You live in Phoenix, Arizona, is that right? Does Phoenix even get a winter? I recommend you try to grow a lima that loves the heat. Rattlesnake is a common bean that likes heat, but the beans are small. Why not try King Of The Garden Lima, it makes a large bean.

Yes, I'm in Phoenix. First frost date is around November 15th and we are at 1200 feet elevation. I'm also planting beans in part shade, new garden areas. I'm thinking favas for winter, but would like to try greasies and runners, snaps for fall. Do I need innoculants since these are totally new gardens?
What type of schedule would you use for the various varieties? I'm sure I need to wait on limas, pintoes, cowpeas and yard longs until the spring for a longer, hotter season.

Innoculant has been debated here before, you could search threads for those debates, now that the threads are back. I use innoculant and I would definitely recommend it for a new garden, even if you never use it again.
As for schedule, I've never gardened in Phoenix so can't advise you on your location. There are other forums here, including an Arizona Gardening forum, did you ask there?

All I can tell you is to keep them watered and mulched, even use plastic mulch with straw or even more sand over the plastic to shade it, that bean pollen often dies in heat over 80 degrees, that there are bean varieties from Mexico and even Arizona itself (Anasazi bean) which may be adapted to your climate. You could ask Flintknapper for some of his jungle black beans and the other black lima from Mexico, it may do very well in your warmer climate.

Good luck, let us know how it goes! Wish I could be of more help, but though I used to visit Scottsdale every winter to look at the SouthWest art, I never talked to any bean gardeners. All I know is that you can grow olives there.

If you get frost at all, runners (if you mean P coccineus, Scarlet Runners) will not survive. Favas will. Having no idea what your conditions are like I can't tell you if runners would produce anything before mid-November.

We get light frosts where I can usually protect by covering with a light sheet. Last year I planted runner beans and had lots of flowers but no beans. They were planted mid- Dec. I'm going to try planting them this month to see if that helps. The hummingbirds sure do like them!

You might try something like Jacob's Cattle (bush). It produces heavily and relatively quickly. The seed is large and attractive, if I recall, it's also easy to shell.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I was under the impression that Jacobs cattle needed more summer weather like a cowpea? I'd love to try it if it doesn't!
I might just try some inuks Wang right now instead of Dec too since I got nothing but pretty flowers from them. Cabrita's in 9b but she has milder weather than me which explains the success of her runner beans.

Goerge, where can I get the Jacobs cattle bean? What type of bean is it?

tracydr I live in east Mesa and just planted Fava Beans and Leeks today. Both can handle a little frost and may not need to be covered here at all.

tracydr, our runner beans do well April-May-june but for some reason, not too well in the fall. This year is so cool for us I am hoping they will change their mind and produce a few fall beans.

I planted Gold of Bacau about a month ago because they like cooler weather. I also planted a few Kentucky wonders. In about a month I will plant Favas and peas. This coming weekend I will sow some chick peas. Last chick pea attempt was not succesful, we got better seed this time.

Cabrita, where did you get the Gold de Baceau? I can get Kentucky Wonders at the nursery. What type of bean are they? Have you planted them before?

tracydr, I got Gold of Bacau from Fedco seeds two years ago and then saved my seeds. I shared some with my dad and they are one of his favorite beans now. They are pole beans, yellow, long and flattened. They suffer in the heat but do well in spring and fall here. In the summer they have low productivity and suffer from stink bugs.

I am actually not sure if we will have enough warm/cool weather to get a crop, but I decided to try. This year has been very strange in the sense that it has been cooler than normal.

Thanks Cabrita. We have been having a hotter than normal summer. We just dipped below 100 yesterday and will be 99 for at least the next week. I'm stuck here for at least another 3 years but sm so ready to be somewhere without 6 months of 100 degrees or higher weather. It gets so old. I long for a normal fall , winter and spring!

105 all week this week again. I finally got out and planted purple pod, rattlesnake, kentucky wonder and a plain old generic bush green bean.
Favas will go in when I do peas in October. Maybe try some runners this fall/ winter but my IWK last winter flowered late and made me think they might be slightly sensitive to day length. It got too hot for them before they set.
Next year will start early spring since I have more garden space. I'll try cowpeas and soybeans next summer, along with limas.

Shade cloth. And did you take my advice about mass quantities of mulch?

Wow..........it was 114 F here yesterday! I was feeling bad that I was behind on my bean and onion planting. I took out the old common beans that are done and I was going to plant peas and chickpeas on that spot. However, it got a little warm so I got out of the garden and did something indoors. Then it started to get hotter and hotter! So glad I waited on the peas and favas!

Finally, some flowers on the cowpeas! still no cowpeas, but with the heatwave there is hope. We are finally getting okra too (I know, not a bean).

I've got the beans I just planted in filtered sun with only a few hours of direct sun. Will mulch once they have popped up.

Its has been 100+ deg every day since I planted Fava's. Twenty one out of twenty four germinated which is in line with the 80% germination rate I was told to expect. Right now they are green and about 5" tall. With any luck I will have a nice long harvest before the Spring planting season.