Get Your Beans Growing!!

Category: Organic Tips for your Garden | Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:31 am

To get bean seedlings off to a good start in cold soil at least 2 weeks before your early target date, slice open the sides of black garbage bags to make long sheets and place the plastic on your garden bed, as mulch.

Secure the plastic in place with stones and then plant the pre-sprouted seeds in holes in the plastic at the proper planting intervals. The heat from the plastic warms the soil an additional 3-4 degrees
Fahrenheit.

The plastic sheets can be rolled up at the end of the season and re-used another year.
Make certain that you water beneath the plastic sheet with a drip line or soaker hose.

FLOSS YOUR BEANS!!

String waxed floss across your garden just a few inches above a row of bean plants. Attach floss to stakes. Using scissors, cut a dozen or more strips of foil one inch wide by five inches long.

Tape the strips of foil along the string of dental floss every few feet.

The strips of reflective foil , flapping in the breeze, will repel birds.

HOW ABOUT A SLINKY?

Hang several Slinkys in a row from the side of the house or an overhang, this will give your beans a trellis to "slink" their way up.

SPIDER MITES.

To kill spider mites on bean plants, mix 2 tablespoons of pepper sauce, 2 of garlic powder and 3 drops of dishwashing liquid, add 2 cups of water, mix all into a sixteen ounce spray bottle and spray on your plants.

FOR YOUR INTEREST............

The Asparagus Bean can grow pods up to 3 feet long.

In the sixteenth century, peasants in England relied on dried beans to survive a famine.

In the seventeenth century, people ( foolishly,)believed that eating beans cured baldness!

During World War II, the US army floated water-proof bags filled with beans from ships to beachheads,to feed American troops.

Don't forget Jack and his Beanstalk!!!

Mrs'G'.

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