Bean and Pea Question(s)

Hi

I have started harvesting my snap peas and bush green beans. I have read that if I let either mature on the plant that they will stop producing. I have been picking for around 2 weeks, and trying to get out at least every other day. I am worried that if I left it too long they will stop. How long might I expect them to keep on producing or is it variety/location dependant?

Also, I have wax bush beans that I planted in the spots where my brocolli was. it happens to be between my green bush beans (which are about 18 inches high and very very bushy) and my peas which are not too bad and on the north side on the wax beans. I have 2 tomato plants in between my bush green beans and my bush wax beans, and my wax beans have decided to be vines - on my - gasp - tomato plant and cage. is this them struggling for light or do some bush beans just mutate back to vines? Btw - my wax beans were planted 4-5 weeks after my bush beans so they are much less mature - playing catch up.

One last one - I noticed this morning that some of my green beans were covered in ants - little black guys on the bean itself - not so much interested in the leaves. Is this a good thing, or am I going to find myself cursing the ants in a few days because they ate me out of bean and pod? I have never grown beans or peas before

Any thoughts would be appreciated

I have some bush beans in my garden that are putting up short runners, too. I think it's just the nature of some varieties. Unless you planted a pole bean, they shouldn't get very tall.

If you're seeing ants on your beans, check to see if you have aphids. Sometimes they are the same color as the plants and very hard to see. I've read that ants actually "herd" aphids to get a sweet honeydew that they produce. I've never had aphids on my beans but some years they are thick on the English peas.

Bush beans usually produce a good crop over a few weeks and then stop producing. Pole beans will produce all summer. Around here, the snap peas produce until hot weather does them in.