Fertilizing, Planting Beans

I had hoped to plant my beans in the cool of the evening last night, but I had forgotten to order rhizobium inoculant. I know it's not essential, as there should be some living in the soil already, but it's strongly recommended for first-time gardens. Planting so late, I didn't want to take a chance by not using it. I called around a few places, but they asked like I'd asked for the spleen of Jimmy Hoffa, so I gave up on planting last night. This morning I was in luck--I called Joel's Greenhouse in Pine Island and they had some packets left. It's really a great greenhouse (I hadn't gone before because the quickest route there is a gravel road that my Hyundai hates), and I couldn't resist buying a few other things.

I got a cayenne pepper plant, a burpless bush cucumber, an acorn squash seedling, some curly parsley, and some dill seeds. Can never have too much parsley around here. I also picked up a pair of fine-tipped Fiskars snippers like mom has, and a pair of lightweight gloves with nitrile fingertips, which are both very difficult to find. I think the seedlings, which were very well-established, must have only run me $8 or 9 since everything's on sale. Their prices are higher than at the garden stand by The Hub, but they had far better quality and selection, so I'll probably use them exclusively next year.

Fertilizing

Since I haven't had a year to accumulate any compost or develop the soil, I decided to use synthetic fertilizers. I picked up a bag of Vigoro Tomato and Vegetable Fertilizer, which is 12-10-5 plus some micronutrients. I probably should have added this when I was planting, but I didn't have any yet. I sprinkled something approximating the recommended amount around the tomatoes, peppers, and cabbages. Since I had to sprinkle it over mulch, I have no idea how much will actually make it to the root zone, but I figure that something is better than nothing. It wasn't expensive, just $3.66/bag and I'll only need 1.5 bags. I tried not to get any on the leaves or stems, for fear of causing fertilizer burn. I also integrated a small amount into the soil before planting the beans (I tried to keep it minimal because I didn't want to discourage the rhizobium.

July 15th: Planting the Beans

These I planted across the mound, next to the peppers (which are planted along the south side of the mound). I planted two rows of four beans 12" apart and 36" from the next set of two rows. The beans were spaced at 2-3" within the rows. After placing the beans in each furrow, I sprinkled the rhizobium inoculant on top and buried the beans 1" deep. I watered well and mulched the area between the sets of double rows. The soil is nice and warm, so hopefully they will germinate quickly. If I find any gaps in a few days I'll plant more seeds.

The varieties were: Cupidon French Filet, Carson's Yellow Wax, Provider Snap Beans, and Jumbo Green Beans. I alternated rows of these to allow for within-mound variation.

I bought the smallest packets of each, and each one contained a ton of seeds, so I may sow some more in a low-demand area and see if they grow. Maybe I should clear an area next to the fence so they can grow up it.

Getting your seed shipment may be even more exciting than getting new shoes.

Our Soil

Just diggin' soil here, boss.
Yeah...it was 91 degrees that day.

The soil here is different than any I've tried gardening before. It's a collection of silt loams, the dominant one in the garden being N619A Kennebec-Lawson, channeled, complex 0-3% slope, flooded, according to the Goodhue County soil survey (thank you USDA-NRCS!). It has a lot more silt and clay in it than what you find on the Zimmerman sandy soils in Anoka county, so it's very prone to compaction. I hear that it produces great crops, but it's prone to flooding in this Zumbro River area. Bitter Creek, which runs behind the property, is known to flood, but in its highest year that the neighbor can remember it only reached the far edge of the paddock.

I think I've already observed the differences between the two soils from this map unit. There's one spot in the garden which stays wet long after the rest has drained and makes a fine, sticky mud. I think that most of the garden is the Kennebec series, but that spot is the more poorly-drained Lawson.

The parent material was silty alluvium from the many rivers and creeks in the area. The native vegetation was tallgrass prairie on most of the property, with alluvial forest along the creek. For more information about the history of this landscape, check out the MLRA (Major Land Resource Area, from the NRCS) factsheet: #105 Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills.

The soil pH should be around 6.5, which is great for growing things. It also has fairly high organic matter at 4.5-5%, which is also good for plants.

Anyway, that's the basic idea. I just wanted to record what I found for future reference.