2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[VA_LongBean]

Yes indeed. Technically Jim Su was the source. No idea where he got it as he wasn't much of a gardener that I recall. His father was chief of the secret police in a Chinese province, first for the Quomintang, then for the communists.

I'll post photos this year. It is exceedingly productive. No need to set aside pods for seeds. Even harvesting every day there are always plenty of missed ones. Usually they are edible from 1 to 1.5 feet long.

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 did you use ground cover fabric aka weed barrier in all of your garden's last year or were there some that you didn't cover?

i'm curious if you experenced any differences between them if you had some that weren't covered as i'm thinking the extra heat coming off those covers might be a source of stress on the plants. or did you mulch on top?

 

[Boilergardener]

@Bluejay77 did you use ground cover fabric aka weed barrier in all of your garden's last year or were there some that you didn't cover?

i'm curious if you experenced any differences between them if you had some that weren't covered as i'm thinking the extra heat coming off those covers might be a source of stress on the plants. or did you mulch on top?

Im thinking the other way. the black plastic would allow the soil to retain moisture, warm up quicker in the spring, and prevent soil splash up from causing brown spot on the lower leaves?

 

[Zeedman]

@Bluejay77 did you use ground cover fabric aka weed barrier in all of your garden's last year or were there some that you didn't cover?

i'm curious if you experenced any differences between them if you had some that weren't covered as i'm thinking the extra heat coming off those covers might be a source of stress on the plants. or did you mulch on top?

And I'm curious if there were problems with rodents nesting under the covers, and of any efforts that might have been taken to discourage that. Whenever I've tried using a large impenetrable ground cover, voles have adopted it as a safe place to nest - and foraged out from there to damage all the plants nearby. With the exception of tepary beans (which trail across the ground) I'm mainly interested in using ground covers under vining cucurbits though (especially gherkins), since those are so hard to weed around once the vines begin to spread.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 did you use ground cover fabric aka weed barrier in all of your garden's last year or were there some that you didn't cover?

I have been using black colored poly woven weed barrier fabric in all my plots last year. On sunny hot days the fabric got so hot I couldn't keep my hand on it. It didn't seem to affect any of the bean plants. I didn't see any wilting or any thing that might have looked like burnt leaves around the edges. I buy it in 36 inch wide and 48 inch wide rolls about 300 to 400 feet long. I like the poly fabric because when you take it up in the fall. Soil doesn't stick to it a lot.

Two years ago I got a hold of a dull black weed fabric that looked almost like felt when you laid it down. When I took it up in the fall I found soil stuck to it like crazy. I knocked off as much of the soil as I could but in a 2,200 sq. ft. plot I probably threw away at least 100 pounds of top soil. All that went into the garbage. I will never buy that kind of weed fabric again. It's got to be the slippery poly vinyl. When I take up the poly vinyl when the bean plot is spent. I can take a broom and easily sweep off dead leaves and a little soil accumulation on it exposed surface.

 

[Blue-Jay]

And I'm curious if there were problems with rodents nesting under the covers, and of any efforts that might have been taken to discourage that.

Two years ago in my bush bean plot I found mice had tunneled under the poly fabric in a couple of places and nested. They ate a small amount of seed but it didn't seem to put much of a dent in my total seed production. In my large raised beds mice didn't seem to tunnel under the fabric at all but would nibble on some dry seed and leave for where ever they were living. Voles are not big around here but they do exist. I had them in my backyard three years ago and they completely killed a half row of beans. Since then I have not noticed them around at all.

 

[flowerbug]

I have been using black colored poly woven weed barrier fabric in all my plots last year. On sunny hot days the fabric got so hot I couldn't keep my hand on it. It didn't seem to affect any of the bean plants. I didn't see any wilting or any thing that might have looked like burnt leaves around the edges. I buy it in 36 inch wide and 48 inch wide rolls about 300 to 400 feet long. I like the poly fabric because when you take it up in the fall. Soil doesn't stick to it a lot.

it just seems like it would be an extra stress on the plants when it is that hot around them.

i'm not really concerned about things splashing on them or other issues since it would really be impossible for me to completely avoid fungal or leaf spot issues here. we're always getting heavy dewfalls and fogs pretty much the last half of summer anyways. i have to keep pods picked as well as i can for dry beans and seed production.

