Beans and Peas for Zone 9/10

16 years ago

I'm so glad I found this forum. You folks sure sound like you know what you are talking about.

It's almost time to put out vegetables in the high desert

Right now I am doing a lot of pot walking, moving my starts back and forth from the sunporch to the patio and watching the outdoor thermometer. The nighttime temperatures are inching up to the 40's, daytime temperatures into the 60's.

I've experimented with growing in the different microclimates in my yard, and found that even sunloving plants do much better if they are under a mequite tree that gives them light dappled afternoon shade as the temperatures started to climb above 90 (although they always drop 30-40 degrees at night until mid-July.)

Right now, I'm thinking that's the best place to put my (hopefully) rabbit/squirrel/racoon/vole proof raised bed and container veggies this year.

The only bean variety I have is the purple teepee bush bean from Park Seeds.

Do any of you know of any varieties of peas/beans that me be particularly well adapted to a dry climate at 2500' altitude? (although of course, I will be mulching and watering)

Thanks for any suggetions you might have.

Jan

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

jll0306
Original Author
16 years ago
Problem solved, I think. A friend just gifted me with packs of Fava and Anazazi beans from Plants of the Southwest in Santa Fe, NM.

Woot!

Jan
greentongue
16 years ago
Website seed sources to check out:

Seeds of Change in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Native Seeds / SEARCH in Tuscon, AZ.

Redwood City Seeds in Redwood City, CA. (especially peppers but some other ethnobotanic plants)

Also try googling for the plants of interest to you.

Be sure to post your discoveries and results... we all learn SO MUCH from each other's experiences.

greentongue... Jan in Arkansas
Related Professionals
Harrison Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · South Elgin Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Salem Landscape Contractors · Brownsville Landscape Contractors · Cockeysville Landscape Contractors · Del Aire Landscape Contractors · Lynwood Landscape Contractors · Mashpee Landscape Contractors · Pahrump Landscape Contractors · Rockland Landscape Contractors · West Orange Landscape Contractors · West Palm Beach Landscape Contractors · Jupiter Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Leander Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Portage Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures
jwr6404
16 years ago
Jan
Read the "Insuks Wang Kong(runner bean)thread on this forum.If this bean interests you I will gladly send you some seed. I have sent some to a lady in Arizona,near the New Mexico border. She had good success with them.
JIM
grandmotherbear
16 years ago
I am going to be trying Jack Beans- Ensiformis Canavalia- myself this year. No mye order hasn't gotten here yet.It was mentioned as summer producer inan article on year round gardening in Florida gardener
mag. Summer is our fallow period-nothin but peanuts malabar spinach and sweet potatoes survive the heat- but we'll see...Ordered my seeds from a retailer which is blocked from this site. Also hyacyth beans were mentioned as summer producers. You might try malabar Spinach as a cooking green also.Google search Canavalia Ensiformis, not Jack bean, if you want to find the supplier.
albionwood
16 years ago
This is funny - I'm in USDA Zone 9/10 as well, yet in a COMPLETELY different climate! Here on the Mendocino Coast our problem is _lack_ of heat in summer... it's typically in the mid-60s daytime, mid-50s night, all through summer. So most green beans are iffy - Blue Lake did poorly, Kentucky Wonder not much better, and the yard-long beans are a fantasy. Royal Burgundy and Dragon's Tongue on the other had, performed superbly! And both are, in my opinion, much better flavored than green beans - they are even sweet and tasty uncooked, right off the bush. I just wish they were pole beans so I didn't have to bend over to pick them, although bush types probably do better here anyway (keeps them out of the wind).
jwr6404
16 years ago
albi
As I told Jan in an earlier Post on this thread scroll down this Forum and read the thread titled Insuks Wang Kong(runner bean) if interested PM me and I'll send you some seed. These will fill your desires for a pole Bean.
Jim