Report from Greco-plant auditions-what worked, what didn't

                                                           Growing baby purple artichoke from seed.
                                                                               

Growing artichoke from seed is reported in garden books  as   a problem---Why ? Beats me. Garden  myth!  Not actually even very  good at growing stuff from seed , but this was easy. Seed came from 3 different organic seed houses (Baker’s, http://rareseeds.com/; Territorial  www.territorialseed.com and Island Seed (Goleta,CA). Soaked the seed overnight, planted the first batch in plantable pots inside.

Everything grew-Violet de Provence, Violette di Chioggi, Violetta Precoce , and Purple of  Romagna. Most of them are now about 2  ½ feet tall. Violet de Provence is outgrowing all the others. Not too surprising as his native heath resembles our climate  more than those of  the other varieties. Used soaker hose to keep the ground moist.

Chioggi from seed in ground

Once it warmed up, planted more of the same seeds in the ground, having soaked them overnight (June). These also came up without a problem.

Fennel.

. Never grew fennel before. It turned out to be easy, long bearing, delicious raw or cooked. (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_fennel/. It comes in 3 kinds: Florentine, Bronze and vulgare. Grow the first 2 to eat and vulgare for the swallowtails. Florentine fennel is the celery like vegetable, Bronze an herb used much like dill, (and also is reported as a host for the Anise Swallowtail).

                                Black swallowtail on bronze fennel

He's not a pretty baby but he won't eat your tomatoes. However, what swallowtails like best is fennel vulgare. That's the one you see blooming all over the hills of the Central Coast.

 Use Florentine  fennel  like celery. Easier to grow than celery in this climate, though celery might be a really good winter/spring  crop here on the Central Coast.

                               Long Island celery- easy for them!

This is normally the time to start winter cole crops from seed.

Broccoli—had good luck with Veronica ( 85 days) which seems to use a little less water than conventional broccoli. However, given the weather cycle, won’t plant cole crop seed until late August which still gives the veg 2 hot months to get started.

 Ideally, plant some now and some later. Later, you can use starts which means you don’t have to be such a dedicated farmer. Best in this garden was Veronica (also known as Romano).

                              
                                   Glamorous Veronica

Qualified success: the roof garden. Only the real desert plants were happy—barrel cactus, agaves, etc. The sedums fried.

The roof garden depended entirely on rain water. The sedums would have to be watered every 2 weeks to survive in this climate. If it’s from the Sonora Desert—it’ll do fine without water, otherwise no.
                                     

Unqualified success: new terraces planted with dwarf citrus using grey water.

Scarlet Runner Beans:
                                         
                                                    w image
Ours came from 6 seeds. We have been harvesting about a 2 lbs. a week from these plants. They get watered once a week unless we have a scorcher (100° or more)


Harvest when they are about the size of a mature French Filet bean.( http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_green_beans_with_butter_and_herbs/) Or let them mature a little into lima bean size, then steam them, serve with butter. Or let them dry and give every child you know Magic Beans for Christmas.

                              
                                               w image

Coming up next: Vermiculture Revisted

Fava & Scarlet Emperor Hummus ???



     

Fava's at Pike's

These Favas are fully developed in May even in the NW climate. If one were growing them in SoCal, it might be worth an experiment to plant them as late as January. Cold ground doesn't bother them. They've been an early spring staple in  N. Europe for centuries.

 Fava's were somewhat displaced in N. Europe by the potato--unfortunately-- considering the potato blight and the resulting Irish Famine. Potatoes are grown, even by the totally clueless--- (which is often how I feel in the vegetable garden.) In a rainy climate about all you have to do is stick the seed potatoes in the ground and stand back. (Until the blight strikes!) The resulting-- easy to grow-- crop kicked off a population explosion in Ireland in the 19th c. (It has been estimated an Irishman ate 12 lbs of potatoes a day. You'd have to have a lot of Fava's to match that calorie count.)

N. European settlers in Ireland (mostly German) survived the Blight because they never stopped growing Favas and were generally more canny farmers . The Irish were basically cattle herders and had not developed sophisticated farming skills to match those of many European countries. Hence the imported N. European farmers, brought in by the English landlords  as an attempt to make farming more profitable in Ireland. Not for the Irish, of course, but for the English landlords.

( Ignore  digression ....must be channelling  Irish grandmother.)

Growing   Beans takes a little more skill than growing potatoes--though not much more. (My Scarlet Runners are flourishing--supposed to be a perennial in this climate--a native of the Mexican high plateau.) So exciting to see them growing like Jack and the Beanstalk beans that I returned to Ken Albala's book , Beans: A History, to read up on them.

Then, looking for recipes for SR Bs and Favas,  discovered....
Scarlet Emperor Runners
                                            
                                       (Image from W Commons) the darker seeds are the more mature.

                                                                  Hummus

 Unless they are eaten fresh, very young, SR Bs are stronger," more bean-y" than many. You might not like them.  Same is true of Favas . But hummus  made with mature beans--and garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, cilantro or Italian Parsley combined  in a food processor served with pita or tortilla chips might make you a  passionate convert to home made hummus. However, don't try this at home without boiling the beans --please. Raw SR Bs are not good for you.

