Vermigardening

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Comment by Damon on November 17, 2009 at 6:06am

Nice. I pulled my radishes as well and cooked them with some turnips, mustard, arugula and chard. My radishes always end up really leafy. I guess there is too much nitrogen in my soil.

Comment by Strumelia on November 16, 2009 at 4:21pm

Still getting lettuce, carrots, scallions, turnips, and a few little beets and bok choy leaves from the garden. Pretty good for mid november! Pulled the last of the radishes today.
The worms are fine, bin is in the basement, pretty warm down there. I have a whole tray of castings I'm leaving in the bin til spring, and by that time I should have maybe 10 or 12 gallons of castings to mix into the garden with the spring seed planting. Not bad end result from just a bunch of slimy garbage food scraps! :)

Oh, and I got my honey bee hive a couple weeks ago! More 'livestock' in addition to my worms. ;D

Comment by Heather Rinaldi on November 7, 2009 at 11:13am

Strumelia--3 bean salad was good. I blanched the beans in vinegar water, hoping to keep the purple color--maybe if I had put more vinegar or all vinegar, but they still leached, though had a little color left. Added chickpeas, yellow and red bell pepper and onion--used white wine vinegar, italian herbs, and dijon as a dressing.

Comment by Heather Rinaldi on November 5, 2009 at 10:39am

Andrew, in the spring I plant pole beans (which are indeterminate)--I get a crop in late May and early June, then they go dormant when it gets above about 95F. Then, I have had good luck with them coming out of dormancy and producing another crop in Sept-Oct, when temperatures allow them to flower and fruit again.
The first week of Sept. I planted the bush variety beans. They are an early maturing, determinate (produces everything close together and is done). This is to try to get another crop before the average first frost date here (Nov. 17th). All the beans will die with first frost. I like them to fix nitrogen back into the soil--I will leave the plant as is, add some chopped fall leaves and dry molasses around and let the composting begin. The edamame (soybeans) actually do a better job than green beans. http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/a-129.pdf

www.txwormranch.com

Comment by Andrew on November 5, 2009 at 9:30am

Thanks for the photos, Heather. Those purple beans are cool! Will they grow in a mild winter climate? I looked up the planting schedule for beans and it says spring or early fall.

Comment by Heather Rinaldi on November 5, 2009 at 8:05am

Oh that is just beautiful! Think I will add some edamame too. I can't wait!

Comment by Strumelia on November 5, 2009 at 8:00am

Here is a string bean vinaigrette salad I made from my green beans and yellow wax beans this summer. But I didn't use the purple beans in that one....black olives instead. I did very lightly cook the stringbeans first- they were not completely raw, more like blanched.

Comment by Heather Rinaldi on November 5, 2009 at 7:52am

Strumelia, that is a great idea. My family is wild about anything with vinegar, and it should certainly keep the beans color. I am thinking some 3 bean salad type salads too.

Damon, the purple is nice because it is easier to find the beans against the green foliage. Temperatures swing wildly here in winter. We will usually have at least one ice storm, very little snow, if any, a few days in the 80s a few nights in the upper teens, usually in between 40-60 F. But, we have had a weird fall, I am wondering if we are going to have a colder and wetter (snow) than usual winter?

Comment by Strumelia on November 5, 2009 at 7:10am

I grew those purple Italian pole stringbeans too this summer. They are great...however when you cook them they turn green! =8-(
If you want to keep the dark purple, I think you could put them raw into a vinaigrette dressing in the fridge for a couple days (maybe with some sliced yellow and red peppers and some canned chick peas and a bit of chopped raw onion? and then perhaps they'd stay a pretty purple and be good to eat.

Comment by Damon on November 5, 2009 at 5:50am

Nice! I didn't realize beans came in purple. How cold does it get in your part of Texas in winter?

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