|
IDEAS OLD AND NEW; CHANGES
"Thro bracking when Green, rotted hay, or any such Stuff on
land where pease & Buck Wheat have been, Plow it in the month
of Sep. Harrow it in the Spring & Plant Potatoes with Y Plow
without any more dunging. When Potatoes are dug up in the fall
Clover seeds may be sowed. Oates, wheat, clover or Turnips may be
sowed in the spring on land where Potatoes were the year before.
Buck Wheat may be sowed the 20th of June on Land twice plowed
where Pease have been the year before. Potatoes may be planted on
Stuble Ground with Dung. New Ground twice plowed I think best for
Pease. Oates may be sowed in old Turnip Ground."
If perchance we become too arrogant about new gardening ideas and
think the old ways outmoded it does one good to read old diaries
and journals. The above was written in 1775 by John Askin, a fur
trader of the north with a farm about 3 miles from Fort
Michilimackinac. Change the words and spelling to modern usage
and it could come from the latest organic gardening book. I come
across these new-old ideas often enough to realize that for all
the hype and hooplah for the latest, we are simply constantly
reinventing the wheel. The ideas are out there for anyone to use
in whatever age they are living, given some restraints due to the
current technology of their society (though not as much as we
assume I think).
This doesn't mean there aren't different ways of doing something
or that there isn't a practice better suited to ones own garden.
Or an idea that has been lost for a time and now has need to be
revived, or reinvented. Every time a seed is planted the
situation is different than every other time. Which is what keeps
gardening alive and exciting. We have the vast array of past,
present and future to look to for ideas and inspiration. So let
your mind fly! The season of garden dreams is coming.
We don't have to peruse all available ideas before planning our
gardens of course. That could get quite overwhelming. When I
started gardening I started with just two books for reference and
guidance. If they didn't have what I needed I guessed. It wasn't
a bad way to start and I developed my own techniques from there.
But there comes a time when we are comfortable enough with the
general practices and start searching for different methods. The
Grass is Greener syndrome I suppose in many cases, or boredom, or
a solution to a particular problem, or just looking for new
adventues. And if ever you are hesitant to try a change in your
garden, remember, our fellow gardeners throughout the centuries
trialed and experimented and tested in their gardens just as we
are doing today. And they were successful to the extent that the
human race, and seeds and gardens, are still surviving today!
Now we have the long winter ahead of us to plan all those great
experiments, new crops, new methods, new varieties. Maybe some
controlled or intentional crosses. Maybe a rare strain to keep
very pure. And very good, concise records of all we do; we won't
let those notes slip by us again, promise. And when Spring
planting does come there will no doubt be a lot of "forget
the grand plan just get them in the ground" poking seeds in
the soil. But some good trials will survive and the gardens will
be the better for it. And maybe it will help us all keep our
gardens, seeds and larders intact in spite of the changing and
variable weather and society.
I certainly don't advocate changing just for the sake of change
or because someone said so. But there are lots of reasons to try
something different whether it is with one seed, your whole
garden or anything in between. I have found that in a healthy
alive garden world it doesn't pay to get too set in your ways or
too closed minded. Not only does it take the fun out of
gardening, Nature doesn't play that way. And in the long run it's
beter to be on Nature's side in any game she's playing. The
satisfaction ratio is a lot higher.
Some changes are easier to make than others, physically or
mentally. More than fifteen years ago I made my first permanent
raised beds and thought I'd never go back to no bed gardening. So
much for what I know. I've talked and advocated raised beds for
years; I still think they are a very good way to garden and
recommend giving them a try if you haven't. But in my "end
of the year" review of my garden I faced some dilemmas.
We are looking to spend more time away from the homestead next
summer, and I barely kept up with the garden this year. The
garden has a major weed problem (White Cockle or Evening Lychnis)
due to weedy hay spread a few years ago. I still need and want to
grow most all the food we eat. And I want to expand my seed
saving. So, some grave rethinking and a decision, not arrived at
without a twinge or two. Next spring we will rototill the entire
garden, save for perennials and fall planted crops of course. No
more neatly laid out beds, no exacting garden plan. I'll still
plant in wide rows but some paths will be narrow (and well
mulched); others wider and kept weed free with the tiller. I'll
weed as I can and plan to till it all in again in the fall. [See
Issue #12 - Notes from 1996 for what actually happened that next
summer].
