2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[meadow]

The corn/soy rotations that are super popular in the American midwest are perfect for the fly's lifecycle, especially where they still feel the need to harrow crop residue in every year.

The young guy on the 10 acres behind us was growing corn in every available acreage around here for a few years. He seems to have cut back to his own place this year. I've been seeing a lot of those flies.

 

[heirloomgal]

Beautiful. Those were on my original grow list for the year, but I had to drop all cool season crops (and long-DTM crops) due to the late start. The silver lining is that left room to squeeze in some of the naked-seeded pumpkins.

I clipped the tips yesterday @Zeedman and they actually tasted quite good fresh in a salad, reminiscent of green peas somehow. If you have a part time shady spot in your gardens (in the future) you might want to consider planting them there; if I hadn't put them in a spot like that I'm not sure they'd be in the good shape they're in since the tips get a bit wilty after a few hours in 32 C/ 90 F direct sun.

 

[flowerbug]

I use this sort of netting with hoops in some of my gardens, much like you would with floating row cover. The link is just the first thing that came up in a search and not a product endorsement

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SZ1H698

at one time we had some netting like this as a fence, creatures chewed through it and it became enmeshed in vines and other things growing. pieces of it are still back there along that ditch. it's a huge mess of stuff i may never clean up because all those fences vines and stuff might be all that is holding some of that bank together and keeping it from eroding even more. i really don't want to look too closely at it...

i did put up a small chunk of fence today with a deadfall on top so that if the deer run into it they'll likely knock it over and have that wood falling and making noise and perhaps that will keep them away for a few more days. normally once the beans are larger the deer mostly leave them alone. there's plenty of fields around us of soybeans they can eat instead.

i think what may have influenced them to spend more time here last night was that the surrounding fields were all sprayed with weed killers and so they come here because i spray my gardens only with water and it has been so dry that any fresh greens would be something they'd like to eat for the water and the food combined.

if i put money into fencing it will be minimum 6ft and metal wire type, not anything plastic.

 

[heirloomgal]

Couple bean pics as the flowering begins...

'Sunset Runner'

'Rotebeerbohne' blossom

'Bis' bean, something a little charming about the leaf shape and colouring of this one

Not sure what is with this! SO many tangles this year! Really need to keep an eye on the beans and separate them because they seem more interested in climbing each other's vines than my poles!

'Grandma Nellie's Yellow Mushroom' pole beans. I could tell the seeds were old by the time they all germinated, which was quite late. I super planted because I expected damage, or germ issues and - of course - this is what I wound up with. I'll need to cull a whole bunch.

These are the most miserable beans I've ever planted! By miserable I mean they are fussy, fussy. Holstein cowpeas, and they REALLY don't like cool, wet weather; it has only just started to get hot so they are NOT happy. They started out great though, indoors. Maybe some will survive, we'll see, As soon as we got a cold spell it was like something was eating the growth points, or they were withering away or something and they didn't budge. The lady who gave them to me - from Ontario as well - said she has no problem growing them! They just don't like me!

 

[jbosmith]

if i put money into fencing it will be minimum 6ft and metal wire type, not anything plastic.

If they're white tailed deer, you need more than 6', though you could probably get away with that plus some visible wide wires above it, like the poly-wire that horse folks use. White tailed deer jump my 6' fence like it isn't even an inconvenience. Orchard fences here are 8-10'.

 

[jbosmith]

I clipped the tips yesterday @Zeedman and they actually tasted quite good fresh in a salad, reminiscent of green peas somehow. If you have a part time shady spot in your gardens (in the future) you might want to consider planting them there; if I hadn't put them in a spot like that I'm not sure they'd be in the good shape they're in since the tips get a bit wilty after a few hours in 32 C/ 90 F direct sun.

Favas will put up with a lot more heat than people give them credit for if you keep their roots cool. A solid layer of hay does wonders. Nice, thick leafs just pulled off square bales and thrown on the ground do well.

 

[Zeedman]

you know how i feel! this morning going out to water and a large part of the North Garden is trampled or eaten by deer. it's always a risk because there's no fence enclosing it, but they'd stayed away for the past few weeks for the most part. last night it was several feasting and having a good 'ol time.

i made some deep trenches through it to try to discourage easy walking through, but that doesn't seem to have mattered.

Have you ever considered a solar fence charger? A couple rounds of electric fencing is easy to put up. In my experience, once the deer get shocked the first time or two, they remember & never try again - even with the fence turned off.

 

[Zeedman]

If they're white tailed deer, you need more than 6', though you could probably get away with that plus some visible wide wires above it, like the poly-wire that horse folks use. White tailed deer jump my 6' fence like it isn't even an inconvenience. Orchard fences here are 8-10'.

All of my gardens have a 6' fence, and only 3 times since 2005 has that happened. Deer can jump a 6' fence, but will only do so if they see a clear landing site. All of the incursions occurred shortly after planting, while plants were small, and trellises & cages were not yet up. I use a lot of tall trellises, and often place them 3' from edges where deer might approach. I've never had deer jump in once the trellises & cages were installed.

 

[flowerbug]

Have you ever considered a solar fence charger? A couple rounds of electric fencing is easy to put up. In my experience, once the deer get shocked the first time or two, they remember & never try again - even with the fence turned off.

it doesn't work if the area isn't fully enclosed and i can't get Mom to let me finish the plan i started (and thought i had approval for but she changed her mind).

with two more runs of good fence and i'd protect many thousands more of square feet and also stop damage to the front gardens. it's just that she doesn't want to look at the fence i'd need to run across the front. the side fence she won't see much at all. ah, well, i can cope, i don't have expectations of sure harvests from any gardens outside the fences - it's just discouraging when the solution is not too hard to accomplish.

if i were king of the forresst! but i'm not...

 

[flowerbug]

If they're white tailed deer, you need more than 6', though you could probably get away with that plus some visible wide wires above it, like the poly-wire that horse folks use. White tailed deer jump my 6' fence like it isn't even an inconvenience. Orchard fences here are 8-10'.

they've not ever jumped the 6ft fences here, we have a lot of obstructions and complications around so they don't have an easy taking off spot.