 Wing it on the recipe with the amounts you use--about a cup of boiled beans*, save some bean water to use in processing-- a whole Meyer lemon's juice, 2 or more cloves of garlic, sesame seeds if you have them around (or tahini, or peanut butter ), cilantro or flat leafed Italian parsley to taste, salt /pepper. Make a well in the top for olive oil.

Hummus originates in the Levant and  traditionally uses garbanzo's .You can  (be daring) use  favas or Scarlet Runner beans, even though you can't find a recipe using them very easily, since neither is a traditional crop in the Middle East.)

 Besides hummus----- Hummingbird's love Scarlet Runners. Who could ask for anything more?                                                     

                                            

 Note for SoCal bean growers- planted 2 sets of SRunners- one started in doors in plantable pots, 4 seeds simply put into the ground after a 12 hour soak in water. All the potted seeds survived, but off to a slow start. One of the 4 planted in the ground seeds survived, but it took off at top speed and will soon outstrip the earlier ones.

* 1 c. of beans= you can combine SRB, Fava's or garbanzos (chickpeas)--any one, or the combination will work .I seem to end up with handfuls of this or that---not cups.



Two beautiful Beans -- Fava & Scarlet Runner Beans

What are we going to plant right now? Not many beans are cool season crops 

Fava  Beans- Vicia Faba

These two  beans you can plant in the fall are scarlet runner bean and fava (or broad bean). Some beans are low water, some are not. The most ancient ones were selected in arid climates like our own,  and  aren’t thirsty.

If you are going to grow vegetables in your back (or front)  yard , raised beds with lots of free compost from your municipal recycling program, and  a  gray water [i] system  is the way to go in So Cal.Otherwise using a lot of water to grow vegetables in your yard doesn’t make sense. Just go to the Farmer’s Market!

However, an informal grey water system can be as simple as recycling the water from one bathtub by using a sump pump, an open window and a hose to your raised bed. If you recycle the water from one tub, by saving all the shower and bath water that 2 people use, you’ll  harvest  enough water.

Scarlet Runner-(p. coccineus)

In Europe Haricot d'Espagne, haricot écarlate

Soo-oo, grey water system in place, we’re ready to consider--- our beans.)  Some of the easiest and most prolific (like Scarlet Runner Bean, p. coccineus) )  take a moderate amount of water. Being scarlet, it attracts hummingbirds.


 The Scarlet Runner( Nahuatl "ayocotl" or in Spanish "ayocote’) originated in Mexico, around 2000 years ago….remains were found in Tehuacan in the Valley of Tehuacan”) Semi-arid, and on the warm side with  6-8 dry months. . Maize was also grown here.. Tehuacan was notable for being the site where the remains were found of the oldest domesticated corn in the world, (up to 5,000 years B.C.).

Does this climate sound familiar? Scarlet Runners are often discussed as "tropical" but that's misleading as like many plants from arid regions of Mexico, runners follow the rain pattern.

You don’t want to eat these beans uncooked, as the Runner beans contain traces of the poisonous lectin, Phytohaemagglutinin  which is destroyed in cooking.

 You can even eat the root as they do in Central America It’s a climber that can be used to create shade for something that won’t take full sun in summer when the beans are creating a scarlet curtain.. Chard, parsley, fennel, artichokes  and  any of the greens  might like the relief  from full sun.

Fava Beans

 

You might never have encountered a fava bean unless you are Italian or Middle Eastern. However you might easily have had them in falafel.

 Fava are native to North Africa and SW Asia (W) and they are very ancient (6.500 B.C )  and very easy to grow. They were a staple in N. Europe until displaced by the potato. 

 Fava means “broad” in Italian, and that’s another name for them.Italians are pretty passionate about their favas—favas can be harvested in spring if planted in the fall, and even the young leaves can be eaten like spinach. You can fry them, puree’ them, make bean paste out of them http://www.food.com/recipe/gabriel-s-sauteed-fava-beans-117520 )

The Arabs eat them for breakfast as Ful Medames as the breakfast dish for Ramadan served with pita bread and a fried egg. http://mideastfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/fulmedames.htm

...and mad dogs and Englishman go out in the noonday sun...." 

Grow favas now: “ In mild climates such as Southern California… sow fava beans in the fall, and patiently wait 150-180 days later, for harvest in spring. Fava beans are a legume, and require a long, cool growing season....."

 Territorial Seeds carry the seed as Broad Windsor Bean and Harris Seed has it as “Broad Improved Long Pod  and Heirloom Seeds has them as Fava Beans http://www.heirloomseeds.com/beans.htm.

Grow them as you would green peas. 

Bird News : the gold finches are migrating south along the Cenral Coast. They'd appreciate a sockful of nyger seed. If you put out the seed you'll have lots--they tell their friends!

Note: 

Note: Susan Carpenter, columnist for the LA Times  who has been doing green projects for the last year at her home, evaluated the projects in terms of success and economy. Grey water came out on top.(Latimes.com/Sunday,10/17/2010).

2 from Beans, A History by Ken Albala, Berg, NYC,NY  2007

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