Recent content by Heliena

For what it's worth, I acquired this bean this year and when doing my homework I drew the same conclusion.

I’ve seen you mention the Zinnias a few times, do you find that the beans planted along the Zinnias do better overall? I’ve grown beans for all of my gardening years but have shifted my study to planting a supportive garden around my food garden recently. Flower gardens and the finer details...

Maybe my mistake was ordering green house plastic for my cold frame... we got two feet of snow in two days. After a warm spell last week I thought "Maybe when it gets here, I'll actually be able to shovel out and work on the green house." That would be overwhelmingly false..... The hubby is...

Gonna post this one in a stroke of bravery, its a bit of a pep talk for myself. It's mid February. I successfully let seed starting and seed ordering come quicker than I realized. I dread watching the clock/scratching off the days for anything, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that...

Not a bad note! Gotta make some room so they don't crowd the tiny transplants anyway.

<3 I'm a bit of a soil nerd, and if I have learned anything, its that the solution to 99% of soil problems is more organic matter, and not leaving the soil uncovered. Good soil is the work of microbes, and microbes can't survive well and do their job unprotected. Arborists chips (plain...

I made a thing! Going by specific dates last year was okay, but not ideal. Especially while I was in the third trimester of pregnancy with my son. During that time I developed a heat and sun sensitivity too, so until we welcomed our little guy at the end of June, between the hours of noon and...

Its always a bonus if I can eat something as a snap, but shelling is the focus. Fibrous pods don't turn me off right away. I haven't given bush varieties much of my time, the disciplined thing for me to say is that I am willing to give a bush variety a go. I grow some, but they are short lived...

Thank you! In short, yes on both accounts. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about stretching the season, and if I hadn't lost 3 weeks to an unseasonably wet spring last year, the pods I got may have dried just fine. But... I recon that in southern states they'd get many more pods than I could. So...

I’m charmed by how utterly massive and “antique” the 1000 year cave bean was in my garden last year, but I was only able to get a few seeds last year, and I ended up having to bring a section of the vine indoors to dry. My short season didn't give it much time to do its thing. If I could get a...

Bean nerd question: I'm at the "I want to breed my own bean" stage of things, I have a few favorites in mind for crossing, but are there any do's or don'ts for compatible parent plants? What carries the most success? I've got a good grip on genetics, but that's only in theory.

Aww, Thank you! I've been told I should write a book about... all of that, and I have started one, but I feel like I am still healing and growing too much season to season for it to be cohesive right now. Someday, I might. Read your signature, if you ever want soil advice, feel free to bug me. <3

I'm Heliena, or Liena. I started life as a feral Detroit street kid, doing martial arts, cleaning stalls so I could ride horses, and navigating a family that resembled compacted clay... I couldn't tell you when the generational violence, alcoholism, and instability started in my family, it's...

Drinking, partying, boys, the sorts of trouble young folks tend to find. 😂 I was never really that way, but my Step-Mom was really concerned that I might be trouble-prone at the time. Thank you for the warm welcome, I’m having a blast combing through your website, and I will certainly put...

Oh no way! My home is within walking distance of the lift bridge! There are lots of amazing gardeners and local farms here but so far I’m the only bean and bonsai nerd I know. Hah!