Spent hours out in the garden pulling up cornstalks and breaking the soil again for new plantings. I pulled out over ten rotten tomato vines that had nothing more to do and tomatoes that were long since done for weeks ago. The smell was atrocious - but it is all outside the garden in the compost areas now. Esme tried to help a bit more this time - mostly by claiming hills of dirt and sand that were 'hers' and also she chose a handful of kidney beans (of all things out of my pile that I showed her) to plant in two little rows, tuck in 'for the night' and water down. I doubt we will be in need of any fresh kidney beans but with the loving care, we will see what comes of them.
I found two types of beans out there in pods still clinging to cornstalks - I had overlooked them before. There were three pods of Jeminez, which I thought had died completely, and three more pods of Kenearly yellow eye beans hidden underneath a tomato vine and winding around a sunflower stalk. I had to be careful not to pull the cornstalks that the Tennessee Greasy Beans have a hold of - they are late and not very well positioned but going strong towards producing something.
Also planted: brown Mississippi silver crowder peas, Kenearly beans (second round), Jeminez beans from the one moldy pod I found out there, in hopes that it will grow. I planted more Mayflower beans and a few Dragons Tongue found in the same condition as the Jeminez. I planted some blue field corn in a few hills only as an experiment to see if that would help the lodging at all. It is probably too late to get anything out of it at all.
I have fence line area cleared to plant more of my Shackamaxon beans. The two (two!) times I have planted them this year from seed they have come up and died not too long after crawling up and looking like they would start to flower.
Positives this year: Bosnian beans, King of the Early Bean, Mayflower bean, Kenearly, Pinto, Florida Speckled Lima Bean, Lemon Boy Tomato, Black Krim tomato, German Queen tomato, Zephyr zucchini, Dark Green Zucchini, Strawberry Popcorn, Sunflowers (all), Zinnias (all), Red French marigolds
Mediocres: Lina Sisco bean, Jeminez, Roma tomatoes, Pumpkins (all), Peaches and Cream corn, volunteer yellow grape tomatoes, Dragon's Lingerie and Dragon's Tongue beans, Hutterite beans
Failures: Maria Amazilitei's Pole Bean (lost all), Shackamaxon, Sweet Dumpling squash, field corn trials :(
will need to rebuy seed for :King of the Early Bean, Jeminez - neither of them produced enough saveable seed to rely upon for next year.
Showing posts with label bean seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bean seeds. Show all posts
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Friday, July 06, 2012
popcorn harvest, canning tomatoes, Esme games
With the threat of a small amount of rain in the air (which we did get some later) I pulled in the strawberry popcorn and the rest of what looked like keepable for seed in the beans. Esme saw me tying bean pods on string and requested a piece - she had some interesting games tying her little figurines to it and there are pictures to follow of those.
the entire popcorn harvest
sunflower seeds
There are a lot of heads to process out in the garden still...
some random beans
Bosnian pole, pinto, Mayflower, Kenearly yellow eye and maybe a few others
Esme was trying very hard to do something with these figures tied to string on the fridge. She kept crying it was too hard, but not telling me what the goal was.
This was the goal. She said the boy and the girl are at a party and they have balloons and they go flying. I would not have thought that - but yes, it makes perfect sense *ha*
This one ended in disaster later...
She said she was tying them into the bike so she could take
them to the gorcery store. But riding the bike in this condition proved difficult and scissors were then involved...
We have about two gallons worth of tomatoes canned up downtairs, mostly Mark's effort on the processing end. I need to look at making another thin fabric dress for Esme like the one in the pictures - it has been her favorite lately (read hard to get off her and wash).
There are a lot of heads to process out in the garden still...
Bosnian pole, pinto, Mayflower, Kenearly yellow eye and maybe a few others
Esme was trying very hard to do something with these figures tied to string on the fridge. She kept crying it was too hard, but not telling me what the goal was.
