[Homestead] beans on steroids.... :-)

Lynda lurine at com-pair.net
Sat Jun 27 01:07:02 EDT 2009


My watermelon never seem to care how crowded they get as long as I don't 
walk on them when I'm watering, that is <g>  I just make sure there is 
plenty of compost/mulch and keep them well watered.

Lynda
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."  Aldous Huxley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie" <cayadopi at yahoo.com>


>snip<
And the "internet" lied to me.......... it said 1-2 watermelons per 
plant.......... would someone please tell that to all my melons (canteloupe, 
watermelon and honey dew). On one of the watermelons gone crazy.... there 
are baby watermelons 3-4 to each vine !!! How is that possible? I think I'm 
going to have to pinch a few off as there wont' be enough room for them to 
grow. Same with the honey dew melons.

I canned up some of the new potatoes, since it really is hot in the desert, 
I figure that shelf life over the summer will be a tad tough.

I dug up some of the potatoes in the tires........ I think this has to be 
done differently. The big taters were down deep in the soil, but only a 
couple of spuds in the actual tire area.... too hot?? That's what I'm 
thinking at least for now. The biggest tater was deep in cool soil in a tire 
stack until a tree.

Every day now something needs to be picked. At least the weeds are close to 
non-existent after all the weeding (hard work!) early on.

I have lots of ears of corn now, and some stalks have 2 ears - so exciting!

I can't wait for some of the other things to be ready to harvest. So far the 
best tomato plants have been the Romas. I threw in some old seed (hybrid of 
who knows what kind just to get rid of it) in one garden and for some reason 
they are growing well. The Romas are spreading out real thick and taking 
over a huge area - they are so thick I'm wondering how I'm going to get my 
hands in to pluck the 'maters! I had some other tomato plants up by the 
house - the birds helped themselves.... grrrrr.... which proves that thick 
foliage hiding the tomatoes is a must.

I'm also counting the # of plants (or row feet in some cases) and keeping 
track of how much yield is achieved in either per person servings for fresh 
or how many quarts & pints.

Have lots of jalapenos to pick........... anyone know the timing for 
canning? I see them in jars and cans at the grocery, but don't see the 
time/method for canning the extras.

So much fun !!! But I will now have to remember never to go out to the 
gardens without having a few pails with me.


--- On Mon, 6/22/09, Robert Walton <waltonrp at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Robert Walton waltonrp at gmail.com


I ate a few last year. They are good. Iron and Clay is probably from the
color of the peas. I bought 50# last year, but whit the drought, opted not
to plant other than a few in the garden.

I just finished planting summer covers last week. I left two strips of the
same field with one 20 foot strip to iron and clay peas and another to red
beans. Idea is to let them mature and pick for dry beans/peas.

Cowpeas are supposed to have a good long taproot to break up hard soil. I
can say that every year in the garden, they stay going when it gets dry,
much longer than beans.

The rest of the peas, I interplanted with the sudan grass in one field,
interplanted buckwheat in the field that had the clover. One part of the
field was planted a month ago. With good rain, it's about 3 feet high. The
buckweat is in full bloom, stretching to keep ahead of the sudan. Lost
cause, I'm afraid, it will soon be smothered.

I'll cut the sudan when it's about 4 feet. According to my research, that
will cause it to react by sending out roots like crazy.

Rob - Va

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 2:50 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> I saw a bag of those in the feed store the other day. They were like
> $49 for a 50# bag, I think. I assumed they were a cover crop and
> feed.....good for human eating, too?? What do they look/taste like?
> I also assume that they are called iron clay because they do well on red
> clay to help loosen it? I don't have red clay, but I do have a rocky,
> untillable pasture and it would be nice to overseed a legume and have a
> legumy green manure. Would that be a waste of a good eating pea?
> B
>
> Robert Walton wrote:
>
> > I'm real later, but there is still enough time to plant some red
> > beans for dried peans, just going to plant a strip of them in the
> > field I am cover cropping. I'll also plant a strip of pure iron clay
> > peas there, too. I can use those for seeds and eating.
> >
> > Rob - Va
>
>
> --
> "Never expect magic from no where" Baringo (Kenyan) working motto
> EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA
>
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