Peas and Beans in the Fertile Garden

The other garden friend's garden I grew in during 2019 was a plot that contains soil enriched with large amounts of compost. This is what I simply refer to as the Fertile Garden.



By following some of what the owner of the fertile garden does, I can work to make my own backyard garden better. One technique that the Fertile Garden owner utilizes to maintain fertility is grow plants that produce much of their own nitrogen. Legumes such as peas and beans require minimal, if any fertilization.


Here are a few pictures of spring peas being grown in the Fertile Garden:

My friend also really enjoys pole beans. This year he grew out a couple stands of Blue Lake Pole Beans. He said that his favorite things about them is that they are stringless. One thing I noticed about them is how long they lasted.

Though they lasted a whole long time, by the time they were done, the plants looked very tired out. This is quite a contrast with the kinds of poles I used to grow. I am used to having grown Chinese Long or Asparagus beans. Chinese Long beans have nectaries which attract ants and other insects. The ants will sip the nectar and protect the plant from many predators (if they can find them). Additionally, Chinese Long Beans plants do not deteriorate as quickly as regular pole bean plants. Unfortunately, Chinese Long Beans are not as versatile or palatable as regular pole beans.

These pole beans lasted until the later fall. I suppose they would last as long as the gardener picks the pods off of the plant - or until the first frost.

Winter Doldrums

Winter can be a very difficult time for someone who gets a lot out of the health of their garden. Everything slows as the amount of light decreases and more things begin happening to the garden than things happening in the garden. Wind and cats have taken their toll. High winds knocked over a lot of plants, which only began to recover as kitties began to utilize my garden more as a litter box than as a place to avoid. Every spare inch of vacant soil is toilet fodder for my neighbor’s cats.

Meanwhile, back in the greenhouse the fabulous idea I had for using diatomaceous earth on the pill bugs did not work as well as I had supposed. The little crustaceans were relatively immune to the powder and finished off my cucumber plants pretty quickly. I was under the false assumption that they would begin to die off without much food, but they continue to reproduce. I should probably take a layer of soil off the top of the planter and put it into a black plastic bag to bake them. Eventually I got the good idea to replant the stock tank with Fava beans. The Fava beans have done relatively well so far. Still - I’ll have to keep up my night-time visits to the greenhouse to make sure.

After the pill bugs, comes the fava beans

Even in the greenhouse I am using sideways tomato cages to deter kitties.

My tree collards have done well. I have experienced difficulty with reproducing them due to the prevalence of little green caterpillars (some sort of moth larvae) that continually devour the small leaves of the transplants. The lemongrass has done well in broths to help me to stave off the effects of any cold virus. The red leaf lettuce has been slowly growing. It has taken a beating from caterpillars, slugs, aphids and some sections the lettuce bed have been excavated by kitties.

Red leaf lettuce and onions

I split apart and re-potted most of the lemongrass (to share with friends)

In order to stop the incessant assault from my feline foes I have turned some tomato cages on their sides. It does not look pretty in my garden, but I have gone past the point of caring. The need to have my plants live is a little more important than my garden looking like a lunar moonscape (complete with kitty-created craters).

Working to make my garden a little more kitty resistant (and ugly!)

The few carrots that I have grown are doing alright, though it looks as if I could have done a few more plantings. I believe most of them perished from poor watering. The peas seem to be doing well and a few chickpeas have managed to survive. Meanwhile, garlic and onions are sprouting up everywhere.

Messy onions, garlic and peas.

The biggest winners this winter are the tree collards, the lemongrass and the fava beans. The fava beans are from some plants grown by a local elementary school. They were willing to share, so I planted some. I quickly learned that favas do not take well to excess nitrogen (probably because they produce much of their own), but they do love the cool weather of this winter and have thrived as a result. I am really impressed.

My fava beans

Springing to Life

Although spring has been late in coming, it is finally warm enough to have my garden truly blossom. My garlic and onions are continuing to grow, though I did have to push my garlic over to keep it from heading. Temperatures here in Fairfield are fluctuating between the low 70s and the 90s during the day and between the 50s to 60s at night. The 90 degree temperatures have caused my lettuce to begin bolting, though my Jericho Lettuce never became bitter even when it began to bolt – a wonderful quality about the Jericho Lettuce cultivar. My Spanish round radishes have begun to bolt. I am really not a fan of these plants, but for the sake of keeping a wall of spicy plants I have kept them around to seed. Perhaps I can grow them again next fall for the same purpose.

