growing pinto beans

[Longwood]

I can vouch for the Anasazi beans, they're great, I just wish we could find them in the stores here. Another bean we like isa the Bonita Beans, they're good in Chili.

Rick

In my opinion, they are worth buying online and paying the shipping.
I buy several pounds at a time and divvy them up into small vacuumed bags.
Beans and corn bread or rice is a complete meal that has all of the essential amino acids.
Toss in a hog hock/shank, or some sow belly, and you have a tasty meal indeed. Especially if you have some Okra, rolled in corn meal and fried, to go with it.
Very cheap and very good for you.

[C A Plater]

If you got around 90-100 days of growing weather pintos will make it. I've grown them in LP Michigan and N. Illinois with some success. Don't know how they'd do in the UP but if navy beans will grow I'd guess you had a good chance of getting some. Freezing doesn't hurt the dry bean.

[Rick N Bama]

I've grown Pinto Beans here but they were only used as fresh shelled beans, as I remember they were mighty tasty that way. I have also grown "October" Beans as fresh shelled beans. They're quite tasty as well.

I now lack the space to grow a large garden or I would try growing a variety of beans again.

Rick

[scrapcan]

if you are interested in the topic introduced above about inducing germination by freezing ( or other methods) it is called scarification. in the case of freezing it will be called cold scarification. You should be able to find information related to this topic easily for most crops and garden plants.

If you are really interested you can try to find the USDA seed starters manual, it has all kinds of plants in it. thanks for the trip back to my college botany classes!

[DLCTEX]

We have planted pinto beans and blackeye (Cow peas to some) from store packages and had no problems. In our part of the country we have to get them in early or plant in the fall before the temps get too hot as 95+ temps kill the pollen. We used to pick them in the immature stage and cook as green beans, but the strings were a little bit of a pain to remove. I don't know how they'd do in your climate. The Anasazi beans are about the same climate needs or maybe tolerate a little more hot and dry. The original seeds were found in the storage bins of the pueblos built in the high cliffs of the southwest. A few of the seeds found grew and were kept isolated and the genetics preserved. As a kid I was tasked with thrashing the dry beans and did most of them by rolling the dry pods between gloved hands. I then winnowed them by pouring from one container to the other in a slight wind. Blackeyes, cream peas, silver queens, and purple hulls were hulled while a mature green and the canned with pressure cooker. Now we prefer blackeyes frozen in the green stage and then boiled with a little bacon and salt. We really don't care for blackeyes that are cooked after drying, but they beat none at all if you season with a little tobasco sauce.

[Dark Helmet]

I think these were the field peas I tried a few years back- the snaps were not any good for fresh, but as peas- they were prolific. I think there may still be a pound or so around here somewhere.

[Longwood]

Now we prefer blackeyes frozen in the green stage and then boiled with a little bacon and salt. We really don't care for blackeyes that are cooked after drying, but they beat none at all if you season with a little tobasco sauce.

My parents were from the mid south and we grew blackeyed peas for many years.
I like them best with a few young snapped pods and maybe a few pods of Okra thrown in.
At first, we had tons of trouble with deer eating the blossoms and little pods as soon as they came on. Some how, we discovered that deer hate Bell Peppers plants so we intermixed them in with the Blackeyed Peas.
My mom sold the excess peppers so they did not go to waste.

Oops! Now my mouth is watering.
Farmers Market is in town tomorrow. I think I will see if I can find some fresh peas and Okra.

[Wayne Smith]

My dad was involved in the research and development of the Maine Yelloweye bean many years ago. It was developed for short season planting, drying in the field. I have no idea if it is still available buy may be worth a look.

[Greg]

Lloyd-

You might want to look at these two seed dealers…

www.nativeseeds.org

www.abundantlifeseeds.com/

[bruce drake]

THis thread got me to start planning for a late garden for Kansas this summer.

darn you www.burpee.com!!!! I'm already thinking of what to plant out there on the prairie.

Bruce

[Longwood]

THis thread got me to start planning for a late garden for Kansas this summer.

darn you www.burpee.com!!!! I'm already thinking of what to plant out there on the prairie.

Bruce

I may plant way early this year. It was in the mid seventies today so I worked in the yard without a shirt. It has been great all month.

[10 ga]

It is worth it to buy some and see which will work up there. Most but not all beans will have "true" seed and be same from year to year. Only a few will cross polinate. Check out these, try some and save seed! I like the "Turkey Craw" and "Lazy Wife". Best, 10 ga

http://www.seedsavers.org/

http://www.southernexposure.com/

http://www.heirlooms.org/beans.html

[Bullwolf]

I have only dabbled a little bit growing beans. For me they are hit or miss after germination. I did manage to keep some of my original seed pinto beans from last year, but this was a really weird growing season.

I found myself in need of some rhubarb, for a strawberry rhubarb pie, and for the life of me I couldn't find it anyplace locally. I remembered a plant that had been growing at my great grandmothers farm, and had been transplanted to my grandparents house. Low and behold it was still going strong at my grandparents place. Apparently deer don't seem to like rhubarb very much. I transplanted some and it seems to be going strong still. I tried canning a bit of rhubarb, will have to see how well it keeps that way.