This was the goal. She said the boy and the girl are at a party and they have balloons and they go flying. I would not have thought that - but yes, it makes perfect sense *ha*
She said she was tying them into the bike so she could take
them to the gorcery store. But riding the bike in this condition proved difficult and scissors were then involved...
We have about two gallons worth of tomatoes canned up downtairs, mostly Mark's effort on the processing end. I need to look at making another thin fabric dress for Esme like the one in the pictures - it has been her favorite lately (read hard to get off her and wash).
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Summer Flowers, early midsummer plantings
It is actually not 'quite' summer yet - but it is hot out! These are flowers from our garden, zinnias, cosmos and also a 'Blaze' rose. The zinnias are 'volunteers' from last year.
I am working at writing more on my gardening lens : Beans, Squash and Corn and adding links to all of the books and companies I have found the most useful over the past few years.
Even though I mapped it carefully as I went along, I have to say I planted 'informally' this year
and I think it is working out well...
I still need to plant my purple hull and black eyed peas, and the whipporwills as well. Some of the sorghum broom corn seeded itself last year but with the temperatures turning hot it is time to put that out in a row as well.
Other notes: I am getting a zucchini or pattypan squash out of the garden nearly every day. The big yellow blossoms are so nice to see early in the morning. There are two blue Hubbard squashes started - we will see where they go - as they have a long time until they would be ripe. The eggplant has flowers. The tomatoes have still not turned yellow/red. The green peppers are producing, but not the banana peppers. We have pulled all of the green cabbage, but the red cabbage is not yet ready. I have zinnias, cosmos and marigolds blooming! I need to put out more radishes around the squashes to keep the bugs down - I've seen and killed two adult squash bugs out there already. It has been an early but strange year gardenwise.. so warm at first, then cold for a long time, and now downright hot!
The bean that has impressed me the most this year is the King of the Early bean, bought from the Little Ragamuffin's shop. It has produced so many tasty green beans already - and the plants are upright, bushy and doing very well. Almost all of the seeds that were planted germinated right off, which is why they are producing so well now.
Later:
I have been in the garden - even though it is hot! I planned on planting the 'midsummer' items in a month, but they really need to go in now. Like everything, it is a month early...seems fitting for the year as it has went. I took a bean fence already made up from last year and put it up in the back of the garden. It was getting tangled by our goat the other day - so I needed to do something with it other than where it was.
I planted Mississippi Silver Crowder cowpeas by it, black eyed peas, the whipporwill heirloom peas I have, and some Kentucky Wonder climbing green beans that just happened to be on that same fence last year.
When I came inside Esme had a plan for me. We were going to build an 'inside garden.' She had a craft kit I had been given at work for her - and it was indeed an indoor planter. We built it, filled it with dirt and planted some marigold seeds in it. She is very happy and I wonder how hard it will be to get her to understand they will not be up soon. At least she is not still watching it - she went back outside to play.
I have some more whipps to plant and also some sorghum broom corn.
with marigold seeds
she swears is 'being piglet pushing on the swing'
and has to stand up here because Piglet is small
We have had to watch the Pooh movie many times this week. This morning she asked me for 'on pooh Mama - all the more you find it - on the pooh cry and cry and duckie go (curvy line through air) swim and quack!' For those of you who do not translate Esme well that is her asking for me to go to the 'MORE' special features on the Pooh disc where I found the Loch Ness short cartoon. For something that is hard for her to explain, I think she did that well.
Monday, December 05, 2011
triangle shawl notes and more
Inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'A Knitter's Almanac', a book of simple projects signifying the most needed items in a household over the course of a year... Simplest triangle shawl ever is based on a knit garter-stitch dishcloth. Start with four stitches, k2, yo, knit to end. Repeat this always doing the same sequence, k2, yo, knit to end and the item will grow and grow. Once the shawl is a proper size, make some sort of edging or eyelet at the top for a few rows and bind off loosely. I am thinking to do a checkerboard pattern for three rows, then garter stitch for another three and binding off. Then I will fringe mine all the way around if I have enough yarn. I am knitting it on size 6 needles right now, and waiting for my circular needle to come in the mail to transfer it over and continue making it wider.
