A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Second Harvest?

Hello all

As a first timer I made some mistakes in planting, and someone told me in the zone I live 7a I might be able to get a second harvest of some things in. I know the tomatoes and peppers are basically out of the question unless I find started plants but... can I still try again with peas and beans?

My problem this time around was that I thought I planted soooo much but there really hasn't been enough for fresh eating. I cannot find any good guidlines on how much to plant.

For example, I have like 10 pea plants and 7 bush beans. They are producing nicely, but never enough at one time to use as a side or in a meal. Also, the peppers aren't giving me more then 1 pepper at a time a week or two apart.

Any advice? Can I do a redo this year or wait for next?

Marina

Marina, you sure CAN plant a second crop of peas and beans. I don't plant peas, but I always sow a second crop of beans and multiple plantings of lettuce and radishes. What varieties of bean did you plant? I normally plant Bush Blue Lake and Contender. 7 bush bean plants sounds like it should be plenty for meals every couple days. You need to continually harvest though or they will tend to stop producing. Consider planting pole beans next year, or maybe even try them now. I sowed mine only three weeks ago. This is my first year planting them but they are supposed to bear continuously all year even with limited harvesting.

In my whole life as a container gardener, I have never had much of a "harvest". It seems like something always eats the tomatoes, or peas or whatever.
On a good day, I can pick and eat 2 strawberries, and maybe ONE real tomato per summer. One time I had 3 teeny peas.
Every year, my tomato and pea plants turn yellow and black, plus something eats the leaves and makes holes in the tomatoes.
There is never anything to bring into the kitchen.
I'm 53-hopefully someday I'll have a real yard and my dream of raised beds and a real basketful of fresh veggies will come true.
All of my other plants, ornamentals and herbs, look like magazine pictures. They are my art !

"The peppers aren't giving me more then 1 pepper at a time"
Are they bell peppers?
I just learned that you need to pull off the first flower, so the plant puts more energy into growing bigger(thus more room for more peppers) instead of using all of its energy on the first bloom.
Does that make sense?
For more info just type in bell peppers in TheGardenHelper.com box above.
Tammy

It's too late to start more pepper plants. They take half the season to grow, and then the other half to produce. If you buy your plants from the store, they should be big enough for you to start another planting.

I don't have a rule of thumb for peas or beans. I do rows, and I can understand what you mean. 10 pea plants wouldn't feed a person. I tend to ignore spacing guidelines, so I don't know how many plants per person, but if I had to guess, I'd say 20 plants per person with 80% germination, so you'd need to seed 25 pea plants per person. Also remember that peas are cold weather crops. Don't seed them again until late summer for a early fall harvest.

Beans can produce a lot more heavily, so 10 bush beans per person with 90% germination is 11 seeds. You'll get more than one harvest from the beans as long as you keep picking, but the amount will slowly decline.

Last of June first of July will be putting in my second harvest for this year so far everything I planted is doing well. Will plant late season tomato's more collards,Turnips and Broccolli. Then we have long growing season here in north Texas.

Hi Marina,

I planted 9 bush bean plants this spring and they are about done, so I will put in the second crop this weekend (started them in trays). Those I grew in containers. In the garden I have another 20 I transplanted about 10 days ago.

The thing with bush beans (as I've learned this year) is that they produce pretty much at once. If you space them out by planting every week or so you will have a steady supply.

I'm actually hoping to get 3 harvests out of my containers at the house and 2 from my garden.

Good luck.

Shawn

Thanks for all the advice I am definetly needing to try more cucumbers. I thought I planted a ton, but the way the things are flowering (huge flowers.... no baby cukes) I am thinking it might be spaghetti squash or cantalope instead, I failed to label. So I have only 1 cucumber plant, with has given me 2 so far. I hoped to have a bunch to pickle

I will do peas, beans, and more lettuce as well as carrots (I planted to close together I fear, anyone know how long the baby carrots should take? Its been 2 months and I am pulling up some cute little carrots, but not big enough to eat)

Marina-