Block planting bush beans....

[lmayhow]

Good evening all...

I am planting 4 different types of drying bush beans

Pinto
Black Eyed
Black Turtle
Cannellini

I have read that they should be planted about 15cm apart (seed spacing direct) but the internet talks of rows 60cm or blocks.... Nothing much more is said about the blocks, I was wondering if anyone plants there drying beans in blocks and if so how many in your blocks and how much space do yo leave between your blocks?

I also have pea beans (pole) so I was sort of hoping to wigwam centre for pea beans, and then block beans surrounding the wigwam. Thinking 90cm left to right of poles how much space should I then leave around because of shadow... questions questions sorry sat planning ready for growing time...

[Chippy Minton]

We usually plant in blocks as we have narrow "raised" beds so we reach the entire bed from the path. We take the seed spacing in each direction. I've always treated the row spacing as so you can get along the rows once they've grown.

[Scarlet]

My beds are 3ft wide. I usually plant dwarf beans a little closer than 15cm..probably about 10cm in all directions. Ive still had reasonable crops and it's helped them stand up a bit. Dwarf beans can lean over with the beans lying on the ground which can be a pain. Though little pea sticks pushed in randomly help too.
Though climbing beans give a larger crop for the same space so I mainly use these now and any dwarf beans get put into the odd space that appears when something else gets cropped.
The frames are always on the same side to avoid as much shadow as possible.

[TrysHard]

Or plant in staggered rows to create a block affect about 6-inch spacing they can then self-support depending on the variety

[Jungle Jane]

Are blocks just another way of describing a wigwam/teepee compared with rows the other choice of growing style? My wigwams are close together,about 12 inches to allow for wide leaf growth & my plants about 10 inches apart,all around,there's not really any shade the sun gets each plant at different times of the day,is that what you mean about shade/shadow? The pea bean wigwam plants can be planted inside the bamboo poles,they'll still go around the poles & then the other beans can be planted about 10 inches from the bamboo pole,so each plant has a lot of root space.

[Scarlet]

Are blocks just another way of describing a wigwam/teepee compared with rows the other choice of growing style?.

No, when I plant things in blocks they maybe 3/4 or even 5 plants along the width. Not just one. Usually the spacing between row is much wider .(flipping heck! Can't explain very well today )
See pic (an old one, from 2013 with my old dog Bob ) lower left hand side are my bean plants. Showing the same spacing in both directions. Bed is 3ft wide

Also here my lettuces (ignore the weeds are spaced same distances apart in both directions. So they form a "block". I often plant 3or 4deep and about 10 plants long.

[lmayhow]

I hadn't thought about the 'flop' Scarlet only did one random row of dwarf french last year and found that an issue...

You have all encouraged me to block plant we will see how it goes.

Thank you thank you...

[Scarlet]

Good luck, it's worth trying staggered planting in blocks too. As per tryshard post. Ive done both. you can try a few different spacings to see which ones work best for you.

[lmayhow]

I am a terrible gardener really as I have no patients an hate to fail or fear not getting a good crop, while my ground growing has gone well I had a terrible time years ago when we only had patio spent a fortune on patio planters compost it really didn't go well tee hee....

New year and new me gardening trial different ideas and celebrate the knowledge instead of getting hook on failure.... I have enough of beans to try blocks both ways.

Thank you thank you for replies lovely people.....

[TrysHard]

I like staggered spacing as it makes it easier to access plants for weeding and harvesting in between each other...............

There is no right or wrong way ...................

[Scarlet]

I like staggered spacing as it makes it easier to access plants for weeding and harvesting in between each other...............

There is no right or wrong way ...................

Haha, and I find the opposite. I just plant equal spacing these days and then mulch with newspaper, then grass clippings and leave it. I'm not too good at weeding

Imayhow, beans are usually a good veg to grow. Easy crop. Let's have some photos on the way

[planetologist]

15 cm by 60 cm works out as 0.09 m2/plant or 11 plants/m2, so if you block plant that's 0.09 m2^0.5= 30 cm each way. Then all you need to decide is whether you let the plants use (some of) the space in the paths, which is more productive/more jungle/less accessible/may need to leave things alone between the time when the plants take over the paths until harvest time.