2018 Little Easy Bean Network - Join Us In Saving Amazing Heirloom Beans

[Blue-Jay]

@reedy,

You are better off delaying planting than planting too early and risking cold weather, frost, or rotting seed in cold soil. Plants can make up the growth when it's warmer. Last year I planted some bush beans on July 3rd a month later than most of my other bush beans. I was amazed those July 3rd beans produced dry seed about the same time as the ones planted a month earlier. Slightly later much not a whole bunch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One method I use to determine if the ground is ready is to plant a few of my "production" beans when I have plenty of seeds. That's my bush snap beans as I want them as early as possible to start eating off of. The pole beans I generally can go in later. If they germinate well then the ground is ready.

That did not work last year though. My Blue Jay bush beans came up great but the weather then set in cold and stayed really wet for over a week. Very few of the network beans I planted came up, almost a complete replant. So you still have to watch the forecast. Too much rain or a drop in temperature can still cause problems.

 

[reedy]

I don't have a good way to irrigate so in recent years I have been pushing the envelope on planting early in order to lessen the effects of the hot dry that will likely show up about June. Limas don't seem to mind the heat as much anyway.

I'll probably plant some of my beans, the ones I have 1/2 gallon jars full of, but not gonna risk these seeds till the night temperatures are consistently warmer.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@reedy,

You don't have a way to irrigate. So where do you grow your gardens? Do you grow at home? Most houses have faucets outside to tap into with a garden hose. Maybe you garden in a community garden situation. I'm curious.

 

[reedy]

@Bluejay77 I can use the garden hose to water, I just don't consider highly chlorinated tap water a good option for irrigation. Plus when it is real dry they always put bans on using it that way. I could do it anyway and nobody would know except of course they would see it in my usage.

Then there is the distance. I have two gardens, one is about 80' x 80' and about 100' from the house. So to get the water hose to all parts is a pain. The other garden is slightly smaller but farther away.

I find workarounds like mulching and filling 55 drums to hand water from but for the most part I try to get along without watering.

 

[reedy]

A couple more things I do to compensate for lack of watering is I don't do it often but when I do I do it a LOT. For example if it is dry when I plant, I dig a good sized trench and fill it with water two or more times. The number of times depends on how long it takes to soak in. As long as it soaks in very quickly I keep filling it again. Then I put the dry dirt that came out back in, up to planting level. Then I put in my seeds and cover. I'm careful not to get the surface soil wet. Generally by the next day you can see damp soil on the surface but know that the bulk of it went down, deep under the roots. Seeds planted that way may not get watered again at all unless threatened at a critical time during production.

For watering during growth I often dig good sized depressions between the rows and fill them with water in a similar fashion. I may even go to the extreme of holding the dry dirt in a wheel barrow to replace after the water soaks in. If available I put down some good mulch like grass clippings.

No matter how dry it is most things do not get this type of treatment more than once or twice a season. If a crop has produced fairly well already, like with pole beans or tomatoes they are just left to their own devices in later part of the summer.

Some pole beans, my Little Brown Greasy's for example, can often have another flush of production once cooler fall weather and a little rain arrives. I'v had them do that after the plants have dropped most of their leaves and looked almost dead. We eat those later ones for fresh snaps, happy that the main earlier production is either in the jars for green beans or drying down in the spare room for soup and seeds.

 

[Lady0bug]

Sounds good. I'll keep an eye out for them in the mail and let you know when they make it here. Safe travels little bean seeds.

Seeds arrived yesterday, so pretty. I like the new labels and organizational system, @Bluejay77.

 

[HmooseK]

Oaxacan Cream is trying to break free.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Oaxacan Cream is trying to break free.

Strong little boogers aren't they? They can move the earth.

 

[HmooseK]

Strong little boogers aren't they? They can move the earth.

Yes. I can remember as a small child waiting for the tiniest amount of earth to break. It still brings great pleasure when seeds emerge.