I had pretty decent luck letting my carrot plants go to seed, and using the seed to start carrots again next year with.

I hope this isn't too far off topic for the thread, but it's sort of on the topic of seeds.

I also tried growing a bit of tobacco for my own personal use. This was mostly in the interest of being self reliant, and because I wanted to give it a try and see if it would grow in my area.

The tobacco grew like gangbusters, and then quickly went to seed.

I managed to keep the strains separate, and I kept the seeds from a few of my favorite varieties. My tobacco seed germinated really well the next growing season.

It was quite a novelty for me as you don't hear a lot about tobacco growing in the Western states. It is much more common as you get farther East though. While I am not a big smoker, I still found the tobacco quite a lot of fun to grow, and cure.


- Bullwolf

[Longwood]

[QUOTE=Bullwolf;1566158]

Low and behold it was still going strong at my grandparents place. Apparently deer don't seem to like rhubarb very much.


They know the green part is poisonous.

Our Rhubarb would come back every year in the mountains of Washington state where it would snow eight feet deep every year.

Deer love cured tobacco,,,, I wonder if they like it green. Green, it can be like poison oak to some people.

[Old Goat Keeper]

Just saw 2# bags of pinto beans at Aldi's today for $1.99 per bag. Don't pay to grow em for that price.

T-o--m

[Longwood]

Just saw 2# bags of pinto beans at Aldi's today for $1.99 per bag. Don't pay to grow em for that price.

T-o--m

Growing your own of just about any thing can be very satisfying.
Lots of people have plenty of space and a well so a garden cost them very little if they don't raise Hi-brids so they can save seed for next year.

I was single with a good paying job when I lived in the big city.
I grew a garden in my back yard so I would not have to mow it. I enjoyed it emensely and gave away most of what I grew. I found it to be very relaxing and it kept me from watching too much TV.
Some of the stuff I grew was very relaxing also.

In time, I learned that raised beds are so nice to grow in and so much easier than growing in dirt. It took me a while to build up enough compost etc. to do it butI did the beds one at a time. It sure did pay off over time.

[41 mag fan]

One way to get more out of a small area is to square foot garden. I can take a space that most people get a small amount out of and by the time I'm done, I've fed the neighbors and my parents all summer from it, to the point they are burned out, not including what we eat and can.
I'm not bragging in the least, but my love of growing a garden far exceeds anything for me. It put me into the top master gardeners in our county for over a decade.
Plus all my garden produce was totally organic.

When you square foot garden, you're accomplishing several things. You get more out of a square foot area, you create the perfect environment where your soil stays moist longer, and your production doubles to triples.

One thing about growing and harvesting your own seeds.
If it's not an heirloom variety, the 2nd yr when you've harvested and stored, theres a high possibility the plants will either revert to the parent crosses or it'll possibly be basically sterile. All plant and no produce.
Freezing seeds is the best way to store for next yrs produce. It places the seeds into a dormancy it needs for the next seasons producing. One thing about this though...always expect 10% loss of seeds when collecting

[Longwood]

One way to get more out of a small area is to square foot garden. I can take a space that most people get a small amount out of and by the time I'm done, I've fed the neighbors and my parents all summer from it, to the point they are burned out, not including what we eat and can.
I'm not bragging in the least, but my love of growing a garden far exceeds anything for me. It put me into the top master gardeners in our county for over a decade.
Plus all my garden produce was totally organic.

When you square foot garden, you're accomplishing several things. You get more out of a square foot area, you create the perfect environment where your soil stays moist longer, and your production doubles to triples.

One thing about growing and harvesting your own seeds.
If it's not an heirloom variety, the 2nd yr when you've harvested and stored, theres a high possibility the plants will either revert to the parent crosses or it'll possibly be basically sterile. All plant and no produce.
Freezing seeds is the best way to store for next yrs produce. It places the seeds into a dormancy it needs for the next seasons producing. One thing about this though...always expect 10% loss of seeds when collecting

You are talking like Mel Bartholomew now.
That is the method I use. Practically no work. Better yield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g


Here is a youtube link.
I used to watch his shows faithfully and bought his book when he died.
He told his friends he wanted his ashes spread on his compost pile.

[waksupi]

I have his book on Square Foot Gardening. I planted my garlic this fall according to his diagrams, and did most of my planting last summer using the method.
I enlarged my garden this fall, and will see if I can grow a year's worth of veggies to can and dry this next year.
Yesterday I planted some lettuce to go along with my Swiss chard that is already growing, and will be starting Roma tomatoes tomorrow. All being grown in the south window of the bathroom.
I get my heirloom seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and from friends.

[Longwood]

I use to think Redwood compost was good for a garden or raised bed.
I got a gardening book about gardening in the desert and the author pointed out that Redwood makes good fence posts because it has an oil that kills the tiny bacteria, organizms and enzymes plants need.