Ok, my gardening buddy planted a couple of rows of "China Doll" lima beans that he got at the grocery store. They are growing really nicely but we don't know what to expect from them. We have a couple of questions...

*Are they as good to eat green as they are after they've dried?

*If the beans are picked green will the plants put on more peas or are they a single-harvest crop?

I'm thinking about trying one of the China Doll legumes but before I do I'd like to know a little more about the grocery store beans.

Thanks!
Ed

Ed. as near as can I can tell China Doll is a trade name, of the China Doll/ Dixie Lily company https://dixielily.com/about-us... They will be standard American limas grown in The USA. May be several varieties. I have grown store bought dry beans with no problems. I have become more variety specific in my old age, but when I just need to fill in with with an unknown variety I will use store bought dry beans. In recent years they have all been bush beans. But in my youth many of the baby limas were pole beans. Today with mechanical harvesting a necessity all bush. They also have dry giant limas under the China doll label as well multiple other beans , rice, lentils etc. Dixie Lily and China Doll products are the same just different labels.

Yes, I had saw the Dixie Lily connection. It was a curiosity of mine after seeing my buddy's "China Doll's" doing so well. If I plant any of these I will plant them with the intention of saving seed and growing in years to come...kinda customize my own "China Ed" bean for my garden.

Your information about the beans being bush beans is the question that I couldn't think of. Man, that was bugging me. Yes!...bush plants, that's what we want. So these beans will put on more beans as they're picked? I'm figuring they will...but, I dunno for sure. And, the green eating aspect...good or do they taste like I imagine eating monkey grass or something would taste?

They do have quiet a lineup of legumes. They're cheap for a pound of bean seeds but for an investment in a season of gardening I tend to lean towards what you're saying about sticking with a named variety...those aren't that much more expensive.

As a side note, I had some mustard (seeds) in the spices so I slipped 20 seeds in a wet paper towel inside a ziplock. I guess it's the kid (mad) scientist in me just wanting to tinker with something.

Well, I pulled the mustard seeds out this morning I couldn't believe that I had a 100% germination rate!!! Rather interesting. A jar of mustard seeds from the spice rack is a little more expensive than one of the seed packets of mustard seed...but you get like 500 times the amount that you get in a one of the little packets? The wildcard naturally being...who knows what cultivar of mustard the spice seeds are.

My process of germination testing is rather precise and scientific. I take one of those "half-size" paper towels and cut it in half. I then squirt it with the spray attachment at the kitchen sink. Just a quick tap of the trigger (squeezing as scientifically as much pressure on the trigger as needed ). What I aim for (no pun intended ) for with the sprayer is just lightly wetting part of the paper towel with a single burst of water. The water will quickly equalize out over the paper towel once it's placed inside a plastic bag. I use a ziplock bag...small seeds use a snack-sized ziplock, bigger seeds in a pint-size.

I lay the moist paper towel down and put an imaginary line probably 1-1/2 to 2 inches from one edge of it...this "flap" of reserved paper towel will fold over the seeds once they're in place. I then lay seeds down on the napkin above that invisible line. I try to space the seeds out so they're easy to see later when you're inspecting them. Now, with the seeds all situated above that imaginary line I fold the "flap" over the seeds, pressing it so the seeds come in good contact with both sides of the paper towel. I will then fold the remaining bit of paper towel over until it is a nice flat envelope of seeds...pressing it all together one final time and slipping it into a ziplock bag. I seal the bags sometimes and sometimes I leave them open but folded over on themselves. I then place the bag in my top-secret germination testing area.

I started this test on May 21st and they were sprouting good today, May 23rd with 100% germination. So, I'll be planting mustard seeds from my spice rack...when the time comes!

For larger seeds, such as cow peas or bean seeds I lay the seeds on the moist paper towel (usually an entire half-size towel) and *roll* the moist paper towel up with the seeds inside. You can space the pea/bean seeds in a couple of rows and roll the first row into the towel and then continue rolling and roll the second row in the towel. No biggie. I actually think all you really need to do is lightly moisten a napkin or paper towel, put it inside a ziplock and drop your seeds in...the moist environment will probably work well enough. I just like things a bit neat.

When the seeds have sprouted you can even tell the difference in the "feel" of the rolled up or folded over bag. It'll feel "thicker"...especially with the larger seeds.

I only took pictures after the test so hopefully my very detailed and scientifically, peer reviewed, write-up above will explain what I did.

Like I said...just the kid/mad scientist in me...





My top-secret germination area...

That's great, Ed!
I'm really a newbie on mustard greens but found they grew well as a winter crop for me, in a protected area. Didn't get hot and spicy until well into spring and nearing bolt; very productive (Red Giant)
So if you like greens and want to fill in the fall, or even grow them as green manure, they should be easy.

I sprouted orange lentils from the food store. Lots of sprouts, I fed to chickens at a week or two out. I can't see devoting garden space to lentils, imagine you need a lot of room.. and a hassle to harvest by hand. And how much better could homegrown dry lentils taste?

I tried sprouting whole wheat from a 2 lb package in the
international' market. No go. It's all been polished or processed, even whole, I guess.

Thanks for the feedback Sally!!!

So the mustard leaves themselves will get spicy? That is interesting!

I might go ahead and plant a few seeds just to see how big the plants will be. And that is an interesting idea about green manure.

I've germinated store bought dill seeds before. And I like your paper towel method, Ed. It worked well for me last year. Unfortunately the seedlings got damping off and died. What's impressive is the short germination time. Squash germinated in three days!

Two mustards I have grown can get pretty big leaves. Again, in fall is best I think. My spring mustard has bolted.

Hey Sally. Yes, cool weather is better for leaf vegetables. If I can find some New Zealand Spinach I'm going to try it and see how it works. I've also got some Malabar spinach coming to try out...I might just stick it somewhere outside of the garden or either at the end of one of the trellises and let it mingle with the Tromboncino squash or the cucumbers...we'll see.

I'm starting a new germination test. It's a 3'fer. Three different vegetables in one bag. And, this is really a test.

A while back I found a shipping envelope of seeds that hadn't been used. It was an order from Victory Seeds. The envelope showed a shipping date of April 28, 2011. For the last 9+ years they've been stored at room temperature in a bubble-wrap envelope that has been inside the opened cardboard envelope. This test includes Comet Radishes, Black Simpson Lettuce, and Purple Top White Glove turnips. I'm only using 10 seeds per test so it will be kind of a coarse test. They are presently secured within the secret germination area.

Well, out of sight...out of mind.

I forgot about the ziplock of seeds that I had in the top-secret germination area. I actually remembered them around day-4, but then stuck them back because nothing had happened. Oh well...

But, upon inspection it looked like the lettuce and turnip seeds were D.O.A. The radishes, however, did have a 50% germination rate which is pretty good for seed stored since 2011 in basically a room environment.

And so the quest for scientific breakthroughs continue!!!!!!