Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hardly Working

I've been pretty sick over the last week or so. Nothing horribly serious unless you like breathing. I've been told not to do anything strenuous until the inflammation is down. Stay home. Now they didn't tell me to stay out of the garden. Silly doctors. They really ought to tell you the important things.

The carrots were put in a while ago and I had to keep watering them two times a day. Nothing too strenuous I promise. I should have just put a board over them. I have to look in on the seedlings that are all outside now under the row cover. We have had unusually warm weather so luckily I haven't had to drag them inside and out. It has been windy but the row cover keeps them pretty safe.

Last week when the weather man predicted some really nice weather for this week, I put some of my beans in paper towels to speed their germination. On Monday I noticed they were starting to get a bit too germinated so had to get them in the ground. I just couldn't bear to kill them off. Then when you plant beans. You have to put in the trellis.

Bean trellis and under the row cover the seedlings

I decided to make a trellis out of the bamboo poles I have. Hopefully it will be sturdy enough to hold all those pole beans I planted. I put the diagonal supports on today since I was chased inside by a bad coughing fit before it was done. But now the beans can grow. Planting beans on May 3rd is just unheard of here. The soil is usually too cold. Our weather has been a couple weeks ahead of schedule this year. I wish it would have let me know in advance so I could have planned for it.

Now I haven't planted all my beans yet. I'm planning on saving the seed I wanted to grow for the new garden. This was just seed I had a lot of. I planted Trail of Tears, Ottawa Cranberry, and Kentucky Wonder. I plan to put them in at the new house too if the garden gets constructed soon enough. These are all pole beans.

The bush beans this year at this house will be from the grocery store. We have a local bean farm that puts out very nice beans. I figure since it is just about thirty minutes away from my house their beans have to be well adapted to the area. I'll buy the packs I usually buy to eat and plant some of them. I did a germination test on some Jacob's Cattle beans and they germinated well. Some of those even made it into the soil. I'll probably add some to the new house too. Jacob's Cattle beans are just wonderful for baked beans. They are the old variety that used to be grown around here all the time.

16 comments:

  1. Well...I can see that you have been taking it easy! I really love the trellis that you made with the bamboo poles...great idea! Be well

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  2. Well, technically, you ARE home...right? I'm not sure I could stay out of the garden either.

    I hope you are feeling better soon.

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  3. Oh gosh... the garden is what heals me. As long as you pace yourself, it's probably the best medicine. I hope you are well soon.

    Will you run string on your bean trellis or use it as is? I need to put one up too and haven't figured out how I want to do it.

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  4. Love the bamboo bean towers! If the weather improves this weekend, I am hoping to plant the rest of my beans too.

    I hope you feel better soon.

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  5. Oh I wish we could grow pole beans, and I've tried for the last two years. But it's just too windy and exposed here, and there's nowhere that's sheltered enough, so I gave all my seeds to my brother to take back to the UK with him!

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  6. Robin, thanks

    GrafixMuse, Yup I am home so following orders.

    Maggie, Yes I will run string along the trellis about every six inches. I don't have the string yet so as soon as I'm better I'll go out and get some. I need some for my pea trellis too which is big enough that I have to put it on soon.

    kitsapFG, I still need to get those bush beans in, but I have my spring spinach there right now and am hoping to get at least a little harvest from that spot.

    Jan, that is too bad. We get some good winds, but since the worst winds usually come from the northeast and my house is to the northeast I'm at least a little protected.

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  7. This post reminded me of the book "If you give a mouse a cookie..." Don't push yourself too hard! :)

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  8. The RN in me is telling you "bad girl!". The asthmatic in me is telling you that I totally understand. Especially if I'm on prednisone, I can't sit still. Feel better soon!

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  9. Megan, I won't - I hope. I really have been very good. I don't want to be. I just sitting around.

    The Mom, and I am on that. It really does make you want to do things. The trellis didn't take long to make though. Just about 10 minutes.

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  10. Hope you feel better soon. The trellis looks very nice.

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  11. Get well soon! All this gardening will surely speed up your healing, and the good weather too.

    Now that you are planting your beans I need to go plant mine. I am way too late. I should try your towel trick!

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  12. Great trellis ! Take it easy and get well soon !

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  13. I like your bean trellis design. I'm surprised to here that you have so much under cover. I leave everything uncovered and my garden thermometer located just above the soil always registers in the 90's during the day. I'm just paranoid that I would fry everything if they were left covered during the day.

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  14. I germinate my beans and a lot of other seeds with paper towel and tp. It works great! When my beans are germinated enough, I plant them into cell packs until I can get them into the garden. This year I had left-over germinated seeds, so I put those directly into the soil. Those petered out. They have been in the ground for over a week now and no above ground action :( So I'm glad I only planted a few.

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  15. Jackie, thanks

    Angela, I planted mine over a week early.

    Miss M, I will.

    Thomas, Under the cover is my spinach. I usually put a cover over it to keep out the leaf miners that should be showing up any day now. I keep my brassicas covered all year long. Even in the heat of the summer. There are just too many insects here that like to eat them. I've never succeeded in growing brassicas without a row cover so they get a little hotter than they would probably like, but it works.

    Sylvana, Beans do take a while to germinate outside. They really love the hot weather. May for us usually isn't all that hot yet, but they have to go in to give them time to finish. With the number of beans I put in the garden and the fact that beans hate to be transplanted, I never start them inside. It would just take too much soil to do.

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  16. Those towers look terrific. I still have bamboo from Denise, so maybe I'll paint it to preserve the ends a bit (the ones for the peas got a bit rotted).

    This year, I bought compostable twine in a huge roll.

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