Your comments and tips

09 Oct 17, Maryann (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Why can't you plant dwarf beans by sunflowers?

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19 Oct 17, Robyn (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Hi there, I'm not sure if this answer helps but I have not long come back from spending the summer in Indianapolis with a friend. We canned ( bottled) lots of veges, she had three large pickings of her dwarf beans..and she had her sunflowers growing close to them.

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06 Apr 17, carol o'shea (New Zealand - temperate climate)

I have done several plantings of dwarf beans this past summer - green, yellow and purple varieties. The returns have been poor to say the least - perhaps 6 beans per plant if I am lucky. What am I doing wrong, if anything? It has been my first season of gardening in Tauranga and I'm told the weather has been somewhat abnormal but even so I would expect better than this. They have been grown both in the open ground, in varying situations and in planter troughs, also in differing locations, i.e. facing in different directions. Any help would be appreciated.

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27 Dec 18, Scott McMillan (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Hi Carol, 1: Have the plants been getting plenty of hours of sunlight, ie not shaded by other plants and well spaced apart? 2: Do you water regularly early morning? 3: Did you pick the beans early to encourage further production? 4: Was the soil prepared at all or do you use compost, worm tea or the like? 5: Any pest problems? 6: Do you mulch? Hope this helps Regards Scott

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11 Apr 17, Nik (New Zealand - temperate climate)

dont worry it wasnt you this has been the worst growing season I have ever had cold wet spring followed by cold wet spring followed by cold wet summer means plants took ages to get going or died off (happened twice!!) and then I had to start again this applied to everything except I got 8 large pumpkins instead of 1 the year before I live in "sunny" nelson so the rest of NZ had no hope !!! Consider this your 1 in 10 year disaster year also consider planting one of each in a corner somewhere and saving the pods ( pick them when dry and brown and dry) for next years seed, the different colours of bean should grow equally well though you can also get purple and yellow climbing beans but yellow is a bit miserable compared to bush yellow plants good luck

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25 Feb 17, Prakash Chandra (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Which is the last month for planting snake beans in nz sub-tropical.

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28 Dec 10, Liz (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Bean disaster!! Someone forgot to close the gate in the "hare proof" fence and where we had three rows of dwarf beans with their first proper leaves - we now have three rows of stems only :(

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16 Feb 10, Liz (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Rikkyurk, Water the ground well before sowing the beans, then you can leave them for a few days to germinate. But if the weather is very hot and dry, it might help to water after a day. Have you tried a different variety? Some seem easier than others.

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27 Oct 09, Liz (sent in by David) (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Dani, check www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/beans.htm for mineral deficiencies. Are you using compost or chicken manure which hasn't completely matured? That can cause nitrogen deficiency and yellow leaves.

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04 Mar 09, bob kamp (New Zealand - temperate climate)

what is the best soil to use.

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