I’m looking at this topic from 2-4 people’s needs. Okra and green beans are two that I’m considering how much space to allow. If I had more space I would over plant everything. I’m looking at having a 30’ row of okra and a 40’ row of green beans. How much/many of these would you plant? How much/many other vegetables would you plant?
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Last year i planted mostly pole beans. Prefer picking beans not on the ground. They produce more and taste better. Bush beans give me a soar back but i planted some providers anyway. Back to your question plant as many pole beans as you want they are no problem to pick. Remember what i said bush beans and strawberries are painful crops.
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We planted about 60’ of bush beans last year. There’s two of us. My wife freezes a bunch of beans for use throughout the winter as well as pickling a bunch…and giving a bunch (a whole bunch) to the local food pantry.
We’ll never plant more than 20’ of bush beans again…
Edit…I know nothing about okra, other than I like to eat it deep fried. Is it a high yielding vegetable?
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I’m zone 7a in NE Arkansas.
Last season I had eight okra plants (all Clemson Spineless) spaced 18" apart. I was absolutely drowning in okra. During the height of summer, I was harvesting a large colander full of okra every morning. I cannot imagine a family of four needing more than eight okra plants.
I also had six feet of pole beans (Kentucky Wonder spaced at 8"). These plants didn’t produce much during the extreme summer heat, but when it cooled down, they took off. I got lazy and mostly didn’t even harvest these. But I’m thinking that a 12’ row (just like with the okra) would be a crazy amount of beans for a family of four.
As an aside, I’m ditching pole beans this season, and I’m going to try Asian long beans for the first time.
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Storing is a factor. I dehydrate potatoes and carrots (store bought, not growing those as of jet). I can fit about 20 pounds of carrots in about a liter mason jar. They actually taste better when they reconstitute because of a concentration of flavor and absorption of cooking juices. I would grow a year’s supply plus a margin of error.
The trick is to quick boil them before dehydrating them, a bit on the raw side. It enhances texture and speeds up reconstitution.
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I should have mentioned that I’m planting Blue Lake pole beans and Heavy Hitter okra.
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Blue lake pole beans are what i grew last year. They are excellent beans. Never grew Heavy Hitter okra but i love okra. We eat tons of it. We freeze it and eat it all winter.
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I like this guide from KState. It gives you average pounds of vegetables produced per 10’, and in some cases per plant. So it helps you decide how long of rows to plant, depending on how many people you want to feed with your produce.
https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/mf315.pdf
Pole Beans Expected yield 15 lb/10’ row. Plant approximately 5’–6’ row/person
Okra Expected yield 10 lb/10’ row. Plant approximately 4’–6’ row/person
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And if you have a lot left canned, frozen or dried come spring, just plant less of those items that year. Harvests vary from year to year due to weather, critter or disease issues, biennial producers, and garden care due to “life happening.” And after eating home-grown, it is so hard to buy produce from a store!
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Thanks. The charts look like a good place to start.
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Good advice. Thanks
This is my first time to grow both BL and HH. I also prefer to stand while picking beans.
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This is already an issue for me. I need to upgrade my dehydrator soon.
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Can you say a word or two about your dehydration process?
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I recommend this puppy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L48SJJB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Tray size is 15" wide by 11" deep.
I forage for fun and profit, I own two of these with 15" by 15" trays:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MCKYP3S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And while they have a slightly larger capacity they are inferior to the above unit. The one I recommend has better ventilation on the front door (holes around the perimeter, better slits) and the narrower depth is better suited to the unit capacity. When I fully load my larger units with mushrooms at high temperatures (highest temp needed to process some medicinal mushrooms) the air flow is insufficient, raising the humidity enough to steam them. I never had issues with the other unit.
One caveat: these are supposed to be quiet. If it is loud that’s a defect and you should return it.
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