Almost certainly all the beans left on the vines will rot, sprout at the wrong time or be eaten by birds or rodents. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but IF you can get them to re-seed, it would be only one out of a thousand.

Rats!

Well, thanks anyway.

Rockguy is right, anney. In Georgia you will get a few volunteers,especially with some of the tougher cultivars of cowpeas. Not practical tho and they are easy to plant.

FarmerDee

I am anticipating that this worsening arthritis isn't going to stop, so I'm trying to think of what I can do to garden independently at least one more year. I'm praying the bean sheller I plan to order, largely automatic once turned on, will shell the beans I grow, since there's no way I can do large amounts by hand any more. An electric knife takes the kernels off ears of corn, so I think that's going to still be doable.

Anyway, I suppose if beans/peas were able to re-seed themselves, I would have read about it and other gardeners would be letting them do that, too!

Ditto on the sad news; beans rot very easily, and are not likely to re-seed. The only beans that have done that for me were mung beans, which really surprised me, given my climate.

Reading between the lines, I gather that the digging and/or the planting is becoming difficult. If you can find a way to resolve the digging, a planting wheel might be the answer for planting. Earthway sells one with interchangeable seed plates, including one for peas & beans.

ZM

Yes, I also have an Earthway Seeder but clay soil, so it's great when the clay soil is friable enough!

Well I am sure that all of you are telling the absolute truth but I always have beans and peas that resead and when I lived a little further south, they sprouted all over the yard. To the extent that I took a little hand trowel and dug them out and planted them in the garden. I will say also that I often use that as a factor in deciding when to start my gardening...Mind you I'm not saying its the best way or the right way but just one of my experiences in a southern climate.

In your climate I imagine you could avoid annual bean sowing/planting by growing runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) as a perennial. They form tubers which overwinter in mild climates and regrow the next year. They even do it in my garden, although not always reliably. I know they are not much grown as a vegetable in the US but there are several threads here about them.

If runner beans will do, Gardenweb member Jim Wright (jwr6404 Z -8B in Wa) has generously distributed seeds of his Insuk's Wang Kong. Here's a link to the original thread Insuk's Wang Kong

Though I've never grown Southern peas, but on the question of beans self-seeding, I'm with Ruth. I too had some pole beans left on the vine that survived a cold winter and sprouted the following spring. At least a few hardy seeds did (I don't know out of how many).

Anney, I'm terribly sorry about your arthritis. Could you swab your garden/vegetable-growing knowledge (& teach a novice gardener) in exchange for hands-on help with seeding/planting your garden? Or could you through an organization (gardening club, school, social services, volunteer org.) find a volunteer who'd help with your gardening needs? I hope you find a way to continue gardening for as long as you wish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Insuk's Wang Kong, part II

We live in northern florida and started our garden early however the bush beans are small and started to flower so I pinched the flowers off in order for the plant to grow a little more. Did I mess up?

We just found some wax and purple pole beans (both P. vulgaris) that are sprouting on their own. We did not do this intentionally as I tried to harvest all the beans, but apparently I missed a couple. I would prefer to select the best looking bean specimens for sowing, oh well. Now they are in the new pepper bed, but we will build them a little teepee. I have a hard time saying no to volunteers. Just like ruthie says, it is a very good indicator for when to plant what! (watching what volunteers I mean).

Sorry for necroing this post, but I have a different experience with southern peas and it may be useful. Some of them do reseed reliably year after year. My source for the brown crowder variety I grow was the raspberry patch next to my grandmother's garden. Some brown crowder plants escaped and dropped seed there, and new plants kept reseeding for years before I bought my own home and brought the seeds along. This was all in the early 2000's.

In 2014 I finally got around to planting them and sewed an early crop of brown crowder (and pinkeye purple hull) in a raised bed next to my house and a later one in a low, wet spot near my neighbor's fence. The pinkeyes did not come back this year, but the brown crowder came back vigorously in both locations. This was after one of the coldest winters I can remember in northern Virginia. Spring was pretty wet too.

So I think the variety you grow and where the seeds fall and overwinter are important in knowing if they will come back or not.