project yarn from my stash basket: EssentialSolid by KnitPicks. This has been discontinued and/or morphed into Stroll sock yarn, it is a superwash 75% wool with 25% Nylon. The Stroll's difference is that it is Merino wool, and this older yarn does not identify the wool source. I have a skein and a half of 'Ash' and one of a hot pink color... I think I intended to knit socks for Esme out of it and decided against it after she disliked her slippers. // I also had a ball of Sock Memories 'Morning Glory' but it is not machine-washable... it is hand wash. So, I guess I will be using the pink somewhere in this shawl after all... colors: Ash and Petunia
with paint on the sleeve
showing me her nailbrush cleaning skills...
Esme got watercolor paint all over the front of the new dress last night - but it did wash out. When I took this picture I thought about these sleeves... that is usually where a dress 'shrinks'... but this one doesn't look too much different than when I made it... how can that be?
The acrylic garter stitch blanket is being knit on as well, it is about 3/4 done and getting longer and longer. I usually put just a few rows on that at a time, as it is about 4 feet wide and heading towards 6 feet long.
From top left to right : Parchman Lockwood pinto, Florida Speckled Pole Lima beans, Polish (Colorado river beneath it), Piggott Family Heirloom southern cow pea
next row: Mountain Climbers, Bosnian pole bean, Maria Amazaliteis, Tennessee Greasy
Saturday, September 03, 2011
bits
Harvested basil and marigold seed today, and a hyacinth bean pod for Grandma's herb garden next year (inedible, but VERY pretty).
There were about forty seeds of whippoorwill peas and another large amount of them to come in for the next few days. There were quite a few pinto beans to pull in and shell out to cook. I will happily have a pan of those to put with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.
Puck, our smallest dog, died yesterday. She was between five and six years old (found at the flea market, aug-sep 2006). We think she was hit by a truck that turned around in our yard early in the morning. That was the only thing really 'different' that happened that day and we saw her before that but neither of us could remember seeing her after the truck went away. Poor girl had been hurt before and we found her and fixed her up. This time, we didn't have a clue there was anything wrong until the heat of the day. She always thought she was a fifty pound tiger in a ten pound sack. Esme liked her, she called her 'Crumbs' for the longest time, instead of Puck. The thing that made me know she was missing is at dinner time she did a very annoying dance where she hit your knees repeatedly as you walk to the stairs with your plate for the sink. That didn't happen - and before we went to bed that night I told Mark I realized she wasn't here. He went out with the flashlight and didn't see or hear anything. That was yesterday. Mark found her today, and buried her.
There were about forty seeds of whippoorwill peas and another large amount of them to come in for the next few days. There were quite a few pinto beans to pull in and shell out to cook. I will happily have a pan of those to put with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.
Puck, our smallest dog, died yesterday. She was between five and six years old (found at the flea market, aug-sep 2006). We think she was hit by a truck that turned around in our yard early in the morning. That was the only thing really 'different' that happened that day and we saw her before that but neither of us could remember seeing her after the truck went away. Poor girl had been hurt before and we found her and fixed her up. This time, we didn't have a clue there was anything wrong until the heat of the day. She always thought she was a fifty pound tiger in a ten pound sack. Esme liked her, she called her 'Crumbs' for the longest time, instead of Puck. The thing that made me know she was missing is at dinner time she did a very annoying dance where she hit your knees repeatedly as you walk to the stairs with your plate for the sink. That didn't happen - and before we went to bed that night I told Mark I realized she wasn't here. He went out with the flashlight and didn't see or hear anything. That was yesterday. Mark found her today, and buried her.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I have a seed habit
Esme and I spent an hour or so with a box and a butterknife and a few envelopes shelling seeds off of the Indian Corn. It is so colorful. There are striped kernels in red and yellow, red and blue and a few kernels that almost appear green. One ear (not pictured) is a rosy peach pink all the way through except for just one or two purple kernels. There were 'three' indian corns that were planted, one an 'earth tones' that came in the mail, a 'free' extra packet of indian corn that came with something else, and a packet from the Lowes store which was the same as what Grandma planted and/or kept in her seeds for this year. So, we can't tell exactly what is what, especially as it hybridized with our sweet corn. We did that on purpose, to put more 'sweet' into what is normally a flour grinding type of corn. I am picking out a small handful to plant next year for experiment, and then separating a few other 'types' into different pans to either give away or keep for more experiment in larger areas. Treated well and kept dry, it should keep for several years.
