Fourth planting!

Fourth planting included six types of beans! According to the seed packets, they needed 60 degree soil at least for germination.

I chose all heirlooms varieties, four for dry soup beans and three for green beans (for canning). The dry soup beans included yin yang and tiger's eye from territorial, and hutterite and indian woman yellow from seeds of change. These were chosen mostly for taste (I was hoping for a bean experience you don't get with the few varieties available at the supermarket - I love beans, so extra tasty ones are especially exciting) but also for appearance - the yin yang and tiger's eye both look fun! The green beans included cannellini, blue lake, and kentucky wonder, all from territorial. These were chosen for flavor. I've never liked green beans very much until two years ago when we had some delicious fresh ones from our CSA in Eugene. Since I'm pretty new to the green bean experience, I chose tried-and-true varieties.

To plant them, my resources didn't give directions on the best method - some seeds do well with competition and others don't. Those that do well with competition should be planted with a few seeds together in one spot, keeping the same spacing between seed groups that you will eventually want for your mature plants. Those that do not do well with competition should be put in individual holes but with less space between them than you eventually want. As they grow, you will thin either one out to get the strongest, fastest plants. Each bean bed had two rows, so I did one of each. I think beans do better with competition, because the side where I planted them four inches apart with 3-4 seeds in each hole looked strongest and grew fastest. Yin Yang had disappointing germination (maybe about 60%), but everything else looked as good as you would want.

Monday I'll post pictures of the young bean plants! They were so cute when they germinated!