A radical thought for me but I'm getting into the idea of a
looser layout. I'll have fun with it. And I know I can always go
back to my permanent raised beds if the situation warrants, or I
want to. And rototilling, after the first loosen the paths and
mix it all up, is optional, if I manage to mulch enough and keep
ahead of the weeds.
From my ever changing garden to yours - I wish you a full larder
and full dreams, and a great store of home grown seed.
MUTANTS AND SPORTS IN BEANS
Getting my dry beans threshed and cleaned seems sometimes
overwhelming, especially in a good year. But this year the work
was more than worth it, not only for the beans to eat and for
seed, but for the surprises. I had more sports and shifts and
mutants and variations than I've ever had. I think due in large
part to the weather and to the number of landraces and rather
unstable varieties I had planted, as well as some true genetic
shifts or sports.
Crosses generally aren't comon in regular beans. In an interview
printed in the "Seed Savers Exchange - The First Ten
Years" John Withee (who brought his collection of 185
samples of beans to the Seed Savers Exchange) talks of crosses or
sports and what he learned from Prof. Meador. He says that
crosses can occur but that it is more often a genetic shift than
a real cross. When the sport is planted the results are variable.
If you keep planting and can keep the different set of
characteristics stable through three generations then you can
call it a new variety and name it. But it also may revert back
later grown somewhere else or with different weather. Whatever
the reasons, it adds a bit of fun and adventure to bean growing.
Last year Larisa wrote about several sports they discovered and
grew. "For 2 yrs previously I'd noticed a single
"mutant" plant appearing in our Roark pole beans
(normally pinto looking). The plants had round, striped pods with
shiny black seeds. This last season [1994] 1 planted a 30'
trellis with the mutants I'd saved from those two plants. What a
surprise when it came time for harvest. There were black pole
beans, but some had striped pods and some were plain. And there
was a whole rainbow of other colors - gray w/pink rose eye, tiny
brown, brown mottled, tan & black speckled, etc. I picked out
four of the variations that had pod types I prefer & that
seemed the most abundant in the patch to plant out separately in
'95. We also had some surprises in the Arikara Yellow bush beans.
Three new colors popped up." [a somewhat smaller goldbrown,
a somewhat smaller mottled dark brown, and a mottled light
goldbrown]. I haven't heard yet what happened in Larisa and Bob's
bean patch this year but it probably wasn't boring.
Last year I found six dark brown beans in my yellowish tan Azores
beans, which I planted this year. Each plant produced a different
crop of beans, all similar size and shape of various shades of
brown, gold and beige with one brown eyed white. Another shift I
found this year was more dramatic. Several years ago one of the
main participators of the Seed Savers Exchange introduced a
number of beans collected by the Teaching Drum School in
Wisconsin from various Native American Sources. Most of the beans
are unstable landraces and I have found a lot of variety in the
ones that I've grown. But in the Teaching Drum#24 this year I had
four plants that appear to be sports. The regular crop are either
shiny black med-small or black/tan mottled med beans. The mutants
were: all white med-small, black/tan mottled med-large, half
white half black w/dk gold splash, and third white twothirds
goldbrown/tan mottled.
Maybe the most surprising were changes in two old standbys
Swedish Brown and Soldier white kidney. I've been saving these
beans for probably 10 yrs. The Swedish Brown are always a
consistent crop of small roundish gold (particularly good
flavored) bean. This year maybe a third of the beans were larger,
oblong and a beautiful maroon gold marbled color. And the Soldier
beans had the largest, darkest red "soldier eyes" I've
ever had with a good portion of them very large and a mottled red
with extra spots across the white bean. A few had a brownish and
gold mottled soldier eye. Since these changes were widespread
through the crop I assume they are weather related instead of
sports or crosses. It will be interesting to see next year what
happens with these and all the other variations that occurred
this year, in my garden and in yours.
