Spring Vegetable Garden Series - Beans Through Cabbage

Today we get into some of the good stuff - individual vegetables, and their care and cultivation. Read on for some good tips, as well as ideas for veggies that you may not have thought to grow before, but which may make a nice addition to your spring garden.

Beans:
Image via WikipediaThese days, most people choose to grow bush beans rather than pole beans, and I'm not quite sure why, unless it is just a question of convenience. In a city backyard the tall varieties might perhaps be a problem since it would be difficult to get poles. But these running beans can be trained along old fences and with little urging will run up the stalks of the tallest sunflowers. So that settles the pole problem. There can definitely be an ornamental use for pole beans. Try planting them at the extreme rear end of each vegetable row. Make arches with supple tree limbs, binding them over to form the arch. Train the beans over these. When one stands facing the garden, what a beautiful terminus these bean arches make! And the beans themselves will then be easy to pick without a lot of bending over, so pole beans may be a good choice for those with bad backs, knees, or those with low flexibility.

Beans like rich, warm, sandy soil. In order to prepare the soil be sure to dig deeply, and work it over thoroughly for bean culture. Beans don't do well in cool soil, you will will want to wait until things have warmed up a bit, and the spring chill is gone. A little lime worked in with the soil is also helpful in the cultivation of beans.

Bush beans are planted in drills about eighteen inches apart, while the pole-bean rows should be three feet apart. The drills for the bush limas should be further apart than those for the other dwarf beans -- say about three feet. This amount of space gives opportunity for cultivation with the hoe. If runner (pole) beans start to climb too high, just pinch off the growing end, and this will hold back the upward growth.

Among bush beans are the dwarf, snap or string beans, the wax beans, and the bush limas, one variety of which is known as brittle beans. Among the pole beans are the pole limas, wax and scarlet runner. The scarlet runner is great for decorative effect. The flowers are scarlet and look just beautiful against an old fence. These are also quite lovely in the flower garden. If you are in need of a vine for your garden, this is a great choice, for one gets both a vegetable, bright flowers and a screen - all from the one plant. When sowing beans, put the bean in the soil edgewise with the eye down.

Beets:
Beets like rich, sandy loam, also. Fresh manure worked into the soil is fatal for beets, as it is for several other crops as well. But suppose that the only organic fertilizer you have available is fresh manure? Some gardeners say to work this into Image via Wikipediathe soil with great care and thoroughness. But even so, there is the danger of some of the tender beet roots being exposed to it. Here is a possible solution:  Dig a trench about a foot deep, spread a thin layer of manure in the bottom, fill in the trench with soil, and plant above this. By the time the main root strikes down to the manure layer, there will be little harm done, as the root will be large and tough enough by then, to survive just fine. Beets should not be transplanted, so you will need to direct-sow them. If the rows are one foot apart there is ample space for cultivation. Whenever the weather is really settled, and you aren't in danger of a hard-freeze, then these seeds may be planted. (Beets also make a great fall crop, if planted in late summer.) Young beet tops make fine greens, and the beet roots themselves are delicious and healthy whether steamed, sauteed, pickled, or boiled and sliced on salads. 

There are other big coarse members of the beet and cabbage families called the mangel wurzel and ruta baga. Sometimes these are raised to feed to cattle. They are a great addition to a cow's dinner, but can be to yours as well! Rutabagas are especially good in soups and stews, and taste like something similar to a turnip, but milder.

Cabbage & Its Relatives:
The cabbage family is a large one. There is the cabbage proper, then cauliflower, broccoli or a more hardy cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi, a cabbage-turnip combination. 

Cauliflower is a kind of refined, high-toned cabbage relative. It needs a little richer soil than cabbage and cannot stand the frost. A frequent watering with manure water gives it the extra richness and water it really needs. The outer leaves must be bent over, as in the case of the young cabbage, in order to get a white head. The dwarf varieties are often the best to plant, as they grow and develop quickly, and hopefully before the cabbage worms get wind of them!

Kale is not quite so particular a cousin. It can stand frost, and actually cool weather makes it sweeter and more tender. Rich soil is necessary, and early spring planting, because it does take some time to mature. In many climates, it may also be planted in September for a tasty spring harvest.

Image via WikipediaBrussels sprouts are a very popular member of this family. Because they are small and easy to eat, many people who do not like to serve poor, common old cabbage will serve these. Brussels sprouts are interesting in their growth. The plant stalk runs skyward. At the top, umbrella like, is a close head of leaves, but this is not what we eat. Shaded by the umbrella and packed all along the stalk are delicious little cabbages or sprouts. They are very interesting to look at, and the kids may like to help grow these! Like the rest of the family, rich soil is needed and plenty of water during the growing period. In most areas, the seed should be planted in May, and the little plants transplanted into rich soil in late July. The rows should be eighteen inches apart, and the plants one foot apart in the rows.

Kohlrabi is a go-between in the families of cabbage and turnip. It is sometimes called the turnip-root cabbage. Just above the ground, the stem of this plant swells into a turnip-like vegetable. In the true turnip the swelling is Image via Wikipediaunderground, but like the cabbage, kohlrabi forms its edible part above ground. It is easy to grow. You will want to eat them fairly young, as once they get too big they can get woody and lose their tenderness. Sow out as early as possible; or sow inside in March and transplant out to the garden after danger of frost is past. Plant in drills about two feet apart. Set the plants about one foot apart, or thin out to this distance. To plant one hundred feet of drill buy about half an ounce of seed - it goes a long way. Kohlrabi is served and prepared like turnip, and is a very satisfactory early crop.

Before leaving the cabbage family I should like to say that the cabbage called Savoy (sometimes also called Chinese Cabbage) is an excellent variety to try. It should always have an early planting under cover, say in February, and then be transplanted into open beds in March or April. If the land is poor where you are to grow cabbage, then by all means choose Savoy, as it does better than many of the others in less rich soil. It is also very versatile, tender, and quick cooking, so it is great for stir fry and other Asian dishes. It has a milder flavor than regular cabbage, and softer, thinner leaves.

That's it for today.  Check back in a couple of days for our wrap-up, with some more tasty veggies and cultivation tips for your spring vegetable garden!

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