2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[heirloomgal]

Are you planning to grow all of those this year!? If so you must have a huge and amazing garden!!!

Yes, these are the plan, but I'm not 100% sure in the end I'll be able to fit in all those bush beans. I have a new garden this year to use, so I'll have to see what fits. It looks like more than it is really, as I don't grow a whole lot of any one kind of bean. For a pole variety I usually only plant 4 seeds, 8 at the maximum. Trust me, @Blue-Jay 's garden is waaay bigger than mine!

 

[heirloomgal]

I had a lightbulb moment yesterday out of the blue. It occurred to me that I have so many seeds left from last year's marigold that I am going to put in a plant between each pole of beans. After growing beans on the same ground for years I do think that pest pressures build up, and these particular marigolds ('Gem') are a wilder species and WAY more smelly. If there are any critters who MIGHT want to show up and bother my plants, these will be a great deterrent. And they'll look pretty too! I just need start the transplants in time, and a lot of them. A fellow who requested seeds of these marigolds from me last year told me in the fall that growing the marigolds in his potato rows was the first time he didn't have to deal with potato beetles. So, something to it.

 

[ducks4you]

I swear every marigold flower produces about 50 seeds. WAY more productive than a burdock! It only makes 7.

 

[heirloomgal]

I'm getting tags ready for the bean plants right now, which requires me to wash them, remove the writing from last season and dry with a cloth so I won't wreck the marker I'm using with drops of water. Clearly I made a dreadful mistake last year and used a too high quality indelible marker. 1/2 the pile of tags (a crazy ton of them) have writing that won't come off. Acetone, WD 40, Goo Gone, Cream Cleanser, even sandpaper and I can't get the darn writing off. And I sunk a fair bit of dough to buy all these giant tags. I soaked them all in the sink this evening with a 1/2 cup of Vim & very hot water (stinks!) and went out and bought some new wire scrubbies. I think I'm finally going to make headway now. Oh my gosh what an awful job! Note to self: DO NOT use those heavy duty Sharpie markers from Home Depot!!!

I do always make a map of what's where, but I still like to have a big, easily readable tag right there up high so I can see who it is as I walk the rows. Apparently one must pay in scrubbing for that privilege.

 

[Branching Out]

I'm getting tags ready for the bean plants right now, which requires me to wash them, remove the writing from last season and dry with a cloth so I won't wreck the marker I'm using with drops of water. Clearly I made a dreadful mistake last year and used a too high quality indelible marker. 1/2 the pile of tags (a crazy ton of them) have writing that won't come off. Acetone, WD 40, Goo Gone, Cream Cleanser, even sandpaper and I can't get the darn writing off. And I sunk a fair bit of dough to buy all these giant tags. I soaked them all in the sink this evening with a 1/2 cup of Vim & very hot water (stinks!) and went out and bought some new wire scrubbies. I think I'm finally going to make headway now. Oh my gosh what an awful job! Note to self: DO NOT use those heavy duty Sharpie markers from Home Depot!!!

I do always make a map of what's where, but I still like to have a big, easily readable tag right there up high so I can see who it is as I walk the rows. Apparently one must pay in scrubbing for that privilege.

Not a fun task, Heirloomgal. Tags are an important piece of the gardening puzzle. I've tried multiple methods and found myself frustrated as well. So far my recycled slats of aluminum blinds, cut to size, are functioning well for at least a couple of seasons. After trying multiple pens including expensive 'garden markers' I have settled on labeling with graphite, aka pencil. At the end of the season the aluminum tags are washed, dried, and then the old writing is erased with a white eraser. So far so good-- and cost free.