Mark says my seed habit is getting extreme ;) I do find it extremely cool to plant one seed and get hundreds back in return. It just touches something way down deep in my soul and makes me light up there. And then the further idea of selecting for traits, changing what is brought back on the return..... adding that fourth dimension of change over time almost has me rubbing my hands together like Ebeneezer over his pile of gold. Except mine is corn, and beans. And 'investment' in gold and silver never has the 'heritage' aspect and you can't very well eat it in a pinch! I guess there are much worse habits to have ;)
//Note// : When Esme woke up this morning she told me she was thinking, thinking about Grandpa and Grandma and Esme and Mama all eating. She sat in the red chair (booster seat at the restaurant), and the food is here (belly button), in her belly now. It was good food. She liked that day. // I asked her if she had remembered that while she was sleeping, and she said No, just thinking, thinking, 'member' it, food in her belly now. *laughing*
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
More garden pictures
truly glorious
Was out in the garden again to check on what was forming yesterday and got pictures of the Shackamaxon bean starting to put on tiny pods from the pretty purple flowers yesterday.
seem to also be gathering on some of the cowpeas. These are black eyed peas.
I think they are gathering the same nectar the wasps are after,
and are very protective against other insects trying to eat the plant.
The experiment bean, severely bugged
but good to capture the plant leaves.
These seem very 'bugged', and for the record, have no wasps or ants on them. There was a fuzzy bumblebee coming by on this and the pinto plant next to it to visit the flowers. There is definitely some politics going on out there - and this one is losing out on the protection from the aggressive insects because it has no nectar buds outside the flowers.
I'm thinking more and more this is of the 'vermont cranberry' type
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Corn devestation and other garden pictures
The storm the other night took out two rows of our corn. I went out there in the mud this morning and cleared out the stalks. We are going to plant pole beans in the place on a fence.
There was corn in all of these rows... and now there isn't :(
pulling the stalks out to mulch in another part of the garden
The older corn did not fall down
and has tassels and silked ears
The Shackamaxon beans were not an entire loss, these ones survived and there is still half the package in the freezer.
pinto beans out climbing their fence!
I was happily surprised to see a hummingbird drinking from the pinto bean flowers while I was out working in the garden. I did not know they liked them.
One of the first pinto beans maturing
I opened about ten pods to try to see what the differences were. Some of the pods were yellow, but were not spotted inside. This one was spotted inside, but green on the outside. The difference on this one was that when I began to squeeze the pod the beans moved around inside easily - they were no longer firmly attached to the skin inside.
This is Pollywog
she is Pogo's new mouser in training.
She enjoys hanging out in the garden with me and chasing frogs.
crookneck squash
peppers
tomatoes, all still green
We have strung the new fence for the pole beans and were letting the dirt dry out a little in the sunshine. It's time to go see what we can do with it. Esme is having terrible cabin fever but is afraid to go get dirty in the mud because she knows that means Mom will wash her hair. It feels odd to have her tell me 'no play outside, there is mud, I'll get dirty.' so matter-of-factly. I feel like I've been given a changeling!
