, which speeds up the harvesting process. If the weather permits, it is better to wait with a pinch and try to direct the growing shoots down, distributing them so as to make the most of the free space.

Harvesting beans

You can start harvesting the shoulder blades about eight weeks after germination in early varieties and a little later in mid-early varieties. As for determining the moment of the next harvest, the harvest begins 8-15 days (depending on the weather) after the formation of the ovaries. The shoulder blades are removed selectively about once every 5-7 days, while it is unreasonable to be late with the collection, since the shoulder blades have a particularly delicate taste at a young age. In addition, if the blades on the beans are not cut off in a timely manner, then the plants very quickly stop blooming - the yield in this case will be much less.

Beans should be harvested early in the morning (at 6-7-8 am), because in the hot time of the day, the shoulder blades quickly wither and lose their taste and presentation. In cloudy weather, you can harvest beans until 11 am.

Considering that beans are practically not stored fresh, the harvested crop should be processed on the day of harvest - this is not a problem even with a large volume, because the surplus can be frozen for the winter.

Svetlana Shlyakhtina, Yekaterinburg

Photo by Olga Rubtsova and E. Valentinov

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