A Wanigan Associate HAS JOINED us here!

[897tgigvib]

Yep, what Ridge sais Russ. Between the words My Page, and Recent Posts. Click that, and the page it takes you to is where you can do what they call edit for some things. Fill out each of those as you like. On the left of that page are other sections you can edit. Some will wait until you have 10 posts.

TheEasyGarden forum has a thing that protects us from spammers, and they are real good at getting rid of the spammers. A few once in awhile make their way through, but we report them using the report button on the posts.

What one of our defenses against spammers is for the first ten posts there are things that are limited until your tenth post. It gives you a chance to get used to how the basic things work here anyway. Until you've done 10 posts, you can't put up a photo, but when you're able and ready to, just ask one of us how and we'll tell you.

You don't have to know any real coding here, but there are a few things about that that DIGIT knows. He knows the harder and trickier things, and is kind of more advanced than almost all of us. Oh, things like even more smileys and moving pictures, that he tried to tell me how to do.

For the main things most of us can help with doing. Every one of us was new here at one time or another. A few were new when the forum was made. So all of us learned the forum's features from each other. Your turn!

Those links that are in the green strip at the top. Go ahead and explore them.

It seems that a lot of new people sign up and then forget their login and password. That happened to me on a recipe blog site dog gone it!

Don't be shy about replying on other threads. You find other threads one of several ways. My favorite is Recent Posts on the green bar. You can also find lots of not quite so recent ones on Index on the green bar, then clicking the topic headings. To find older ones scroll down and click for more pages. To look at topics or posts of some interesting folks, click their name and go down to click their posts or topics.

That's some of the more basic ways to use the forum here. Just want you to feel comfortable here!

I really like the idea of more seed sharing, and making a sort of renewed Wanigan Association! Maybe it can be for some other plants too.

 

[hoodat]

Bluejay, epazote is a standard herb used in Mexico for any bean recipe. If you pick a fresh leaf you would never think of cooking with it. It smells like kerosene and tastes like turpentine if you bite into a fresh leaf but those are volatile oils that disappear as soon as it is heated. It brings out the flavor of beans and provides the necessary enzymes for digesting them. You won't actually be able to taste the epazote after cooking. It should be used fresh. Dried leaves are seldom, if ever, used by Mexican cooks,
If you PM me your address I can send you some seed. It is very fine and germinates best when sprinkled on the soil and lightly raked in. One warning, however. Once you plant it you will never be rid of it as a weed. The plant is 3 or 4 feet high with a wide spread and reseeds itself freely.

 

[baymule]

Hoodat, will livestock (horses, chickens, sheep, cattle) eat epazote?

 

[so lucky]

'Nother question, Hoodat: Do you think it would survive in zone 6?

 

[897tgigvib]

I'm a fan of Wikipedia Epazote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphania_ambrosioides

Course then, my parents bought me a world book Encyclopedia set when I was 8. I always liked Encyclopedias. Yes, I understand Wiki is user made, but they are pretty good at qualifying the articles.

It is related to Quinoa!

 

[so lucky]

Regarding the weed-like habit of epazote: I find it so amazing that so many of the "noxious" weeds are in fact very beneficial, either as food or feed or medicine or fuel. Now if they would just find a use for pigweed and kudzu....

 

[hoodat]

Hoodat, will livestock (horses, chickens, sheep, cattle) eat epazote?

I don't know of any animal that will eat epazote. The volatile oils are there as a repellant to keep from being eaten but as I said, they disappear when the epazote is heated in the beans.
BTW it's also a good indicator of soil deficiencies in the micronutrients. If the leaves have purple spots you are lacking in micronutrients, usually manganese or magnesium.
It will grow as an annual in zone 6 and will survive a light frost but not a hard freeze. The seed needs warm temps to sprout so you may have to start it inside.

 

[MontyJ]

Considering my goal to go strictly heirloom this year, I would certainly be interested in trying a variety or two. I have a question though: would they cross pollinate?

 

[897tgigvib]

Monty, regular Phaseolus vulgaris Beans very very very rarely cross pollinate. So rarely that on the occasion you discover a plant making different beans than what you planted, it is a welcome thing. I think, maybe could be might be I have between 1 and 4 crosses.

You can hope for a few crosses out of a lot of beans out of the course of several years if you always get lots of active and happy Bumblebees.

I'd say, in most cases, don't worry about crosses. If one happens, embrace it.

I know Russ Crow can speak much more about this, and I defer to any and everything he says about it. It looks like he had something like 115 crosses of beans that they call "outcrosses", a name that makes sense. They got pollen from outside the flower.

Bean flowers are self pollinators, and they do not suffer inbreeding depression.

But you know, I notice some of the oldest varieties have a "viney" growth habit, such as my rio zape and anasazi. I actually kind of wonder if after 4 or 5 hundred years of inbreeding self pollination, the variety becomes viney. Some masters degree botany student could research that!

I'd like to know if there is a way to encourage beans to cross! Bring in hordes of Bumblebees?

 

[MontyJ]

Thanks Marshall. That counts me in for a couple of varieties. I certainly have the room.