Carosello and Jericho lettuce with onions in the background

Even next to my new Greenhouse, my Oregon Sugar Pod II peas have done exceptionally well. Though the creator of Oregon Sugar Pod II has created some vegetable varieties that still need improvement, such as the tomato cultivar Siletz, Jim Baggett did a fantastic job with the Sugar Pod II.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas

Sugar Pod II Peas still producing

My tomatoes have grown a lot faster that I have anticipated, when compared with my carosello plants. The majority of my tomato plants are much larger than I would prefer. Although I planted all determinate plants this year, determinate does not necessarily mean short. Next year, I will most likely opt for all dwarf varieties, much like my Redhouse Freestanding and Hahms Gelbe tomatoes. The most amazing producer so far has been my Taxi tomato. This variety is developing its flowers and fruits so much faster than my other tomato varieties, even in the presence of minimal light. I’m hoping the taste is as good as people say it is.

Red House Freestanding Tomato

Redhouse Freestanding surrounded by Hahms Gelbe

Taxi Tomato Variety

At last, the carosello have finally taken off. The cold wet weather made it difficult for the plants to grow. For a while, though the leaves were light green, they have become darker as the temperature has increased. I wonder if melon plants metabolize nutrients more effectively when the soil temperature warms up. Female fruits are finally beginning to emerge. As the Carosello Polisello varieties I have are not completely stable, I am still planning on self-pollinating them with each plant’s own pollen until the fruit matures enough to be able to determine which plant produces a lighter base skin color.

Carosello finally taking off! (=

Finally, a female flower

It is incredibly wonderful how well my garden has grown. Despite pruning and removing the occasional tomato plant, everything has been growing to become beautiful.

carosello flowers are beautiful

Wishing all of you a spectacular spring!

New Spirit Garden and Thoughts

With how busy our family’s schedule is, I rarely get an opportunity to leave the house to do things for myself. So, going to visit a garden a few Saturdays ago was a special treat. I wanted to visit a garden without driving too far so I stopped by a nearby Community Gardens of Tucson plot. New Spirit Garden is one of my favorite Community of Gardens plots near my home at the corner of Camino Seco and Old Spanish Trail. Usually it is locked and inaccessible to the public, but on the Saturday of my visit one of the gardeners graciously let me come in to have a look around.

It is always nice to visit another's garden to get ideas and be inspired.

 

What interests me most is seeing what is working well for others and learning from others’ success and failures. Despite the warm weather it seems that peas are doing well for others this year.



This seems to be a good season for Peas



A red loose-leaf variety

 

 

Although I have not grown Kale yet, I would love to try it.

 

The vegetables that impressed me the most were the lettuces. Unfortunately the grower of this exceptionally dark lettuce variety was not around. I was really impressed by the full dark color that this leaf lettuce possessed.

Anyone know the name of this Purple/Red lettuce variety? It is beautiful!

 

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Pea

A few years back we were at some community event in Downtown Tucson and a community group was giving away some seed packets containing old seed (perhaps with a low germination rate). I knew that my children enjoyed snap peas so I decided to try a few Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas. The rest is history.
 

Though I really should try to improve upon this snow pea variety I have to admit that this variety does so incredibly well that our children harvest a lot of peas on a daily basis. Within the 12 plants that I am growing some do better than others, though it is hard for me to judge which ones produce the most – perhaps I should ask my children!

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow peas are lots of fun.

So here is my review of this incredibly productive pea variety. It is definitely semi-sweet and perfect for children. As we have enjoyed it in salads I can only imagine that Oregon Sugar Pod II peas would do very well stir-fried. It is medium sized and can support its neighbors if grown close together.

Peas aplenty, peas galore!

Oregon Sugar Pod II keeps them coming back for more and more and more.

Once the plants become established, if you pick all the peas off in one day, you can almost watch the flowers sprout peas out overnight.

My kids love to pick and pick and pick these peas!

Though I have grown other pea varieties in Tucson over the winter I have never grown one that is as productive as Oregon Sugar Pod II. So if you are looking for a pea variety to keep your children busy, order yourself a packet of this incredible variety.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas producing seed

A little Harvest

Winter is the grazing time for gardening in Tucson. Because there is less sun available in the winter the vegetables grow slowly compared to summer gardening. This makes greens perfect because you can pick off the outer leaves of lettuce or spinach over the course of the season, rather than harvesting the crop all at once. My family has been having salads from our Jerico lettuce for a while now and I have been very pleased with how this variety has been producing.

Harvesting a little for a fresh garden salad

Another vegetable I have really come to love this winter has been our Kyoto carrots from Kitazawa seed company. These carrots are fantastic. They are everything a carrot should be: sweet, tender, colorful, and delicious. They do require growing longer period than short varieties (because of their long tap root) and apparently the dark color and sweet flavor develop better when grown over a cold season. Not only does this variety makes a perfect winter carrot, but it makes you wish this was the only carrot you grew.

Kyoto Red Carrots are very pretty...

but sometimes when I take pictures of my vegetables...

in the background I see...

my children growing.

Growing winter vegetables is a lot like growing children. Growth is rarely noticed from one day to another, but as you invest time in them - over time you can see great things.