LATER : It really does feel like we've gone over another horizon with Esme this week.... It seems like she has finally connected thought process on a whole range of things. I was given a 'like a Cinderelly bath' with a loofah full of water over my head today. She is saying 'follow me' and 'carry me' even though those words are VERY hard to understand (follow sounds like 'throw me' and 'carry' sounds like 'call' or 'kill'.. very hard to get unless you also pay attention to her hand sign and try to correct the word). She is also trying so hard to do everything 'help mom' and to copy us. After we went to town today she took some plastic keys out to the truck saying 'I go back to work' today and then came back in a few minutes later, stole Daddy's keys off of his desk saying she needed the 'right key.' She was in the driver's seat of the truck trying out keys to the ignition before he realized she had actually taken them outside.
We were both outside in skirts walking to the mailbox the other day and she said we were 'two girls mom, we got skirts'. When there was no mail we were 'sad' it was empty and going home. Today going to the mailbox she was rattling off about how we would be sad again so we shouldn't go we should send Daddy on the motorcycle to see if it was empty so we didn't cry. It was just a light-year ahead of even last week, even though there were a few little 'gaps' I could put two and two together to know she meant an idea bigger than she has expressed before.
I was being asked to play 'mama and baby' with my bare foot and her toes just a little while ago.. she was trying to feed them both invisible tea and plastic food on a table. It feels very odd to have your foot invited to sit at it's own place setting at a table!
Mostly what I am seeing is a better ability to say what she is thinking or describe what she has just seen/did has truly improved. She no longer has as much of the frustration or ambiguity of meaning that she used to have (I want a purple etc...). There are still a few times she uses a color or a simple word instead of the real word like 'oh the poor pink yellow it fall' instead of saying 'kite'.. but she had said 'kite' earlier, so it is just a matter of habit...
She was bitten by a horsefly outside today and was able to tell me exactly what happened, show me the bite and say it was a bug that was flying. 'Something bit me right here arm a bug.' I watched it for a while but her arm swelled a little and it was gone by bathtime. There was a while back when she would have answered 'yes' to any question - but when I asked her if it was a snake that bit her (hadn't seen it yet) she said 'no, a bug. a bug bite and go fly.' Also all afternoon we have been having tea parties with 'bugs bunny baby rabbit' toy and a dragon and she was pouring 'apple juice' out of teacups and baby bottles and telling everyone to drink their own cup and not drink out of other cups...
and has tassels and silked ears
I was happily surprised to see a hummingbird drinking from the pinto bean flowers while I was out working in the garden. I did not know they liked them.
I opened about ten pods to try to see what the differences were. Some of the pods were yellow, but were not spotted inside. This one was spotted inside, but green on the outside. The difference on this one was that when I began to squeeze the pod the beans moved around inside easily - they were no longer firmly attached to the skin inside.
she is Pogo's new mouser in training.
We have strung the new fence for the pole beans and were letting the dirt dry out a little in the sunshine. It's time to go see what we can do with it. Esme is having terrible cabin fever but is afraid to go get dirty in the mud because she knows that means Mom will wash her hair. It feels odd to have her tell me 'no play outside, there is mud, I'll get dirty.' so matter-of-factly. I feel like I've been given a changeling!
LATER : It really does feel like we've gone over another horizon with Esme this week.... It seems like she has finally connected thought process on a whole range of things. I was given a 'like a Cinderelly bath' with a loofah full of water over my head today. She is saying 'follow me' and 'carry me' even though those words are VERY hard to understand (follow sounds like 'throw me' and 'carry' sounds like 'call' or 'kill'.. very hard to get unless you also pay attention to her hand sign and try to correct the word). She is also trying so hard to do everything 'help mom' and to copy us. After we went to town today she took some plastic keys out to the truck saying 'I go back to work' today and then came back in a few minutes later, stole Daddy's keys off of his desk saying she needed the 'right key.' She was in the driver's seat of the truck trying out keys to the ignition before he realized she had actually taken them outside.
