2026 Little Easy Bean Network – Plant A Garden, Water Your Soul, Join Our Family

[ducks4you]

please make sure to read label before using in gardens. i'm pretty sure that something like this may screw up plantings of certain kinds (like direct sowing of beans into the ground) and may also cause other issues.

If you have ever used 3 month Preen, you know that it kills any plant under 3 inches tall.
It's just a help for keeping weeds away from your roots, especially if it's a new planting and your vegetable/flower roots aren't very deep.
This just kills plants for almost a whole season.
Some of us have trouble keeping up with weeding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

After soaking? No dirt/compost? I was trying to start in small pots.

As with anything, there are different ways to start seeds. I think what Artorius is talking about is what I learned as a germination test. Soak a paper towel in water, squeeze it almost dry, and wrap some seeds in it. Keep it in a zip-lok type bag someplace warm. In a germination test you zip the bag closed and check it in a week to 10 days (depending on the seeds) and open it to see how many sprouted. That tells you if your seeds are viable. When I do this to sprout beans for planting I don't zip the bag closed and start checking after 3 or 4 days to see if one is sprouting. If it gets too dry add a bit of moisture. As soon as I see a seed sprouting I plant it. Could be in the garden, could be in a pot. This is useful if you have old seed and don't know how many will sprout. It avoids planting the seeds and waiting forever for them to come up when many don't and you waste valuable garden space.

Could you post a photo of your "wick from the bottom" method? That is a very common method to start seeds but there can be different approaches. You want the soil to be slightly damp, not wet. My "kit" for that includes a clear plastic cover to hold moisture in until they sprout but then remove it so they can grow until transplant time. Again, it needs to be in a warm place. They will not sprout if it is too cool.

 

[heirloomgal]

After soaking? No dirt/compost? I was trying to start in small pots.

I've found beans to be very sensitive to moisture, more so perhaps than any other vegetable seed. I bought a hand held pump action water sprayer last year, instead of using a small watering can for my bean starts in little pots. My germination rates across the board actually increased, and I was already very careful with the watering can. Just a quick little spray over the spot where I sunk the bean and that was all they needed. It's very easy to give bean seeds in a pot too much water, compared to in ground.

 

[heirloomgal]

My last bean parcel for the season arrived today.

I'm up to my elbows in beans for 2026... I may have even overdone it a little. However, I remain a firm believer that there is no such thing as too many beans! Network seeds get #1 priority, and I guess I'll have to sift through everything else and make the grueling decision on what must wait.

I continue to be puzzled why a parcel from Canada to Europe can arrive in a week, but a parcel from Europe to here is 2 weeks? I'm thinking our postal system really sucks compared to Europe's. And it was announced that by the end of this year door delivery will end, the entire province is moving to community boxes, 4 million addresses. Not great news. However, the era of ruthless carrier strikes will be over, which is a definite plus. Still, I'm sad to see the culture of door delivery come to an end, it's all I've ever known.

 

[Artorius]

After soaking? No dirt/compost? I was trying to start in small pots.

The seeds absorb moisture from the paper towels. Once they germinate, I transfer them to small pots. Sprouted seeds can also be planted directly into the soil. Plants come to the surface faster and there is a greater chance that they will not rot in case of unfavorable weather.

 

[Rillowen]

The seeds absorb moisture from the paper towels. Once they germinate, I transfer them to small pots. Sprouted seeds can also be planted directly into the soil. Plants come to the surface faster and there is a greater chance that they will not rot in case of unfavorable weather.

Hmm ok, I'll have to try that next time. I guess they have a pretty sturdy root, so planting after they germinate should be ok.

 

[Rillowen]

Beans are in the ground! I have scarlet emperor runners, rattlesnake pole, the oh so famous bluejay and the off shoot of the pink bush bean that has yet to be named. (I forgot the name of its maternal plant, sorry, but I have it written down!)

 

[oxbow farm]

I've been trying to find more about natural cross pollination in common bean, and what kind of bees are most likely to facilitate it and why. This paper from the 1980s is really interesting as it analyzes the nectar produced by "red kidney" and has a fairly in depth discussion of the nectar composition and why or why not that might be more or less attractive to different types of bees. Apparently there are a few free amino acids in the nectar that are essential nutrients for most insects, which might make them attractive to bees if there weren't other comparable nectar sources available at that moment. It also speculates that nectar production is not useful in domestic bean varieties but might have been important in wild beans. So perhaps human selection has made common bean LESS attractive to bees via unintentional selection.