The Beans that Killed my Summer Garden

The pretty color of the Rattlesnake Pole Bean

For years I have been looking for a Phaseolus vulgaris pole bean variety that does well in our summer environment. Many other bean varieties do incredibly well in the Tucson Heat, such as the Chinese Long Bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis) the Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) and the Purple Hyacinth Bean (Dolichos lablab L.). Unfortunately, the Chinese Long Bean and Purple Hyacinth bean take a lot of effort to prepare while the Tepary bean is a natural carrier of bean mosaic virus - a disease I do not need to expose my garden to. The Phaseolus vulgaris or common bean tastes good for my family no matter how we prepare it (baking, boiling, stir-frying, steaming, eating raw).

Rattlesnake Bean Flowers

Having heard that Rattlesnake pole bean grows quite well in Tucson and knowing it to be a a Phaseolus vulgaris variety I obtained this variety from a local seed source this last winter.

Rattlesnake Pole Beans are quite productive

Top left leaves showing the first Signs of Diseased Bean Leaves

Without considering the potential consequences of planting a “native grown” variety in my garden, I planted out all the seeds in the packet. The purpose of a pole bean variety in my garden is to provide west-side shade for my tomato plants. This requires that the beans that I plant be completely disease-free, as any disease such as mosaic or leaf curl can spread like wildfire among some of the most virulent tomato plants. Out of the 50 plants Rattlesnake bean plants that popped up about 5-8 had leaves that looked wrinkled and deformed. These were immediately pulled from the garden and discarded. As the remainder of the plants grew, I noticed that many of the lower leaves died off. Though the premature leaf death of lower leaves is very similar to the Tepary bean the yellow leaves with brownish-gray spots was not.

Rattlesnake Beans Spreading Blight to Tomato leaves

Rattlesnake Beans (dead leaves) next to dying tomato leaves

Another look at the Rattlesnake Pole Beans next to Tomatoes

By the time I noticed the yellowing leaves and brownish-gray spots on my tomato plants it was too late. A bacterial blight spread like wildfire directly from the Rattlesnake beans to my Tomatoes and Purple Burgandy Bush Beans (also Phaseolus vulgaris) then to my cucumber-melons. Normally, it can be difficult to trace the direct cause of a garden disease. However, in this case there was a direct correlation between where these beans were growing and where the disease spread to other plants. Every day I went outside to pull branches, leaves, and plants from my garden. 

The characteristic circles and yellowing associated with Tomato Blight

Leaves of Tomato Plant experiencing Blight

Tomato Blight leaf remains exhibit wilted yellow/grayish leaves

When the disease finally began to spread to my sweet potatoes I knew that this was truly a bacterial blight and that the only plants I had a chance of saving were my sweet potatoes and Sunchokes. 

Blight effecting Sweet Potato Leaves

Once I was certain I had ascertained the problem I spent the entire next week measuring my progress not by how fast my garden plants grew, but by how fast I could tear my garden out.

After pulling Blighted Leaves

Ripening Tomatoes Under Shade cloth before pulling out the stems.

Texas Bunching Onion Harvest

As you can probably tell from my lack of posts recently, June is a difficult month for gardening in Tucson - though I do have some good news. The onions that cannot be killed – a.k.a. “Texas Bunching Onions” did really well in my garden this year. True to my experience so far here in Tucson, the vegetables that require the most work to process always produce the most. 

My children helped to harvest the onions. (=

These onions did great in my little winter garden, though they always produce small bulbs. If anyone can help me to find a scallion or bunching onion that produces fewer bulbs per bunch (and larger ones) I would really appreciate it.

Texas Bunching Onions with most of the stem removed.

It is not that I do not like onions – it is processing the small onions that can sometimes be painfully cumbersome. After selecting the largest of these bunching onions for summer storage I decided to place the remainder of the bulbs inside my barbeque to dry. Several days after leaving the bulbs in a black barbeque next to a south-facing wall in the 100+ Fahrenheit heat, I ventured outside to check on them only to discover they have defiantly resisted drying or even slightly discoloring. I knew that this variety makes a good storage onion but I never knew they were so incredibly resistant to the heat. If only I could find a larger bunching onion that could do this!

1 week of attempting to dry the Texas Bunching Onions.

 

Processing these onions by drying may be an exercise in futility.

Lettuce Worth Saving

Living in a southern climate means an uncertain winter. Sometimes the winter is very cool while other times we experience 80-90 degree Fahrenheit days for a week or two at a time. Often, when there is a warm period during the winter the lettuce goes bitter. Even some more bitter-resistant kinds of lettuce that I have grown have gone bitter – until this year.