We were both outside in skirts walking to the mailbox the other day and she said we were 'two girls mom, we got skirts'. When there was no mail we were 'sad' it was empty and going home. Today going to the mailbox she was rattling off about how we would be sad again so we shouldn't go we should send Daddy on the motorcycle to see if it was empty so we didn't cry. It was just a light-year ahead of even last week, even though there were a few little 'gaps' I could put two and two together to know she meant an idea bigger than she has expressed before.
I was being asked to play 'mama and baby' with my bare foot and her toes just a little while ago.. she was trying to feed them both invisible tea and plastic food on a table. It feels very odd to have your foot invited to sit at it's own place setting at a table!
Mostly what I am seeing is a better ability to say what she is thinking or describe what she has just seen/did has truly improved. She no longer has as much of the frustration or ambiguity of meaning that she used to have (I want a purple etc...). There are still a few times she uses a color or a simple word instead of the real word like 'oh the poor pink yellow it fall' instead of saying 'kite'.. but she had said 'kite' earlier, so it is just a matter of habit...
She was bitten by a horsefly outside today and was able to tell me exactly what happened, show me the bite and say it was a bug that was flying. 'Something bit me right here arm a bug.' I watched it for a while but her arm swelled a little and it was gone by bathtime. There was a while back when she would have answered 'yes' to any question - but when I asked her if it was a snake that bit her (hadn't seen it yet) she said 'no, a bug. a bug bite and go fly.' Also all afternoon we have been having tea parties with 'bugs bunny baby rabbit' toy and a dragon and she was pouring 'apple juice' out of teacups and baby bottles and telling everyone to drink their own cup and not drink out of other cups...
rain wind, storms and more seeds!
After a week of no rain we have had more than we need in the past few days. The wind the other night crashed down a row of our corn, so we will replace it with a fence and more pole beans to help the other corn stand up better. My Shackamaxon beans came up the other day but I haven't been able to see if the rain ruined them yet. They were planted right next to the corn that was damaged. I only planted half of the package and one or two of them elsewhere ... so it might be possible to replant them. Esme and I went to the co-op and bought some different field peas and climbing half-runner beans to put there. Then we went to the store and found some Daddy things :)
These are what we got at the co-op!
Mississippi Silver Crowder: a type of heirloom cowpea (black eyed pea is a cowpea) that climbs cornstalks and poles. I had a small package of these coming in the mail because I didn't think our co-op had them... but was pleasantly surprised so picked up a hefty package for cheap!
Pink-Eye Purple hulled peas: another type of common local cowpea! This one said 'quick pick' so I hope it will be an early one. This was the one I knew the co-op had. The 'old-timers' I worked with consider this to be THE field pea variety.
Half-runner green bean: Half-runners are bush beans that put out runners and will climb if they find anything nearby to climb up. This is a green snap bean type but was otherwise unidentified by the co-op bulk packaging. I'm hoping for the best!
Kentucky wonder pole beans: a normal variety from the garden section at our local store. This will climb the fence as well!
NOTES: The Kentucky wonder pole beans are brown seeded and the half-runner beans from the co-op are smaller and white seeded. For some reason I gravitate towards the brown and colored beans much more than the white.... I am not sure what the difference is, it is just instinct. I planted 3/4 row of the Kentucky and then 1/4 row of the co-op variety. Along the entire back of that fence I planted the Mississippi crowder. I think I'll put the purple hull elsewhere, have to think on it a bit.. maybe in the back of the corn.
These are coming in the mail, soon...
Mayflower pole beans: They are red and white speckled and are good fresh or dried. They are an heirloom variety as well.
Heirloom Mountaineer half-runner: a green snap bean variety that climbs and can be used dry but is better fresh.
Joe Pye Weed: These are a butterfly attracting tall 'weed' that resembles amaranth. I plan to put this out in the open spaces beside our road. A neighbor on the way to town has some growing wild and last year there were butterflies all over it!
Also, peppermint, dill, oregano and more 'milo' sorghum seeds coming in the mail. Finding peppermint seeds or plants was so hard this year. It seemed no one was offering it locally. Getting peppermint seed was the main reason I ordered from the one company, which had a five pack minimum for free shipping.
