Help with Lettuces/Peas/Beans Please!

[MissFoodie]

Hello MN's

I need your assistance please....not sure whether all the beans/peas need canes????
also, of the lettuces, which do i just pick outer leaves off and which do I cut? and if I cut, will it grow back again????

this is what I have (they are all baby plants):

Dwarf French Green Beans - Sprite (do I need to cane this? If so, individual canes vertical or wigwam?
Garden Peas - Keveldon Wonder (I assume I do need to cane this, vertical or wigwam? they are all in one large round container)
Runner Beans - Enorma (as per garden peas)

Lettuces - which do I cut and which do I pick leaves from?:
Lettuce - Pearl (not sure if this is Little Gem Pearl?)
Lettuce - Lollo Rossa, Marvel of 4 Seasons (I think both these are pick leaves type)
Chichory - Rossa (??????)
Mizuna - Red Knight (???)
Also, all the above lettuces are about 5-10cm apart, is this too close????

Rainbow Chard - Bright Lights...am a bit concerned this is going to overtake the spinach.....put 5 in the centre of the planter, which is 50cm wide???? then planted 10 spinach round the outside???

Right, Can't help with lettuces, but as for beans... Dwarf beans prob won't need support, but you could use short sticks or something- they really are small plants. Peas need something easier to climb up- netting or pea sticks as they don't climb well up canes generally. Runner beans are fine with garden canes in a wigwam, if they're already in a round pot, but make sure they're tall enough. When they reach the top of your canes, you pinch the top out.

Hope someone with more knowledge can help you with the rest!

Dwarf beans won't need any sort of support
Kelvedon Wonder is a dwarf pea - won't need canes but might benefit from some kind of low support (traditional would be twiggy 'pea sticks)
Runner beans - will need canes to grow up, wigwam or long row as you prefer.

Lettuces - if it is Little Gem its a hearting var. Lollo Rosso & marvel of 4 seasons you can take individual leaves, ditto mizuna. Mizuna will tend to bolt quite fast if sown now, you might do better to wait & sow later on into the summer to grow into autumn.

Chicory - would generally leave to heart up but it does depend on the var, Rossa just means 'red' so a lot of them have that in the name!

Your chard & spinach sounds fine.

HTH

Sorry, X post

thanks ladies!
re peas: they are in one large 50cm round container - how do use netting in there? does it still need a cane???

re hearting lettuces: does this mean I wait until it's ready and then cut the whole thing at the root? and if I leave a bit of root, will it grow again? or is it a one off?

re Mizuna: they are all planted, in fact I planted everything today....is currently under fleece for the next few weeks!

I have to write a feature on first time GYO for my blog....will def quote you!!!

I wouldn't both supporting dwarf peas in a container necessarily. KW will grow to around 2 foot tall - in the ground they need a bit of support to stop them flopping down, getting slugged etc. In a big pot, put them reasonably close together & they'll just tangle themselves together & hold themselves up.

Having said that . . . if I were growing peas in a container, I'd go for a climbing var, as the yield is so much higher for a given 'footprint'.

To support you'd then put a mini wigwam of canes covered in netting in the container, or lean a support against the wall if its a long container rather than a round one.

You could prob get away with making a cane wigwam and tying garden string round it like this, if you already have canes. Or, collect some sticks from your nearest wood and use those. It's just that peas only have little short tendrils and they need something to hold onto to climb. Runner beans climb with their main stem so they can climb up a cane easily.

oh thats a good idea!
my only concern though is that there are plants in the middle of the planter too, ie they are not just in one large circle????

The ones in the middle might not get enough light then?

Sorry, reading other posts again I realise it's a dwarf pea variety. I haven't used a smaller variety before, I was thinking about taller climbing varieties. obviously takvar knows more about this than me!!

worked out how to support the peas with mini sticks and some twine...!
now the problem I have is every time I cover the containers with fleece the cat thinks it's his new bed........the lettuces were all squashed this morning....it will be a miracle if they survive!!!!