The question you need to ask yourself, is do you need that many beans? If you still want to plant that many beans, then I'd buy in larger blocks than simple seed packets. I know you can by by the pound from most companies (though I never thought I'd want to).

That said, if you were just going off of a hypothetical, then remember that not all seeds are 9/SF. Some are actually 16/SF. hehe. Really, what I mean is that some are 1/SF, so it's not that bad. Frankly, a 90 SF garden is very managable in my book.

Best of luck and keep us informed!

I'm with Sinfonian. Most of the 9/sf or 16/sf are beans or lettuces. You won't want 810 bean plants or 810 lettuces. Think in those terms, lol. You might also visit the seed exchange. Alot of people are trimming down their seeds now and will be giving them away for the cost of an envelope. It's so cool to me that so many folks are willing to part with seeds just to be nice and I have had alot of great interaction on the site.

Oh boy, so the math is right. Now I just have to trim the total count back so it isn't so mind bogaling (sp). I want to be able to have enough to freeze and then sell the rest and make enough to cover the cost of next years seeds. How many pounds of beans does the average plant produce? Is it really ok to plant them so close together? I have always done row planting and am having trouble getting my mind into the sq frame!!!!

I'll hope to be doing some freezing and canning, also, but 810 is a TON of beans, lol. It's difficult to determine how many beans the average plant produces because there are so many variables. If you look up your specific variety, you might be able to find average yields.

I have decided to go with 360 of the blue lake and 180 of yellow and Kentucky Pole Bean that are splitting a 45' x 3' row. Would 4 per square be enough to still accomplish what the square foot method is supposed to? Helping with watering and weeding?

I'm assuming these are bush beans? My only experience is with planting field peas in my sqft garden, and I planted 4 seeds per square - right down the center. It was the perfect spacing for this variety. Hope this helps...

EG

I'd use the spacing for pole beans and peas, even if you are planting bush beans. Any more per square than that ends up in a tangled mess that makes it too difficult to find/pick the beans. That gives you 8 per foot at 30 feet, or 240 seeds. If you don't want to pick a huge amount at once, you might want to plant 15' and then wait two weeks for the other 15'.

{{gwi:1260406}}

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

According to High-Yield Gardening (book), one snap bean plant (I think this is bush bean, but it doesn't say for sure)produced approx. 1/16 lb per plant per week for 3 weeks.

I don't have the yield number for my green beans last year, but for yellow beans, I planted a 15g pkg (about 64 seeds or 7 squares) produced about 4.5 lbs of beans, so the numbers don't always add up....

If it's hard to think in terms of square feet, try thinking of it rows that are just really close together :-)

Last summer I planted three SF of pole beans along Granny's spacing lines, so 24 plants. I also planted 4 SF at 9/SF (different from Granny) of bush beans because that's what the book says. I had horrible results from my bush beans, but do what you want there. I loved my results from my pole beans. I got to freeze 6 pounds of cut and blanched beans for winter use (in two megga harvests). Not bad from essentially 24 plants (my bushes gave me diddly). Oh, and my pole beans overgrew my 7 foot trellis. Boy did they grow like mad.

Hope that helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Sinfonian,
I'm glad you posted the pole bean info. I'm going to plant bush green and yellow again, and I'm going to plant some pole beans as well. It's been a long time since I planted poles. You've given me a little planning help as well.

Last year all I had to plant in was 1 raised bed at 2 x 5 and was still in the row frame of mind so I had 8 plants of a bush bean (don't remember the variety) and I was able to feed us beans (family of 3) twice a week plus freeze about 10 cups (2 cups each). Keeping those figures in mind I am thinking that this years planting of 360 plants will do more than feed us and my neighbors along with helping to pay for next years seeds. I will also take the advice of two seperate plantings to help ease the stress of harvest time.

I am new to the square foot gardening and was researching on how many plants to do per square of green beans (will be planting Blue Lake variety) and I am amazed that I can plant 8 plants per square. What is the secret to the production? Is is the amount and timing of organic fertilizer applied and what ratios do you use for green beans? I have purchased the ingredients for Mel's recipe and I am counting the days until planting time!!!

Nanny, pole beans are 8 per SF spacing, though the bush variety are 9.

As for fertilizer, I relied solely on compost, but a 5-5-5 or so couldn't hurt.

Welcome and join in the fun!

sinfonian, Thank you. I am thrilled to find this site. I am old school so this just blows my mind that you can get a yield from such a small space. I am working on 6 - 4x16 boxes. I did get one box planted in strawberries in the fall. I think I have bonemeal, bloodmeal and greensand that I got back in the fall..trying to get prepared little by little. We have free leaf compost available through the county here and I have two loads that should be ripe by planting time. Would the compost alone be enough?

Is compost alone enough. Good question. If you're short on cash, you can get by with compost alone, sure. Though if you want the drainage, water retention and aeration that vermiculite and peat moss give, then you won't be sorry to add as much as 1/3 each.

For the compost, if it's solely leaf compost, I'd augment with more variety, either what you can throw together from your kitchen scraps, coffee grounds (Starbucks gives them for free), etc., or even buy some if necessary. You want diversity in your compost.

I'd be careful throwing bloodmeal, bonemeal and greensand in without knowing what you need, but if you're an experienced gardener, maybe that's a good thing. I don't know your area at all.

Hope that points you in the right direction. Keep asking questions and we'll help how we can.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

100 ft row pole beans = 1 lb seed = yield 80 lbs bush beans 100 ft row = 1lb seed = yeld 40 lb

Welcome Nanny. I didn't use any fertilizer last year except the water from the fish tank on most of the plants. My tomatoes got a bit of MG for tomatoes. I put worm castings in the SWC tomato at the end of the year and I think it was my best producer.
Lots of people do use compost only, but I used Mel's mix and I was happy with my yields. Several of us are due to try a side by side this year.
Standstall, where do you get your yield numbers?

sinfonian,Thank you. I am doing the soil mix that Mel recommends - but was confused about the timing and type of fertilizer used to get the yield from such a small space. It blows my mind that you can put 8-9 beans in a square foot. Is the soil mix and the depth the key to getting such high yields from a square foot? I am NorthGa Zone 7.

Carolyn, Thank you also, I am happy to find this site and meet such helpful people. I am "old school" and the square foot method is just amazing - I look forward to giving it a try.

I have 16 inch beds but 6 inches is all you need for nearly all veggies. I'd go 8 to be safe though.

And yes, I too think the SFG method is amazing, and have said so in GardenGirl's last two newsletters.

sinfonian, Yes, we received some "freebie" 6x6's and have enough to double stack - should be approx 11" D - 6" just doesn't seem to be deep enough for my "old school" thinking.