An additional bean note: growing beans in short season areas
means often having a, sometimes large, number of not mature or
dried down pods and beans when harvest time rolls around. This
year as I picked mature pods I also harvested all those that were
at least past the green stage into a separate basket, before hard
freeze. These sat in the greenhouse or by the fire for some weeks
to dry. When they were threshed out I found a large harvest of
edible dry beans. Some were paler than their mature siblings but
that won't matter in the bean pot. And many were more mature than
I thought they would be. Certainly a pleasant end of season
surprise.
POTATO BLIGHT
In September a National Public News broadcast reported
on a new strain of late blight in potatoes making the rounds
which last year affected 1/3 of the potato crop in Maine [and
throughout the midwest]. The chemicals normally used against
blight on commercial potatoes were not effective against it. This
year it showed up across the country, though weather and other
chemicals kept it in check. They noted that the industry and
University breeding programs have been breed mainly for uniform
looks and for commercial processing, based on chemical
agriculture, for a long time. There is a need now to breed for
natural disease resistance, and they are looking at Mexico's wild
potatoes for that natural resistance.
But, as a potato breeder from Wisconsin noted, that doesn't
happen overnight. And the resulting varieties will not look like
the currentl accepted ones. Since the entire industry is based on
such uniformity changes will be hard to introduce. But commercial
producers and growers may not have much of a choice in the
future. A further danger reported is that this new strain could
cross with the local strains to produce a blight which may
survive the winters [in cull piles or volunteer potatoes in the
field] to hit the potatoes when they grow in the spring.
This is not just a commercial problem, the ramifications for our
own garden grown potatoes is just as sobering, especially the
wintering over blight problem. It would be hard to select and
save for blight resistance if the plant doesn't have a chance to
produce tubers at all. Another good reason to grow a number of
non-commonly produced potato varieties in your garden. And to
continue to select for adaptability and health at your site. A
potato with a strong genetic base will be better able to overcome
whatever disease occurs than a narrowly selected one. And the
larger the variety the better chance of having one that will
survive should the worst happen. It has been only 150 yrs since
the Irish potato disaster.
The best source I know for a great diversity of potato varieties,
and healthy seed, is Ronniger's Seed Potatoes, Star Route, Moyie
Springs, Idaho 83845, send $2 for a catalogue.
The 1937 Yearbook of Agriculture carries an article
"Breeding and Genetics in Potato Improvement". At that
time there was much emphasis on breeding varities with disease
resistance. Not just blight but viral diseases and scab also.
Some quotes from that 1937 article (which could very well have
been written today): "Late blight ... adds more to the cost
of producing the potato crop than perhaps any of the other
diseases.... Millions of dollars are spent each year in providing
ways and means of protecting the potato crop from the attack of
diseases, but comparatively little attention has been paid to
obtaining varieties resistant to the attacks. The colossal
efforts in the way of plant protection have done their part in
providing the consumer with potatoes fit for human consumption,
but in spite of these efforts millions of bushels of potatoes are
lost each year. Results already obtained indicate that by using
genetic principles as a working tool it should be possible to
solve many if not all of these problems by producing new
varieties in which resistance to various diseases is combined
with other characters of economic importance, such as shallowness
of eye, desirable shape, good cooking quality and high
yield.".
1798 WHITE OAK FUR POST and A QUESTION OF BEANS
It was a hot, sunny day as we stood just inside the stockade wall
of the White Oak Fur Post discussing the crops. The beans still
had plenty of pods to offer even though Broken Toe had been
harvesting them steadily for the soup. The cast iron pot was
large, the fire hot, and the mouths to feed many. As I considered
the great number of people rendezvousing at the Post I wondered
if there would be any beans left to mature for seed for next
year. The corn would soon be ready. The new potatoes were already
feeding the folks and the squash were well on their way to a good
harvest in the fall.
