Archive for the “beans” Category
Posted by: Rose in beans, tags: saving seeds
Bean flowers are self-pollinating, so the danger of cross pollination is comparatively small. It’s is recommended to separate different kinds of beans by a garden length though to ensure absolute purity.
 Save seeds from plants that ripen first and are disease free. Harvest seed pods reserved for seed saving when they are dried completely. Crush the pods in a cloth, or burlap sack, winnow the seeds from the chaff, and store in a dry, dark place, in a paper envelope or burlap sack.
Don’t forget to label your seed ! It is helpful to note:
- what kind of bean the seed is from
- if the bean is a pole bean or bush bean
- how long it takes the bean to ripen
- basic planting instructions
- the year in which the seed was saved
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You might think it’s weird to think about the gardening season now, but it isn’t. Even though your garden patch might be buried in snow right now, depending on where you are, you still need to get off your hindquarters and start planning now.
2009 might very well be the year when, for the first time in a long time, many people will have to rely on their own crops or go hungry, so plan well, and order early, and order heirloom seed that you can save so you won’t have to spend money again next year. When I went through our seed catalogs earlier this week, I noticed just how many crop failures are mentioned, and how much more expensive seed has become compared to last year.
I suggest looking at Fedco’s, or Seed Savers Exchange, to get an idea. Both places let you order online or via snail mail. Fedco’s is a little less pricey, but they have hybrids too, so make sure you don’t get a hybrid accidentally.
In addition, buying a little seed dispenser might help you not to waste seed, and a germination mat, for example Hydrofarm MT10008 Seedling Heat Mat, 20 By 20 Inches , will make sure that the seeds you start indoors will grow nicely even if you start early. Hydrofarm even sells a Hydrofarm CK64050 Germination Station with Heat Mat which gives you the seedling pots and the heat mat all in one go. If you are new to the whole idea of growing your own food and don’t have a basement full of little seedling pots already, this might be the way to go.
If you have difficulties deciding what you want to grow, consider this:
- What do you like to eat ? (Don’t grow what you won’t wish to eat.)
- What will fill your family’s belly well ? (You might like radishes a lot, but they are hardly satisfying if that’s all you have to eat.)
- What stores well ? (What can nourish your family well through the next winter.)
- What can you process ? (Will you can, freeze, dehydrate, or store in a root cellar.)
Tomatoes and peppers are tasty and wonderful additions, but you will want to have beans, potatoes and corn too.
Be wise, and don’t go hungry !
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We just wanted to share a picture from our garden
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Posted by: Rose in beans, tags: slugs
We like beans. So do slugs… Since we do not intent to lose our beans to them, we make access to the beans as uncomfortable for the slugs as possible. How ? Well, we sprinkle crushed eggshells all around our plants. All winter we collected eggshell so now we have enough to protect our beans… If you too have a slug problem, you better start eating eggs and keeping the shells.
 If you don’t have eggshells because you don’t eat eggs, or don’t eat enough eggs, really anything dry or sharp will work because slugs don’t like to crawl over anything dry or sharp. Dry grass clippings will work, and so will lime, just to give you two examples.
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Generally speaking, you can plant zucchini, squash, pumpkin and gourd a plant per foot. Note that zucchini does not vine, whereas squash, pumpkin and gourds, do.
IN ROWS:
- 18 inches between rows for zucchini, squash and gourd
- 12 inches apart
- plant 3-5 seeds, thin out if necessary
Pumpkins are usually planted in hills dues to their size. Leave plenty of space for them to vine.
Corn, Beans and squash, pumpkin or zucchini together make what is commonly called “The Three Sisters”. Here is how you plant a three sister mound:
1. In late May/ early June, pile up soil a foot high and 20 across. Place the mounds four feet apart, flatten the tops.
2. Plant five to six corn kernels in a small circle.
3. When the corn has grown about five inches (about a week or two later), plant seven to eight pole beans in a circle around the corn, about six inches away.
4. At the edge of the mound, a foot away from the beans, squash or pumpkin seeds, seven to eight all in all.
5. Weed out the weaker plants once they have grown enough to tell which are strong and which are weak plants.
6. Wrap the beans around the corn stalks as they grow. The squash will crawl around corn and beans.
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