growing pinto beans

[Lloyd Smale]

you guys that are planting allready make me jealous. Were still dead in the middle of winter. A mild winter so far but youd still need a snow plow to clear off your garden!

[L Ross]

Lloyd, we grow an heirloom bean here in SW Wisconsin. We just gave some seeds to Seed Savers in Decorah, Iowa. We eat them as big, wide, green beans, and especially as pickled dilly beans, plus we save some to dry one year and I made soup. Last year we planted 8 seeds under a willow pole teepee like frame and had all the beans we needed and then some. We can spare a few seeds and you will have a supply for ever after this year. Send me a PM if interested. I don't have a lot of extras after the donation to Seed Savers but they germinate almost 100% and grow like crazy. You'll have to give them something to climb on and don't stand still too close or they'll climb you. The dried beans look like the Dutch Brown in Seed Savers catalog.

Duke

[Silver Eagle]

My Dad has grown lots of vegetables in his back yard garden. One of his "tricks" to get seeds started a bit quicker is to soak the seeds in water for a day or two before planting. They then germinate in the ground a lot faster.
For green beans (pole and bush) he has on the vine dried a portion each year for the next year's planting. He has noticed over the years of doing this that he has been getting a few less or smaller beans. Guess he needs to buy a pack of seeds to freshen the stock.
As for tomatoes and peppers, he buys them from the nurseries to get a head start on the season. He does get a healthy crop of "volunteer" tomatoes from last years drops and kitchen scraps tossed in the garden during the winter. I have noticed that the "volunteer" tomatoes have been reverting back to the tiny cherry tomatoes.

Silver Eagle

[canebreaker]

I to buy the pinto and great northern beans at Aldi's, can't beat the price.
White/baby limas come out with black specks on the beans. So I don't grow them anymore. Speckled limas do great. I pick them fresh not dried. The pods that do dry on the plants, I save for seeds. I save only the ones with 4 beans in the shell. I saved a bunch a few years ago that had 1 and 2 beans per shell and that seemed all I picked. I had to buy new for next years garden.
I save a lot of different seeds. Shell them, place them in jars, no lid, label them, let them dry about a month, place lids on and freeze them.
Stepdad picks their tomatoes, the bad ones he picks and throws on the ground. I have to follow him when I pick mine, pick his up and get them out of the garden. I don't want a bunch of cherry and grape tomatoes. I made juice with some once, didn't like the taste.
Deer in the garden. They wiped my peas out. It didn't mater if the were pinkeye purple hull or top crop. I planted bell peppers and other peppers with them. Marygolds didn't help either. They striped the okra too. I lost a bunch of peas, peppers, okra and flowers. Now they are sampling the greens. The only thing that I've found to keep them out is 80# clear mono fishing line. I bought a large spool years ago when I was catting. I made a fence, using all the saplings near the garden and stakes where trees weren't.
Now I have lots of greens that I can't get anyone to come and pick all they want. They are seeding, so it's a field of yellow now. I found a cotton gin, 55 miles round trip. I'm adding about 3 inches of gin trash (cotton hulls) to the garden where I can.
This year, after I till the middles the 3rd time in the tomatoes, okra and peppers. I'll lay down soaker hose, then a layer of paper and cardboard, covered with a good layer of composted leaves.

[Lloyd Smale]

thanks a ton duke. I sent you a pm

Lloyd, we grow an heirloom bean here in SW Wisconsin. We just gave some seeds to Seed Savers in Decorah, Iowa. We eat them as big, wide, green beans, and especially as pickled dilly beans, plus we save some to dry one year and I made soup. Last year we planted 8 seeds under a willow pole teepee like frame and had all the beans we needed and then some. We can spare a few seeds and you will have a supply for ever after this year. Send me a PM if interested. I don't have a lot of extras after the donation to Seed Savers but they germinate almost 100% and grow like crazy. You'll have to give them something to climb on and don't stand still too close or they'll climb you. The dried beans look like the Dutch Brown in Seed Savers catalog.

Duke

[waksupi]

If you save your heirlooms seeds, always collect your seeds from your healthiest, most robust plants. Do this each year, and you will actually be developing a plant that is tailored specifically to your area and soil. After 3-4 years, you will see a marked improvement on the variety you are growing, due to it adapting itself to the trace elements in your particular soil. Some people collect seeds from plants that they see aren't doing well, since they don't want to loose the produce from their healthiest plants. Just the opposite of what you want.