NEW: Beans, peas and legumes swap
tormato
8 years ago
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tormato
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agosocalgardengal
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRelated Discussions
Legume newbie help
Comments (3)Wow, a lot of ground to cover here... If space is in short supply, you might be better off growing pole varieties of beans, as opposed to bush types. You can train them vertically, and will get a higher yield per square foot of ground space. I am a shelly bean fanatic; and while there are bush varieties, there are more - and better - varieties available as pole types. There is a good thread in this forum on shell beans. Most of the dry beans offered commercially are bush or half-runner, but there are heirloom pole varieties available through seed saving organizations like SSE. Beans need warm soil to germinate; if the soil is too cool and/or too wet, they will most likely rot in the ground. Transplants can go in a little earlier. If you have enough seed for several attempts, it doesn't hurt to try an early planting, then re-plant a little later to fill the holes. In a good year, you can get an early harvest that way. Peas bred for green shell use are generally of the "shrunken" type, and develop little starch. There are other varieties that were bred for use as dry, or "soup" peas; but they are not commonly available commercially. They are generally taller, climbing varieties. It takes a lot of ground to grow a reasonable quantity of soup peas, so if space is in short supply, you might want to use it for more high-yielding crops. The same could be said of lentils & garbanzos (chickpeas), but they are decorative plants, so they might work as edible landscaping. However, if you have late summer rains during the time the pods are drying, much of the seed may spoil. Here in Wisconsin, garbanzos are a difficult crop, for that reason. If you are interested mainly in dry beans, you might want to consider cowpeas (a.k.a. Southern peas, field peas, blackeyed peas). They might sprawl a bit, but you can get a lot of dry seed from a small number of plants. A few varieties are true bush habit, such as the MN 157 which I grow. As for inoculants... there is a unique species of symbiotic nodule-forming bacteria for each species of legume. For the most common (beans, peas, runner beans & limas), there are "garden combos" that contain a mixture of strains. Other legumes, such as soybeans, peanuts, cowpeas, and garbanzos, require special strains that are less widely available. If beans have never been grown in your soil, you might want to use bean & pea inoculant for the first year. Other than that, the only inoculant that I would recommend for annual use would be for cowpeas... in tests I conducted last year, it was the only one that showed a marked improvement. I & many others have seen no difference with beans & peas between treated & untreated. There's no harm in using them, but they are fairly expensive - especially for garbanzos. Two great bean books I would recommend: Growing and Cooking Beans by John Withee (available through the Seed Savers Exchange website) The Bean Bible by Aliza Green Between the two, they should answer most of your questions, and they have a wealth of info on many varieties, as well as recipes & cooking instructions....See MoreRound Robin bean swap?
Comments (10)I would love to be in a bean swap. I don't have much to contribute this year - lots of Ojo de Cabra pole bean and a little of two or three others. Maybe a little more if it's legumes in general rather than just beans. Really want to expand next year. Thanks! I was hoping someone would be doing one of these. :)...See MorePeas & Beans to seed
Comments (3)You're right. The weevils only lay eggs while the beans/peas/corn are on the plant maturing. The eggs stay dormant, usually for several months after the seed has dried. Then, with little warning, they hatch out and ruin one's seed. So, if one freezes the seed (after thoroughly drying it) soon after harvest, then those little rascals never get a chance to harm the seed. But it is extremely important, when removing cold/frozen seed from the freezer, that one not open its container until temperatures have again equalized. I once opened a jar of cold bean seed, fresh out of the freezer, for just a brief moment. I sealed it right back up and stuck it away in my closet. The next spring I retrieved it for planting and found that all the seed was coated with mold and had 0% viability. George...See MoreEarly bean/legume?
Comments (10)Beans are a poor choice for early seeding as they will need warmer soil to germinate. Peas of all types are a much better choice since you can actually sow in late fall and the seeds will germinate at first favorable conditions. Some people have used hairy vetch but you need to be prepared to knock it down. Your 90 day window is too extreme since many peas are able to be harvested in 60d; 40-50d to manage and replant....See Moretormato
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