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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Phelan, the giant killer


Good Neighbor Peas


Today at the Neophyte Homestead, we will be planting beans. Lots and lots of beans. Besides popcorn, beans are a major staple for the homestead garden. Easy to grow, very nutritious, and abundant.

First, don't fertilize. Beans can fend for themselves. Too much nitrogen caused by fertilizers will create gorgeous bushes and vines, but nary a pod. If you have clay soil, general rule, the bigger the seed the better. If you can afford it, buy some top soil to mix in with your clay.

They need at least 6 hours of full sun.

I tend to lean toward bush type beans. Honestly I get tired of trellising just about everything in my garden. If I can eliminate something to trellis, I am.

If you are not up for a massive quanty of beans or peas at once, plant them a week or so apart. But as most of us are canning, go for it.

Dried beans, allow them to grow without harvesting. Toward the end of the growing season, yank them out of the ground, and hang upside down, over something to catch any that may fall. Allow them to dry, in their pods, on the plant. Harvest and tuck into bags or jars. Instructions for canning dried goods can be found here.

5 comments:

HermitJim said...

I'm having some issues with Blogger myself! I hate the new interface they are bringing out!

Thanks for the info on the beans!

Phelan said...

Editing a post has become impossible. Everything disappears! I finally just copied and pasted then edited before republishing. Frustrating! I do hope they fix the bugs soon.

Unknown said...

Fair warning... get your words and photos posted before puttin' in the videos. And forget about clicking on any of the icons in your "Followers" square board. If there's a video in the post... it floats over everything else. All I could do to add another photo was hit "enter" about 15 times... kick the photo in... go into the HTML tab and remove all the crap!

I never have good luck with letting the pods dry on the pulled plants, for some reason. And thanks for the heads up about fertilizing. I knew they add nitrogen to the soil. But I never knew about the adverse reaction to being fertilized.

Phelan said...

Good to know. Havent yet posted a video. As for the followers, I click on the new ones and get the profile of the last person before they switched over. Gggrrrr....

Phelan said...

Oh, what's happening with your pods? Maybe I can help.

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