The dill seed had a tiny hole in the bag... so I might have planted it in a few places I hadn't been meaning to!
interesting link: Becoming Minimalist.
heirloom beans transcript from a radio show: Off the Grid News : Beans the Magical Fruit transcribed They mention several varieties, Good Mother Stallard, Snowcap and Black Valentine which I have been thinking about... but they are all bush beans and would require some space planned out for them. Also, do not want to plant too many different varieties of heirlooms... as cross-pollination will occur with the bees. Staggering saved seeds over a few years would be the best way to do it.
These are what we got at the co-op!
Mississippi Silver Crowder: a type of heirloom cowpea (black eyed pea is a cowpea) that climbs cornstalks and poles. I had a small package of these coming in the mail because I didn't think our co-op had them... but was pleasantly surprised so picked up a hefty package for cheap!
Pink-Eye Purple hulled peas: another type of common local cowpea! This one said 'quick pick' so I hope it will be an early one. This was the one I knew the co-op had. The 'old-timers' I worked with consider this to be THE field pea variety.
Half-runner green bean: Half-runners are bush beans that put out runners and will climb if they find anything nearby to climb up. This is a green snap bean type but was otherwise unidentified by the co-op bulk packaging. I'm hoping for the best!
Kentucky wonder pole beans: a normal variety from the garden section at our local store. This will climb the fence as well!
NOTES: The Kentucky wonder pole beans are brown seeded and the half-runner beans from the co-op are smaller and white seeded. For some reason I gravitate towards the brown and colored beans much more than the white.... I am not sure what the difference is, it is just instinct. I planted 3/4 row of the Kentucky and then 1/4 row of the co-op variety. Along the entire back of that fence I planted the Mississippi crowder. I think I'll put the purple hull elsewhere, have to think on it a bit.. maybe in the back of the corn.
These are coming in the mail, soon...
Mayflower pole beans: They are red and white speckled and are good fresh or dried. They are an heirloom variety as well.
Heirloom Mountaineer half-runner: a green snap bean variety that climbs and can be used dry but is better fresh.
Joe Pye Weed: These are a butterfly attracting tall 'weed' that resembles amaranth. I plan to put this out in the open spaces beside our road. A neighbor on the way to town has some growing wild and last year there were butterflies all over it!
Also, peppermint, dill, oregano and more 'milo' sorghum seeds coming in the mail. Finding peppermint seeds or plants was so hard this year. It seemed no one was offering it locally. Getting peppermint seed was the main reason I ordered from the one company, which had a five pack minimum for free shipping.
The dill seed had a tiny hole in the bag... so I might have planted it in a few places I hadn't been meaning to!
interesting link: Becoming Minimalist.
heirloom beans transcript from a radio show: Off the Grid News : Beans the Magical Fruit transcribed They mention several varieties, Good Mother Stallard, Snowcap and Black Valentine which I have been thinking about... but they are all bush beans and would require some space planned out for them. Also, do not want to plant too many different varieties of heirlooms... as cross-pollination will occur with the bees. Staggering saved seeds over a few years would be the best way to do it.
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Intertwining interests
It seems I am not alone in this interest over heirloom bean species. I mentioned Esme's planting and sorting, with me picking out the odd ones, at work and a coworker's eyes lit up and she said she would get me something on her lunch break from her house. She returned with one bean plant and two other varieties of bean seed from her collection. I promised to bring her a few of the rare ones I ordered and to let her know how my 'weird brown speckles' set worked out. I should print out some of the articles as well, as she doesn't have the Internet. I already planted two of her scarlet runners in the garden underneath the Indian corn. I also spoke to the elderly encyclopedic gardener at work for a few minutes and he told me how they used to plant purple hull peas (he called them shucky peas but said they were really beans in his mind) along their corn and have it climb the stalks. That is what I was thinking to do with the Shackamaxons. I am now on vacation until the 14th. If I can just get rid of the last of this sinus infection it will all be good!
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