Weekly Garden Thread - June 18-24, 2022 [The History of Beans Edition]

Junr 18, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

Yummmmm. Your Aunt Alice’s beans sound so good. I’ll stick to cooking fresh or frozen beans since in our modern times we have that luxury. But it’s good to know how to do the Dried beans just in case the you-know-what-hits-the-fan.

[FamiliarFace]

Ain’t that the truth!

There’s one side of my house that I don’t have a window on (the chimney side), and I can’t see over there unless I walk over there. So I may miss looking at it for several days in a row.

Well, I was out there yesterday and weeds have popped up all over the foundation plantings! So I have new work to do over there.

[SisterK]

That sounds absolutely delicious!
I looooove bacon

[daniel1212]

Thanks, and in return here are some interesting articles:

Vitamins for Vegetables: An Experiment in Homemade Fertilizer By Robert Williams Iii

Aspirin Therapy: Aspirin Uses In The Garden For Most Productive & Healthy Plants

Potassium and Other Factors Needed for High Quality Tomatoes

[Pollard]

This is what I have in mind though you can barely see what they're hanging from in this pic

That way I don't have to worry about damaging roots by putting taller stakes in or damaging plants by trying to put a chunk of fence or cattle panel next to them, either of which should have been set up ahead of time. With the lean and lower trellis system, the vines can be grown to 20-25 feet long, IF you can keep them alive that long. You don't need a ladder to harvest. Branches are constantly pruned below where the maters are. That keeps air flow good and prevents foliage disease. It's what most of the market gardeners are doing these days. I'm tight on space inside the garden fence and this way, I can put tall posts outside the fence and string a wire between them up high to hang the vines from with twine. Just need some tomato clips. If it works out, I could be getting tomatoes until it gets too cold for maters.

Next 30 seconds of this video shows how long the vines can get. He's says probably 12 foot but it looks more like 15+ to me. https://youtu.be/J8L_x42RieA?t=303 Video is set in Sept at Univ of RI.

[virgil]

Wal-Mart was selling some Japanese beetle traps and I bought one to try. Those critters love my cherry tree. The tree turns brown from them chewing up the leaves.

[Pollard]

NPK of Everything

https://app.npkofeverything.com/

[FamiliarFace]

That’s one of my favorite ways to make green beans. It IS Heaven on a plate!

[FamiliarFace]

My advice on the traps is to move them far away from the things you want them away from. Japanese beetles will come from miles away. The one time I used them, we one had a quarter of an acre. Every JB in Ohio came to my yard. Never again until I got more property, then stick them on the outskirts of your yard.

[left that other site]

Good Morning! :-)

[SovereignJ]

(Door County) I’ve got some green beans in raised beds I made out of wood crates used to haul big truck engine parts (Piled cardboard in the bottom to take up space, lined with landscape cloth, and filled with raised bed mix/topsoil/composted cow manure.) I also am experimenting with growing some outdoors in a PVC hydroponic setup I got on Amazon a couple of years ago. Looking good so far!

RoseRed Homestead on YouTube shows how to make “fast beans” for your dried beans—pressure cooked then dehyrated (or freeze-dried). You just add water to rehydrate, or put them in whatever dish that has liquid for them to rehydrate.

[Pollard]

Just pulled the lettuce/brassicas. Leaf lettuce was 2 foot tall and about to seed and the laves have been wilted for weeks. Ice Queen head lettuce never did form heads and in the last few days, four of six had doubled in height and started to bolt. Tried one leaf and it was bitter. The other two plants were bowl shaped, not bolting yet, not bitter, so I pulled them and brought them in for salads. Cabbage leaves to go with it since they aren’t even close to heading and leaves are still small, 3-4 inches. Broccoli never came close to producing. Peas are still hanging in there.

Definitely need to go with some Pete style tunnels next year so I can get an earlier start. Might try the brassicas for a Fall crop this year too.

[Qiviut]

Our ‘local’ gardening guru (although he’s known nationally) Andre Viet & his son, have a radio program on Saturday morning. In the past, I’ve heard them talk about Japanese Beetle traps.

You do not want to put the traps close to your tree - the traps actually attract the beetles & not all are going to end up in the trap! The traps should be on a “perimeter” around what you want to protect, but some distance away. Most people put them right next to whatever plant the beetles are munching on and that is not a good thing, per the Viets. I’ve been to his place - really neat.

https://inthegardenradio.com/

Here’s a link that says the same thing about beetle traps:

https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2021/07/01/get-rid-of-japanese-beetles/

#1 Avoid Using Beetle Traps – How To Keep Japanese Beetles Away Naturally

“First and foremost, it’s important to realize that if you are using beetle bags or beetle traps in your yard, they most likely are causing more harm than good. Especially if your property is a few acres or less.

Japanese beetle traps work by emitting a scent that attracts beetles into an area. Although the traps do lure in large numbers of beetles into the bag, they unfortunately bring even more beetles to your yard.

To properly protect plants, traps need to be placed far away from the plants you are trying to help. If not, they simply attract your neighbor’s beetles into your space as well.

To be effective, beetle bags need to be placed at the edge of a property, acres away from where you are trying to lure them away from. Unfortunately, in most cases, the average yard is just not big enough.

The result? The bags actually attract even more beetles that can then mate, and lay more larva in your soil to become an even bigger problem next year! Quite simply, for most situations – they are better to avoid.”

[Qiviut]

Yup!! We’re on the same page with the JB traps:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4072009/posts?page=53#53

[FamiliarFace]

*** Japanese beetle traps work by emitting a scent that attracts beetles into an area.***

It’s a pheromone. They are super attracted to it.

[virgil]

Oh, maybe I won’t be using it. I didn’t know the bait is that strong and my yard is large, but not that large. Spraying with neem oil seems to help. Thanks

[daniel1212]

"NPK of Everything https://app.npkofeverything.com/"

Thanks - that is a lot: Results 231 - 241 out of 2240 - but most all of these I saw so far are the product of soil amendments, aside from composting them.

[Qiviut]

It’s a pheromone. They are super attracted to it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are ‘pheromone’ perfumes for women & colognes for men :-)

[Ellendra]

I used to know a guy whose chickens loved to eat Japanese Beetles so much, he was able to cut his feed costs in half during the summer. He set up the traps so they funneled beetles into the coop, and the chickens would line up waiting for the next beetle to drop through.

Mine don’t care for the adult beetles, but they go nuts over the grubs. I haven’t seen a beetle in the back yard in several years now, and I’m pretty sure it’s because they keep getting eaten in the larval stage.

This year my chickens aren’t allowed to roam the yard because of the bird flu risk, so I’m expecting the beetles to make a comeback next year.

[MomwithHope]

You are right about the traps, they will draw more beetles in.
On beans, which are good for the heart BTW, all we have grown for 5 or 6 years now are the Chinese long beans. We love them. Fast growing but very slow to thicken up and go to seed inside. Tender, flavorful, and less cutting off ends. We used to have them growing up a piece of fencing but the last 3 years we have sent them up a pole. Super easy to pick and they have a long season. Used to grow only bush green beans but they are a pain to pick. I have used the long bean seeds each year too.