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Re: Clueless (beans) on the Roof!

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Ahhh, wonderful rotting beans.  Actually, I had "pre-sprouted" the first
batch according the instructions in Mel's book.  I also tried to
pre-sprout the second batch.   This time the bean seeds didn't even make
it to the garden.  After presoaking for 2 hours and sitting on damp
filter paper for 1.5 days they started producing foam and smelling bad. 
I threw them away.  Today I just poked holes in soil and stuck the dry
seeds in - straight from the package.  Watered just enough (I hope). 
Now the question is - when should I water again?  Sigh.   

If this doesn't work I think I'll just wait until I can try some peas
later in the summer.  I wonder if peas are equally difficult?

About the roof garden?  I just constructed a 4' x 6' x 1' cedar box with
a plywood bottom.  I also lined it with some heavy clear plastic.  Then
drilled holes through plastic & plywood 1-2 holes per square foot.  Then
filled the whole thing with the container mix recipe.  Screwed a 2 x 2
treated wood "football goal" to the box and attached string for tomatoes
& No Beans.  Quite simple and not very beautiful.  I was quite inspired
by the article on roof gardens on the Kitchen Gardener web site.  Mine
looks nothing like that, however!   

Otherwise everything else is coming up nicely.  

Thanks for the advice. 

 Kim Kiernan wrote:
> 
> I had the exact same problem with non-sprouting beans.  I was watering
> the seed bed a couple times a day since I live in a hot area.  They all
> rotted.  I presprouted the next set and didn't water again until the top
> 3/4" of soil was dry.  I had much better luck with this method.  My
> challenge for seed starting in the ground has always been to keep the
> bed moist enough.  Guess that beans just like it drier to germinate than
> root crops and lettuce are.


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