Mr. Cotton, one of the bourgeois of the Post, was telling me of
the garden and the work that had gone into making it a success
this year. The previous year they had lost much of their crop,
and consequently seed, due to the heavy rains. This year they had
hauled in dirt to raise the area. (the success of which was seen
(heard) in the satisfied, happy slurping rather loudly commencing
around Broken Toe's kettle a few evenings ago as the crowd
eagerly partook of her new potatoes and peas). Mr. Cotton
consulted a piece of birch bark in his hand as he satisfied my
inquiry as to the names of the varieties growing in the garden:
Mandan corn and a northern white flint corn, Arikara Squash,
Jacobs Cattle bean and one of another name (1, unfortunately, did
not take his cue and write down the names which he read me).
Chickweed and lambs quarters, along with other "wild"
crops, were interspersed. There were a few blank spots as the
lettuce didn't come up, and the cabbage had been mowed down
earlier by an over enthusiastic volunteer with a too efficient
lawn mower.
They had lawn mowers in 1798? Oh, yes, I forgot, it was actually
1995. And I was glad I was a simple, working-class woman
traveling and working with her itinerant woodworker husband.
Dress of worn cotton skirt and shirt, and bare or moccasins d
feet, seemed a lot more suited to this unusually hot weather than
my companion's bourgeois outfit with frills and frippery,
waistcoast and whatknots, fancy shoes and long stocking. The heat
and clothing did not diminish his kindness, however, in sharing
his garden with me (the kindness and friendliness extended, I
might add, to all the staff and workers at the Post). Finding the
familiar Jacobs Cattle in the garden made me feel quite at home.
While we were discussing the garden a woman approached and said
that to be historically correct they should have pole beans
instead of bush beans in the garden. I wonder at that though. The
Jacobs Cattle bean has been around for a long time and I haven't
seen any reference to it previously being a pole bean. And a
perusal of the bush dry bean section of the Seed Savers Exchange
Yearbook indicates many bush beans have long histories. In my own
garden I have found few pole beans that will even begin to mature
in my short season (which is probably similar to that at White
Oak, near Deer River, Minn.). As with corn (and tomatoes)
successful beans seem to be shorter as the growing season
shortens.
It could be that the short season pole beans have been lost, as
has much of the short season corn, or I haven't found them yet.
The writings available from the Old Northwest territory time
period are frustratingly short on good descriptions of gardens
and crops of that time. And a pole bean may have changed to a
bush type over time through selection or sport. There are many
varieties where the distinction as to pole or bush is not very
distinct with various runner lengths. Or as likely, then as now,
some folks grew pole varieties, some of more bush habit.
And it would depend on how you wanted to grow them also. A bean
planted to grow up a northern short season corn needs to match
the shorter sized stalks. Up a pole it could be taller and more
aggressive, by itself a shorter plant would be preferred. A
mismatched corn/bean combination isn't good. I planted a
cornfield bean sample near (thankfully only) four corn plants
this year. It wasn't a fair fight. By late summer the bean vines
had their own corn stalks wrestled quite to the ground and were
reaching out to others nearby. The corn did produce ears (the
beans on the other hand didn't mature) but I don't think it was
the way they would have chosen to grow. I have planted squash
among my corn in the past with similar though more far reaching
and jungle thick results. I now keep the three separate.
Any insight or comments or opinions on the bean question? Beans
were in the northern midwest at least as far back as the mid
1600's and probably before. But what were they like? Color, plant
size, taste, shape, days to maturity? What aspects of our beans
today did they find in their's of yesterday? Or will be found in
the beans of tomorrow?
Savers of a particular seed are connected to past and future seed
savers in a very practical way, those of the future cannot be
without those of the past. Standing on the (recreated) site of
the gardens of the White Oak Fur Trade Post of 1798, and living
that era, brought that connection to a new reality. Were the
Jacobs Cattle beans planted there, and the Jacob s Cattle beans
planted in my garden 500 miles to the east, related by blood to a
bean planted, and saved, 200 years ago?
