Guest guest Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 I wanted to share a tip on growing beans (to eat) and trying the seed before you grow. Or just eat them and try a few new gourmet beans! I recently place an order with Purcell mountain farms (link below) http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/index.htm They offer many types of gourmet beans. These are expensive beans, however, I do grow a lot of beans and a seed package order usually does not hold enough, so I have to purchase two packets, which comes out to about the same as a pound purchased from Purcell. Purchasing a pound and reserving a good amount for seed allows me to try them and make sure we like them enough to grow! This has worked very well for us so far, extending our legume horizons as well as a decent source for seed. I ordered the following beans from them: Gigandes Beans Sweet White Runner Beans Mayflower Beans Black Valentine Beans Christmas Lima Beans Flageolettes Beans (AKA rice beans) Florida Butterbeans Appaloosa Beans Falcon Beans Marrow Beans Painted Pony Beans Pebble Beans Runner Cannellini Beans The order was processed really fast and we got our beans in a short time. You might want to try the same strategy with another supplier, i am not endorsing Purcell, just relating my experience (which was good) So far, we have already planted the sweet white runners and the black valentines. Both have sprouted and are now seedlings in the garden. I plan to also grow the runner canellini, and the Christmas limas, when it gets hot enough. We might also grow other varieties on the list, we are still trying the different varieties, have only tasted about half of them so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 27, 2010 Report Share Posted March 27, 2010 Hi Rosetta, That's interesting, I've taken a copy of your post for reference. Have you ever tried simply growing beans that you liked from the market? They seem to sprout easily enough. I've never really tried growing legumes because they are so inexpensive to get from the bulk sellers and even some stores like Costco. I eat them so much that I don't think I'd have room on my little pied a terre to keep up with my appetite! Still I might like to grow some and see what the plants are like. It sure sounds like your garden's been growing well(!). I try to keep myself in fresh herbs and tons of greens and try not to be too lazy to cut and eat 'em all. Slim , " rosetalleo " <rosetalleo wrote: > > I wanted to share a tip on growing beans (to eat) and trying the seed before you grow. Or just eat them and try a few new gourmet beans! > > I recently place an order with Purcell mountain farms (link below) > > http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/index.htm > .... > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2010 Report Share Posted March 28, 2010 >Have you ever tried simply growing beans that you liked from the >market? They seem to sprout easily enough. Yes Slim, I have experimented with many pantry beans, as I call them. I have used them in the winter as inexpensive cover crops, to see if I get something and to enrich the soil. Now I get to be a lot pickier since I have a good legume seed collection. Problem is that most pantry beans are bush beans, and I prefer pole beans because of the space savings and continuous production. As far as growing pantry beans again, I would grow the camellia brand green or regular baby limas again, even though they are a bush bean. The shellies were out of this world ...so to your next question. > I've never really tried growing legumes because they are so >inexpensive to get from the bulk sellers and even some stores like >Costco. I eat them so much that I don't think I'd have room on my >little pied a terre to keep up with my appetite! Still I might like to >grow some and see what the plants are like. Growing legumes has expanded my cooking horizons and my gardening horizons, both. I grow mostly snap beans, better tasting and more varied than any market sells. I grow runner beans, which are a different species and they can be grilled as snap beans (they are huge). I grow some that are best for pickling, some to be harvested for shellies, and those cannot be bought. I grow favas and peas in the winter, runners in the spring, common beans spring, summer, fall, cow peas in the summer and fall, limas in the summer and fall........then favas and peas again. As you can tell I am 'into' beans....call them legumes. Never met one I did not like. I even grew some soy beans last year (I wanted edamame) and I have a package of peanuts (to plant) but have to find a spot for them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2010 Report Share Posted March 28, 2010 Thanks for your thoughts, Rosetta! , " rosetalleo " <rosetalleo wrote: > > > > Yes Slim, I have experimented with many pantry beans, as I call them. I have used them in the winter as inexpensive cover crops, to see if I get something and to enrich the soil. Now I get to be a lot pickier since I have a good legume seed collection. > > Problem is that most pantry beans are bush beans, and I prefer pole beans because of the space savings and continuous production. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2010 Report Share Posted March 28, 2010 I grow a number of the exotics. There was a crop failure in some of them last year, which effects this year's supply. It took a bit to find Jacob's Cattle beans this year, but I finally did. A new one we're doing this year is called orca by some companies and ying yang by others. It is a lovely thing and I hope it tastes as good as it looks. Amaranth is also a lovely looking grain grown often as an accent in the flower garden. I'm not wild about how it tastes, though. Carl and I are considering growing some barley this year if there is room. Two acres sounds like a lot of room till you start filling it, lol! If you need a list of free catalogs of companies that have the beans, let me know and I'll post it. I've got about 20 pounds of great seed catalogs Carl and I fight over. He's determined that I'm planting more beets than we can eat in a year and I'm just as determined that extra space is going to beans! And tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Jeanne in GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2010 Report Share Posted March 28, 2010 [Default] On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:15:24 -0700 (PDT), Jeanne B <treazured wrote: >Amaranth is also a lovely looking grain grown often as an accent in the flower garden. Yeah, it's very pretty. Some came up the yard at the apartment I used to live at. Nobody knew what it was, including me, but it was attractive so we let it grow. One day I had a visitor who was impressed because I was growing amaranth! I had to confess I didn't plant it and hadn't even known what it was. Now I wonder if I can grow in a pot on my balcony. I know I can't grow enough to eat but it is such a pretty plant. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.