For those with little room to garden

sb44

If you want to grow veg and don't have much room or have a lot of room and is mostly lawn like us then it may be a good idea to buy some of these planters.

I bought these in Wilkinsons as they have a special offer on at the minute, 3 for the price of 2 so I got these for £5.98 for the three.

I know that some people on this forum recommend square foot gardening ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening ) and these may be ok for that, what do you think folks, would these be suitable, they measure 15" x 15" x 13" and the actual inside measures exactly 12"?

They fit snugly side by side if you know what I mean as in the pic I took earlier (don't look at my dirty flagstones!).

sb44

Does anyone know if these will be big enough to grow runner beans in an if so how many to each one?

I grew some the other year in a massive planter and had 3 plants in the one pot with 3 canes.

Do you think it would have to be 4 of these grouped together in a large square with one bean in each one and 4 canes tied together in the middle or could I get away with more than one in each tub?

JayneC

I think you can do 4 beans in each pot. Have a look at the square foot gardening - there's a link on this board somewhere I'm sure!

angelavdavis

Here are some links:

http://www.squarefootgardening.co.uk/
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
http://www.growsonyou.com/gardening/square-foot-gardening

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I'm planning on growing runner beans for the first time too and I'm just going to put them in planters with the sweet peas and let them grow together.
You can only try can't you.

angelavdavis

I would have thought runner beans would be fine in those pots as they are nice and deep - 4 per pot, with a cane in each corner of the pot, tied at the top as a wigwam. I would then plant the beans in a mix of compost and rotted manure as beans are really greedy feeders.

Then ensure after about a month, that you feed them with watered down worm juice from the wormery, or a low nitrogen feed every two weeks. Keep them well watered too - especially when they are flowering.

Nip out the leading shoot when the plant has created four sets of flowers and spray with soapy water if blackfly appear.

sb44

angelavdavis wrote: »

Nip out the leading shoot when the plant has created four sets of flowers and spray with soapy water if blackfly appear.

Sorry, I am new to a lot of this stuff, just picking up info as I go along.

What do you mean by four 'sets' of flowers?

sb44

angelavdavis wrote: »

Here are some links:

http://www.squarefootgardening.co.uk/
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
http://www.growsonyou.com/gardening/square-foot-gardening

Thanks for those links, off to take a look now.

angelavdavis

sb44 wrote: »

Sorry, I am new to a lot of this stuff, just picking up info as I go along.

What do you mean by four 'sets' of flowers?

Beans tend to flower in sets - ie groups of flower buds appear together. Once you have four sets set along the length, the beans will continue to grow higher (or longer) using up the nutrients. You want the beans to put their effort into bean production so by pinching out the height, the plant doesn't use its effort in growing!!!!

sb44

angelavdavis wrote: »

Beans tend to flower in sets - ie groups of flower buds appear together. Once you have four sets set along the length, the beans will continue to grow higher (or longer) using up the nutrients. You want the beans to put their effort into bean production so by pinching out the height, the plant doesn't use its effort in growing!!!!

Great explanation, ta!

I grew runner beans once, two years ago but I let them grow all the way up the 4ft canes and I haven't got a clue how many sets were on those so I shall make sure I follow your advice this time.

angelavdavis

I found some videos including by the SFG creator on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g

Am even thinking of changing one of my raised beds to try out SFG for myself!