It was nice to see the garden included in the recreated Fur post.
If there is an historic site near you where a garden would be
appropriate consider encouraging the planting by helping out.
There may not be anyone involved who is familiar with heirloom
crops and seed sources, or they may need some additional hands.
And there is no charge for the fun and satisfaction.
(For more information on the White Oak Society and Fur Post
events contact them at PO Box 306, Deer River, Minn. 56636).
SOD TO GARDEN -- WEEDS
Getting the weeds and grass to give over so you can use
a spot of ground to grow crops, and keeping them out, is a
never-ending quest for the gardener. It is especially difficult
on new ground. If you have access to a rototiller you can till
the ground well, preferably the year before you want to plant.
Plant and till in as many cover crops as you can, such as peas,
buckwheat, oats or whatever is readily available, and
inexpensive, in your area. Two years of green manure would be
even better. This has worked well for me in the past.
But rototilling isn't always practical if you don't have a
machine, or have a small or odd shape piece of ground, or maybe
just prefer not to use a machine. Dana sent us some ideas:
"We have a new place here which was farmed 20-30 yrs ago but
has gone back to natural vegetation. The area we're gardening is
thick sod and goldenrod mostly. Opening it up has not been easy.
We got ahold of some used carpeting, a few large pieces 10' x 10'
or larger. Leaving this down for a few months or season kills
everything underneath, then it is easy to dig up and plant. I
suppose sheets of plastic weighted down with rocks would also
work.
"Also, I have opened new ground by burning brush piles, then
gardening in the bare areas they create. Burning smaller ones
which join each other over a season can create a larger area, and
it is especially fertile there. I have also used hay, a thick mat
to cover an unbroken area, then garden under it after a year or
so."
I've also used a hay mulch and thick it does have to be to
smother a decent sod. The areas under my apple trees took years
of mulching to stifle the grass, but this area was particularly
thick and healthy from the manuring of the trees. I also used a
collection of wornout jeans and cardboard boxes and large kraft
bags, covered with hay, to help the cause. These worked fine,
except for a few problems that came to light some years later...
One of the fruit trees died and the area was incorporated into my
ever expanding garden. I discovered an interesting thing. Some of
the jeans were not 100% cotton. The weft had rotted but not the
warp and I had quite a time for several years pulling out bunches
of long strands of thread. Also, zippers and metal rivets don't
rot. And if you use cardboard make sure you rip off all plastic
tape and labels. Many years later I'm still pulling out pieces of
plastic tape in that area. And look your bags over carefully
(such as wheat or sunflower seeds come in). Some of them have a
thin plastic liner bag between the layers of kraft paper. This
doesn't rot either.
So if you're looking to expand your garden over new ground next
spring you can start looking for old carpet pieces, 100% natural
material discards, cardboard boxes and kraft bags and anything
else you can think of that could be used to smother weeds, but
will not harm the garden. And now is a good time to buy some bulk
crops from the farmers for cover crop or green manure. Or spoiled
hay for mulch (weed seed free please). The more you can get ready
now and this winter, the easier the hectic spring will be.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
"Quality should be considered above all other things in
choosing a variety."
Michigan State University Extension Bulletin - 1940
Report of the Acting Commissioner of Agriculture 1867:
"The distribution among the people of new and valuable seeds
and plants, appears to be one of the principal objects of
congress in the annual appropriations to the Department. This has
become a most delicate and difficult duty, for what is new in one
country may not be valuable or useful in another; the most
valuable of seeds or plants may be, in some sections of our own
country, the most common varieties, yet unknown in other
sections; and those which would be of the utmost value in one
latitude might be worthless in another. Experience has fully
shown that a change of seeds and plants from one section to
another has greatly improved the yield and quality. These results
can only be attained by repeated and constant tests of the
adaptation of the several varieties to soil and climate. To
introduce or to distribute seed upon any other principle would be
useless."
Updated 3/29/97
Copyright © 1997 by Susan J. Robishaw
Web Site created by Steve Schmeck
Contact Information
|
