Planting distances

[TEB]

And was the first photo taken after the pub lunch?!

lol I wondered that

[Flummery]

My climbing french beans are about 6" apart Lesley. I'm sure purists will say it's too close but they don't grow as vigorously as runners and I always get a great crop.
As to peas - If you plant them closely enough they hold each other up! Farmers round here grow peas in the fields - They don't put in any supports.

[LostthePlot]

I have planted my dwarf french beans about 6" apart because it says they support each other this way and my peas are supported by 'twiggy' branches shoved in the ground for them to scramble over and hopefully in a week or two I might even be harvesting my first peas as the first planting is now in full flower and covered with fleece (to protect against pea moth) and the second sowing is 'just' starting to show a flower or two. So yesterday I got the third lot in and the next lot is just showing their heads above the soil in a big pot. I am growing in 4' rows if anyone is interested which I feel that this way I should keep up with the crop and not waste any.

[Cutecumber]

My french beans will be making their way up my sweetcorn - I tested out last year with a couple of plants and it worked ok, despite the water shortage. 16 sweetcorn with 16 climbing beans - we'll see what happens!

The only big spacing problem I have had was with the big, long-growing brassicas like ps broccoli - you really do need to respect their need for space to get your crop. I had to remove plants - although it was a good thing because they cropped very heavily! Equally, I have had problems planting summer broccoli and calabrese too close - never got a head.

[moggssue]

Ho hum, my calabrese are very squashed in, in a block not a row, with only about 8" space around each one ... oh well, I'll leave them for now since they're only small still and see how they go. My french beans are (hopefully, when they get bigger!) going up my roses in the front garden, they're dwarfs so hopefully won't overtake the flowers too much - can I feed both lots with rose food or isnt it good for beans?

[libbyloulou]

rose food is normally well balanced e.g. 10 10 10 of each, so the potash is there for the beans. I'd imagine theres not to much nitrogen to make your beans too leafy, try it, you'll know then for future ref.

[moggssue]

Thanks libby, I'll give it a go anyway, as you say I'll know then! I'll report back in a few months whether it worked or not!

[Flummery]

In spite of my 6" squashing of climbing beans I've still got a few left in pots so I'm going to try them against the sweetcorn when it's got a bit higher. 2 sisters! There's space at the back of the bed in which I've squashed a couple of squashes so the third sister is fitted in there. They can still sprawl around a bit from this position I hope.

[Scruffy Duffy]

We're doing our french runner beans and peas quite closely planted on either side of an arch which links two 1m x 1m beds. We're splitting the beds into 4 and have been trying to work out how many of each thing we can fit into each quarter. We're going to do 4 calabrese, 4 courgette, 9 cabbage, loads of leeks and onions, free rein chard, & plenty of beetroot. The parsnips and carrots are going in 2 staggard long lines about 1m each. Cut & come lettuce are going in 2 hanging troughs.

That should keep us going for a while I think. Just wish we'd got things planted earlier. Not too worried now though after all the great advice from everybody. I've even converted my husband. He's spent the last 3 nights reading the forum.

[Paulottie]

Paul - daft question no doubt, but how are you holding the peas up? And how many plants are there? I planted two to a station, six stations, around one of those circular trellis thingys - I think this might be pushing things a bit too far!? And was the first photo taken after the pub lunch?!

every chance!

they are on chicken wire. As many as i could fit in 4ft of large guttering pehaps 30-40. Here are a couple of earlier pictures.

[moggssue]

Oh okay, looking at your earlier photos, yours seem even closer together than mine (veryheartening)! I take it, since they're in guttering, they don't need much of a root run then? Good luck for a great crop - how many make the pot, rather than being eaten straight from the pod?! I cant wait for my first ever pea pods!

[Dobby]

you learn from experance if you like small veg thats ok I might try it with the cabarge as they is only 2 of us that eat it we can have lots of small fresh ones its a thought

[Paulottie]

There is nothing so tasty as a small fresh one Dobby.