Spring & Summer Beans for 2011

More Planning .....

(1) bush 60 days  - Phaseolus vulgaris ( Dragon's Tongue ) -parking pad gate tree - spacing 3 - 6" - snap or dry
(2)  pole 75 days - Phaseolus vulgaris ( Trionfo Violetto Pole Bean ) - rose arbor - thin to 6" spacing
(3) pole  70 days - Phaseolus vulgaris ( Purple Podded Pole Bean ) - front rotted oak stump garden up tree - 6" spacing
(4) bush 65 days - Vigna unguiculata ( Fagiolino Dolico di Veneto Cowpea ) - NE front strip & middle strip - spacing 3 - 4" - plant these first*
(5) bush 63 days - Vigna unguiculata ( Pink Eye Purple Hull Cowpea ) - parking pad cucumber fence & front rotted oak stump garden & cucumber pot - can dry - 6" spacing then 30 days later seed to 3" spacing
(6) pole 60 days - Vigna unguiculata (Calico  or Colossus Crowder Cowpea) - NE trees after bush cowpeas are pulled - 6" spacing
(7) pole 90 days -  Vigna unguiculala sesquipedalis ( Red Noodle Yard Long Bean ) - on bent poles in no mans zone of wilderness 
(8) pole 80 days - Phaseolus lunatus ( Black Jungle Lima Bean ) - parking pad fence - 12 - 24" spacing

Goals of this Plan?
Grow good eats, save relatively true seed for another harvest.
GardenWeb bean forum and search forum for isolation distance - lots of good reads
Seed Isolation Distances is a great resource
Common beans, cowpeas, peas, lima beans, soybeans, chick peas, runner beans - these are all different species and very rarely will cross
Within a species I'm aiming for 150' physical isolation, or I'll (*) isolate by time; ie plant the beans I'm most interested in keeping pure first.  Zeedman on GW had this to say: 'I interplant limas, runner beans, common beans, asparagus beans, and gourds (bitter melon) with great success... but I only plant one variety of lima & one runner bean each year.'


Dilly Beans?  For fall 2011 try Striped Bunch from Sandhill Preservation - grown out by DarJones "half runner - 2 to 3 seed per foot "


I picked up some day neutral winged beans; I think I'll try a few of those on a taunt wire along the south side of the front.  I've also got some chickpeas planted that I saved from dry; see if they germinate.  If I come across a low maintenance no supplemental water required but will take heat, humidity and the occasional heavy rains - then this miracle bean would be planted out in the far NW back corner.  Oh, and we'll try soybeans and see how they do.