My Jerico Lettuce sprouted up quickly (Source: SESE)

Though Jerico Lettuce is not the most beautiful romaine lettuce it is the most bitter-free variety I have ever experienced. While some lettuce will go bitter in the middle of the winter, Jerico continued to produce healthy slightly-sweet leaves until they finally bolted in May.

Some uniformly green leaves of Jerico Lettuce

Saving lettuce is a pretty simple task. All a gardener needs to do is leave the lettuce alone and let the pollinators do their job. I chose to select my seed by saving only the largest lettuce heads that bolted last. Late bolting is essential to growing in a warm climate and if the early-bolting plants are not culled then the gardener will not improve the variety.

Lettuce beginning to bolt

Lettuce Flowers are so pretty

I am always experimenting with new techniques in harvesting and saving seed. This year I tried both cutting individual lettuce heads by hand (a very laborious process) as well as experimented with waiting until the majority of the seed had dried before cutting off each stalk. Cutting off individual heads by hand is probably only worthwhile if you have strong winds or the seed heads are going to be disturbed by something going through the garden. Otherwise it is much easier to wait until the majority of the seeds heads have started producing seeds and lop the whole stalk off at one time.

One method of harvesting lettuce is to harvest one head at a time.

Lettuce Heads beginning to dry.

I also harvest lettuce by cutting each stalk when most have gone to seed.

The rest dry out and go to seed shortly thereafter

Once I have gathered the seed heads and let them dry I rub them with my fingers to separate the individual seeds from the seed heads and white fuzz. Then I winnow them using either the wind (if there is a consistent wind outside) or a fan (if the wind is unpredictable that day).

Lettuce heads after drying and being rubbed to separate the seeds from the heads.

Winnowing the lettuce seed

That is about all that is required to save lettuce seed. I would highly recommend Jerico lettuce to anyone who wants to extend their lettuce crop beyond the usual season. It is not a beautiful variety, by any means, but it produces a reliable harvest long after other lettuce varieties have turned bitter.

Lettuce seed is easy and fun to harvest. (=

2014 Carosello Bianco Leccese

As part of my little cucumber business I make sure to test seed germination (to make sure it is above 80%) before selling any seed. Instead of composting this pre-sprouted seed out, I planted the Carosello Bianco Leccese or Light Leccese in some pots and let them grow some fruit.

Some Carosello Leccese Light next to a home-grown tomato

One characteristic of the Carosello I have been working to identify is how long down the vine each variety tends to set fruit. The Carosello Bianco Leccese sets fruit very close to the center of the fruit, making it a very early producing Carosello variety.

A Compact growth habit makes this one of the earlier and faster-growing Carosello.



Carosello Leccese Bianco female Flower



Carosello Leccese Bianco - The female flower is setting fruit.



The fruit grows,




and grows,



and grows until the Carosello Leccese Bianco is ready to be consumed. (=



 A few years ago, one of my children tested positive for an allergy to cucumbers. He was very sad about this, as he loves cucumbers and pickles. Fortunately, he tested negative for an allergy to melons, which means he can eat any of my Carosello, Armenian or other cucumber-melons. When my garden produces some Carosello for him to eat, our whole family enjoys eating cucumbers together.



Slices of Carosello Bianco Leccese



Carosello and other cucumber-melons can be consumed by those who are
allergic to cucumbers - as long as they are not allergic to melons! (=



No cucumbers for this caterpillar - this bug will soon meet my bearded dragon!

 

Growing cucumbers next to the ground results in variable shapes

 

Is this the Carosello Bianco Leccese - or a pear?

In the Southwest, Carosello can be planting well into the fall. I will most likely be planting new varieties into July and September.

Missing the Rain!

With the dearth of rainfall that we have received this last year has come an increase in poor air quality.
 



Rincon Mountains on May 16th (These mountains are close to my home)

 

 

Without moisture in the soil, the recent windy days have literally “picked up” the dirt from the ground and made it part of the air we breathe. Many people that I know in Tucson are having breathing problems because of the poor air quality (including yours truly).





A veiw of the Tucson Mountains on a air quality advisory day.



 

The Pima County has issued numerous air quality advisories recently. This lack of water has also affected the local insect population. I have seen very few pollinators when compared to this time last year. Additionally, a lack of rainfall means that the only source of water my plants recieve is city water. Whether a person is a gardener, farmer, or just wanting a drink of water - I hope this drought will remind each of us to pray for rain.

The Catalina Mountains and Mt. Lemmon in the distance on a air quality advisory day