Two years ago I got a hold of a dull black weed fabric that looked almost like felt when you laid it down. When I took it up in the fall I found soil stuck to it like crazy. I knocked off as much of the soil as I could but in a 2,200 sq. ft. plot I probably threw away at least 100 pounds of top soil. All that went into the garbage. I will never buy that kind of weed fabric again. It's got to be the slippery poly vinyl. When I take up the poly vinyl when the bean plot is spent. I can take a broom and easily sweep off dead leaves and a little soil accumulation on it exposed surface.

we've used all sorts of different weed barrier fabrics here and once in a while when digging in a garden i'll come across chunks of this or that which were buried (i don't know why or where in most cases so i just have to find it and deal with it when it happens). the fiber stuff that looks like gray hairs is by far the worst in terms of getting it back out. i can find it for years later (and still am) in some gardens as i'm raking and have it sticking on the tines of the four prong rake. the black stuff that is much thinner and more like fabric with holes through it for water is much easier to get out, but after many years it starts ripping and falling apart and so i may have to play find all the pieces to make sure i've got it all. many times it was put down in pieces so i may not really be able to go by that either.

 

[Zeedman]

I have been using black colored poly woven weed barrier fabric in all my plots last year. On sunny hot days the fabric got so hot I couldn't keep my hand on it. It didn't seem to affect any of the bean plants. I didn't see any wilting or any thing that might have looked like burnt leaves around the edges. I buy it in 36 inch wide and 48 inch wide rolls about 300 to 400 feet long. I like the poly fabric because when you take it up in the fall. Soil doesn't stick to it a lot.

Two years ago I got a hold of a dull black weed fabric that looked almost like felt when you laid it down. When I took it up in the fall I found soil stuck to it like crazy. I knocked off as much of the soil as I could but in a 2,200 sq. ft. plot I probably threw away at least 100 pounds of top soil. All that went into the garbage. I will never buy that kind of weed fabric again. It's got to be the slippery poly vinyl. When I take up the poly vinyl when the bean plot is spent. I can take a broom and easily sweep off dead leaves and a little soil accumulation on it exposed surface.

I have the same opinion of the fabric-type weed barrier. It is effective; but can't realistically be cleaned for re-use, so best used where it will be left in place (such as in a perennial bed). The only place I use it now is for small slotted collars (about 16" wide) which I slip around the stems of caged pepper plants, to suppress weed growth close to the plants.

I can't remember if I've already asked this @Bluejay77 ... but what was the source for your woven poly weed barrier? Is it economical, or am I better off not asking?

 

[Jack Holloway]

A friend says that in the South (don't ask me where, he lived all over the Eastern Seaboard, from New York to no further south than Georgia) and he told me that farmers used to use tar paper between rows. Take that with a grain of salt, as he also says "Just because I lived a boring life doesn't mean you have to hear about it."
On a separate note, I'm up to page 181 in 2021's thread.

 

[capsicumguy]

Not using much plastic myself, I hear the black stuff doesn't have a huge effect on soil temperature. I can only presume that it's because the plastic has low thermal conductivity and it's shading the soil underneath it -- so while it gets hot, it might not transfer much of its heat downwards 🤷‍♂️ I've also heard that, if you want to kill your weeds with heat, clear poly is the way to go -- it's like a greenhouse and the dark soil absorbs all the sun's energy.

By the way, about that borlotti bean I mentioned a couple pages back... I got the story from my friend, and it indeed does end abruptly. She got it from a friend in Vancouver, who got it from an grumpy old Italian guy who didn't tell the friend the full name. So I shall henceforth christen it 'Il Vecchio Scontroso' 🤣