I did mention about our black beans in a previous post but I think they need one all their own as well. We received some black bean seeds from a friend several years ago. We planted them, and got enough to grow more the next year but not many to eat. The next year, we shared many of them, then planted the rest, again only ended up with a few to share and a few to eat.
This year we were determined to get TONS. So, we planted three long rows of them!
While planting them I remember telling them, "you will be burgers, and you will be tacos, and you will go in soup!" Haha
We even had some to share this year as well and made up bags of them for Sherwood Park Seedy Sunday along with our excess arugula and radish seeds. Watch for that event in March as well as the Edmonton Seedy Sunday, if you're in the Edmonton area!
The beans sprouted pretty quickly and grew amazingly well.
All the pests went for other things and left the black beans alone almost completely! We knew we would finally have our bumper crop of black beans we always wanted.
I'm pretty sure what we have will last us through the winter and maybe even then some. We plan to do three big rows every year from now on though regardless. It's such an awesome crop!
We plan to store some dry and to pressure can some as well so you can keep an eye out for that! The delicious dishes we will make with these beans are going to be epic!
The plants begin to turn yellow and die off in late summer and by mid September they're dry and ready to be picked.
We harvested them on Saturday and have spent our days since shucking the beans, but we still aren't done! Hopefully by the end of the day we will finish haha
The kids have even joined in on the fun! :)
It's hard to really show just how many there are, it's incredible! For now they're just sitting out flat so they can dry really well before we start canning and storing them.
The shells and debris from these beans is excellent carbon for the compost bin too! Since we are all out of dry leaves we really needed it! LoL
I hope you enjoyed my post. I plan to keep it up Although our winters are no where near as exciting as our summers!!
Take care :)
Lo que puedo expresar es alegria al observar lo milagroso de ver crecer una cosecha.....felicidades
Wow, they really produced well for you! I see many delicious meals coming up for you indeed.
I had a small envelope of black beans I considered planting this year and thought I probably didn't have room. Turns out I was right since there's nowhere near enough room to grow that many in our garden!
I also thought they would be a pole-type bean and it's interesting to note they are much more a bush-bean kind of plant.
Seems like to get enough to last a good while you do need a big space. We planted them in our small raised beds and while they did very well, it just couldn't give us enough.
The large bed in the post belongs to my mother in law, she's about an hours drive away from us so with the gas money to get there I'm not sure we saved a penny by growing our own food! LoL
Worth it though 100% :)
I have two 4 x 8 beds that I'm using as schooling ground so I can learn one or two plants at a time before I start plowing up the rest of the yard. I'm thinking about setting up two more beds in the next few weeks since I think I've got the tomatoes and cucumbers well underway and need some room for things like black beans.
Hey, if you're gardening at MIL's, that means you have a good routine for seeing her too!
That sounds fantastic! We did it like that too, started planting this and that in the garden beds to test it before going all out with big rows :)
And yes, she appreciates the company at first, then she's glad the season is over hahaha
So fun to grow too.
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Very cool! Black beans are the only bean/lentil I can eat!
Thank you! They're my favourite bean for sure! So good in so many things! :)
Good harvest, nice!
Thanks very much! :)
I want mine. I think I'll have to try this out in my garden when the next rain comes. Really beautiful. What is the estimated length of your row, and the space between? That is some good harvest and I want to know how much land is needed to get as much. My garden is more round than regular.
Hi mister, the garden bed is 50 feet across, so the rows are about 40-45 feet long. And each row is probably about 10-12 inches apart. Hope that helps!
Wonderful harvest! Really beautiful garden, it was nice seeing pictures of the beans in different stages back to back. I had a bad black bean harvest this year, you are giving me hope! I had the vine kind, didn't know they had them as bush beans. Thanks for this lovely post @theneohippy!
Sorry your beans didn't do well! Ours do get vine out the top but they don't climb terribly high when they get to, so we didn't bother LoL
Thanks for the kind words, we are so incredibly proud of what we do :)
Lovely post :)
Thanks so much! :)
Excellent post and great photos to detail your bean journey! I resteemed in hopes it gets more attention!
Thank you! We are so happy to be able to do what we love. We wish to get totally off the grid and grow all our own some day!
Thank you for sharing your process. It looks like you got tons!! I am planting fava beans right now for the winter season and had the same experience. Started with a few - and now, tons!!
Many are showing up in odd places - self-seeded or better, planted by a friendly animal helper :)
Resteemed and will follow you.
That's awesome! I've never tried fava beans! We did plant some tigers eye beans this year and got enough for seeds to plant LOTS next year :)
Sounds great!! I think favas are called broad beans in your part of the world :)
I share your love of black beans...any dried beans really. Two years ago I bought a bag of Jacob Cattle Beans, grown here in Nova Scotia, planted them in my garden, and have been growing them ever since. Have you found a quick way to hull them? It's hard on the thumbs shelling them by hand. I have put them into an old pillow case and beat them on the concrete floor in the basement! But I'm looking for a better way.
We are doing them all by hand, might get done by tonight! LoL
I think thrashing and winnowing as you described with the pillow case would be the only faster way, unless you have one of those big separating machines! LoL