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Quote from: Floyds on October 02, 2013, 10:32:51Quote from: ancellsfarmer on October 02, 2013, 06:47:53"Did the Wizard beans taste like broad beans?"Yes, First picking was of immature pods to get the "early taste".Then the main broad beans came onstream and theWizards got overlooked and quickly went past , hence a high seed production.The Realseed mantra of "Dont buy from us, save your own" is an curious business model but at least one can.You could save your Wizard bean seed for next year but as you have also grown another variety of broad bean any cross pollination would not keep you Wizards pure, so I'm told. They would probably turn out OZ like the following season so you'll be back to Real Seeds for another purchase! Will you grow Wizards again next year, i.e. is it worth it?Talking of business strategies Fothergills sent me some free 'Blue Belle' seed potatoes last year and they have been the most productive main crop spuds I've ever had the pleasure to grow. From about 20 seeds I got three wheel barrows full of the most beautiful large clean shiny spuds with a nice flavour. Shiny spuds are always free from disease. They look a bit like a bloke's bald head. So I'll be growing them again next year but this time I'll have to pay for them, crafty Fothergills eh?More than likely, but have also considered sowing them as a green manure, for nitrogen fixing and then dig them in the cauliflower patch but not sure whether the nitro- fixing happens before or after flowering? Any help on that?
Quote from: ancellsfarmer on October 02, 2013, 06:47:53"Did the Wizard beans taste like broad beans?"Yes, First picking was of immature pods to get the "early taste".Then the main broad beans came onstream and theWizards got overlooked and quickly went past , hence a high seed production.The Realseed mantra of "Dont buy from us, save your own" is an curious business model but at least one can.You could save your Wizard bean seed for next year but as you have also grown another variety of broad bean any cross pollination would not keep you Wizards pure, so I'm told. They would probably turn out OZ like the following season so you'll be back to Real Seeds for another purchase! Will you grow Wizards again next year, i.e. is it worth it?Talking of business strategies Fothergills sent me some free 'Blue Belle' seed potatoes last year and they have been the most productive main crop spuds I've ever had the pleasure to grow. From about 20 seeds I got three wheel barrows full of the most beautiful large clean shiny spuds with a nice flavour. Shiny spuds are always free from disease. They look a bit like a bloke's bald head. So I'll be growing them again next year but this time I'll have to pay for them, crafty Fothergills eh?
"Did the Wizard beans taste like broad beans?"Yes, First picking was of immature pods to get the "early taste".Then the main broad beans came onstream and theWizards got overlooked and quickly went past , hence a high seed production.The Realseed mantra of "Dont buy from us, save your own" is an curious business model but at least one can.
I have some seeds left from the packet this year's grew from - but the gigandes flowered a lot earlier and the bottom ones set beans before the first runner flower was even in bud ... I marked the pods that had formed then and I was thinking of using those ones as seeds.I suppose there may have been other runners on the allotment site flowering that early though ... apparently it's quite hard to save 100% true seed without tripping the flowers manually and bagging the ones you want to save in gauze bags.
The nitrogen fixing happens even when plants are very young. When you sow broadbeans in modules to start them off early and then transplant, you can see whitish tiny nodules around the roots. They look a bit like slug eggs, but they are nitrogen nodules.You can also see them quite clearly when you pull up plants at the end of the season. This is why the books suggest cutting broadbeans at ground level and not pulling the roots.
That is quite an interesting link. But it clearly states that in Europe we have the correct bacteria for the job hence what you are saying is for the USA where they need to inoculate the beans.Is there a need to quote huge parts of the thread which we have just read?Do keep your suggestions going? I am interested in the Jarrahdale pumpkin where are you sourcing your seeds?
Very interesting Floyds! Are you saying that farmers who use field beans as a nitrogen enriching 'rest crop' for the next year of wheat growing have got it wrong? They certainly grow their field beans to full maturity and harvest them around now, all black, and plough the rest back into the fields.Ditto the 3 sisters approach from the USA? The beans are said to give nitrogen to all 3 crops and especially to the nitrogen greedy squash, the squash leaves give shade and prevent soil drying out and the corn provides bean sticks and of course corn cobs.For either system to work well, the beans must be providing far more nitrogen than the bean plants need themselves. But the article quoted says that the beans only provide nitrogen for themselves and leave none. I think we would need to see actual measured data (not provided in the article which is on tropical permaculture), before we dispense with 'traditional wisdom'.Composting plants (green mulches once they have gone dry and started to decompose) actually take a certain amount of nitrogen out of the soil for their composting. How does that affect the nitrogen balance? Very interesting subject - hope to read more on that for 2014.
I also am growing a gold coloured beet Grannie Annie, I found an old recipe online that uses them in a cake.
That's how it's generally understood. Most people crop their peas and beans and expect the nitrogen in the root system to be available in the soil for the next crop, and there's the myth.
Quote from: Floyds on October 02, 2013, 22:50:41That's how it's generally understood. Most people crop their peas and beans and expect the nitrogen in the root system to be available in the soil for the next crop, and there's the myth. I don't think it is a complete myth. It is true that the majority of nitrogen that is fixed goes to seed production but there is a large caveat.During the growing process amounts of N are leaked from the roots into the soil which is then available for subsequent crops..See here for some info - I don't have much time at present to find more up to date data but you can clearly see in figure 4 that cereal crops that follow grain legumes require less N fertilizer..