I've been picking and shelling my dried beans this week. I found my Tarbais beans crossed last year. You can't tell the year it crosses as the seed coat and the pod are determined by the mother. But the next year you can. And I have three types of beans this year. The beans ought to look like the bean on the left. Large, white and kidney shaped. The middle ones have the wrong shape and the ones on the right have the wrong color. I'll eat the crossed ones and plant the uncrossed ones next year. If I find a lot of them have crossed again I'll have to switch varieties. Most of my beans won't cross even if planted right next to one other, but some insect can obviously cross pollinate that one given the right conditions (the year before it didn't cross).
Most of the beans that I shelled before my vacation were already dry enough to jar up so I did that. But I still have all the beans above to get dry. And more to pick out in the garden. Not much more to pick, but some. Most of the plants are dead already. It has been a hard year for bean diseases.
On better news, the Asian greens were doing well. I picked the first batch of them. Most of them and some cucumbers were put in the cooler and I gave them away to my artist's coop when I hosted a meeting. It was way more than what I needed and my townhouse mates had already taken what they wanted. In their place I planted some radishes and Japanese turnips. I don't know if they will have time to produce, but it doesn't hurt to try.
Also in the Asian greens bed I needed to thin out the third succession, which as you can see above is way too thick. I also planted out the fourth succession. I should have planted that one before my vacation, but again, maybe it will have time to produce. Some recent years have been very warm and sunny late into the fall which is not normal, but may be our new normal.
I also thinned out the spinach and replanted where the seed didn't come up. Spinach can be really hard to get up sometimes. But even if it is spotty, this spinach is Giant Winter. It can fill up a whole square foot on its own and my rows are just 6" apart.
And last but not least I checked on my carrots. As you can see they were very small. We ate them without weighing them. I think I'll check again in early to mid October. I hope they get bigger than last year. But the sun is getting lower in the sky and I'm getting more and more shade every day.
I suspect that my beans are crossing a lot this year. They are all runner beans and the humming birds and bumble bees have been busy in their blossoms. Fortunately, I have a stash of my Greek runner beans from last year when I had only them in the garden and I hope that the new runner beans will overwinter.
ReplyDeleteI love those black beans, I think I'm going to have to try some next year.
Runner beans always cross easily. Their flowers are made so it is easy for bees to get to the anthers and stigma before they self pollinate. Regular beans aren't built that way. But some other insects can cross other beans. I think it just depends upon where you live. And I suspect it depends here upon what the weather is like early in the spring and over the winter. The summer when they crossed we had that strange non winter. So I wonder if that is the issue with the crossing that year. I wish I had still had seed from way back when, but I planted it all.
DeleteWhat a lot of dried beans you harvested! Nice Asian greens to enjoy. I haven't checked my later carrots yet to see how their doing. We had quite a storm last night but the garden didn't seem to be harmed. One of the Boston Ferns blew off the hook on the front porch. So happy to have some rain! Nancy
ReplyDeleteI only grew Fortex for seeds for next year's garden, because the last time I saved the seeds they had crossed. Hopefully I'll get enough seeds to last a couple of years, so I can plant more than one variety. I think your fall carrots are larger than mine. I'm afraid to look, LOL! My spinach didn't come up, so I replanted. That didn't come up either. I don't know if I have time for a third try with different seeds. I guess it's worth a try, I sure would like some more spinach.
ReplyDeleteI planted Tarbais beans as well, they were growing nicely at the beginning but now I couldn't find them, the runner beans had taken over the trellis.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to cover my greens next year, I've never seen so many worms until now, they were not a problem in the past.
Interesting news about the beans crossing. I guess your Trail of Tears don't usually cross then? I had 3 varieties of pole dry beans this year (including Trail of Tears) and I still haven't decided if I will plant from what I saved or buy new planting stock.
ReplyDeleteNo my Trail of Tears don't cross, but crossing is really dependent upon the insects that you have. Insects in some areas can get in and cross them, but in our area they don't.
DeleteDaphne, What kind of netting and poles are you using?
ReplyDeleteI don't use netting. I use string. I have a top pole and a bottom pole and I put the string between them.
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