Tag Archives: pulses

Seedlings Ready to Go — Waiting for Rain to Stop!

Posted on May 18, 2016 | 1 comment

Just waiting for the rain to stop so can plant marigolds, beans, and pumpkins!

Marigolds, an annual that flowers all summer and into fall, can be started from seed easily (and cheaply if you saved seeds from last year!). I find it is best to start in a small container and then transplant. You can direct sow but birds may get them or rain may wash them away.

I had an old cell pack from something I bought at the nursery and filled with seed starting mix. Using a pencil to create a hole, I plopped a marigold seed into each cell, and watered. You can start inside under lights but it is not worth the space when you can start outside in April and May and bring in if frost threatens. These are ready to transplant into the garden, it just has to stop raining!

Beans are so easy to grow you can direct sow or start in a container. Large seeds work well with jiffy peat pellets. After letting the pellets sit in a tray of water until they fully expand, pull back the netting at the top with two pencils, poke a hole, drop one bean per pellet and cover with soil.

These were started a while ago and have been ready to go into the garden bed but it has been raining!! You can see how the roots have come through the pellets and have interconnected themselves with other beans. When I plant these into the garden, I will separate, take off the netting, and remove the colored paper clips, which are my way of identifying the type of bean. I am starting different types of beans to celebrate this year as the International Year of Pulses (see my January article, https://pegplant.com/2016/01/25/celebrate-the-international-year-of-the-pulses-eat-more-beans/).

Pumpkins also are large seeds that are easy to grow. This one is from seed saved from last year’s Halloween pumpkin, one seed per jiffy peat pellet (see last Halloween’s article on saving seed, https://pegplant.com/2015/10/31/happy-halloween-and-dont-forget-to-save-those-pumpkin-seeds/). I love the way it is so self-contained but it is not quite ready to be transplanted. The large “leaves” are the cotyledons, formed during the embryonic stage. The inner piece of green are the true leaves emerging. I am sure by the time it stops RAINING, the true leaves will have grown to the point that this will be ready to transplant into the garden if it does not FREEZE again!!

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Posted in Edibles, plants, seeds, vegetables

Tagged beans, Halloween, International Year of Pulses, jiffy peat pellets, marigolds, pulses, pumpkins, seeds

Growing Grains: The Final Frontier in Edible Gardening

Posted on April 19, 2016 | 2 comments

Recently my office moved to a new location with a large cafeteria. The food is good and the bonus is the monthly educational program presented by registered dietitian nutritionists to promote healthy eating. This month the focus was on whole grains. Rachel Griffin, RDN, LDN, gave samples of a mixed grain and bean salad made with quinoa, barley, kidney beans, chick peas, black and white beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and parsley. Full of fiber and protein, this cold grain and bean dish was very tasty. In addition, Rachel had a guessing game where people were supposed to label the six containers of uncooked grains: brown rice, quinoa, farro, millet, amaranth, and barley. I was almost correct; I could not tell the difference between the millet and the quinoa–both looked like bird seed. Rachel explained that the millet was all one color and the quinoa came in three colors, from bone to tan to black.

From a gardener’s view it is possible to grow some grains here in Virginia, I just have never tried it yet (it is on that “when I retire” list). I do grow the veggies and beans found in this particular recipe, which I will try to make myself because I have made the pulse pledge this year (see my January 25 post on 2016 is the International Year of Pulses, https://pegplant.com/2016/01/25/celebrate-the-international-year-of-the-pulses-eat-more-beans/).

If you are interested in growing grains, you might want to check out #CrazyGrainLady. Although I have never met her in person, I follow her site because I too am interested in foodscaping. Brienne Gluvna Arthur lives in a typical North Carolina suburban home where she incorporates edibles into her landscape but has gone the extra mile of growing grains, including wheat. Check out her site, https://briegrows.com/2016/02/09/crazy-grain-lady/.

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Posted in Edibles, plants, vegetables

Tagged amaranth, barley, beans, brown rice, farro, grains, millet, pulses, quinoa, wheat, whole grains

Celebrate the International Year of Pulses: Eat More Beans!!

Posted on January 25, 2016 | 5 comments

As many of you may know, I have given up meat and am pursuing a plant-based diet. Fortunately for me, the United Nations declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses. This means more recipes and more information on how to cook with pulses, which are key to a plant-based diet. One cannot help but eat more beans, chickpeas, lentils, and split peas!

Pulses are a subgroup of legumes, members of the Leguminosae family (commonly known as the pea family), that produce edible seeds. Pulses are harvested for their seed. To use beans as an example, green beans eaten off the vine are legumes but since they are green (not matured or dried) they are considered a vegetable. Let the pods dry on the vine and shell them to release the dry beans/seeds and they are considered a pulse.

Pulses are excellent sources of fiber, protein, iron, and potassium; are gluten and cholesterol free; are low in fat and sodium; and have a low glycemic index. Cheap and easy to find, pulses are sold in grocery stores in cans or bags where canned vegetables and beans or bags of dried beans/lentils and rice are shelved.

Today, I took the “pulse pledge” — I pledged to eat pulses once a week for 10 weeks. As a family we actually do eat them often: my 15-bean stew, refried beans in tacos, hummus, and lentil chili. But taking the pledge will encourage me to try new recipes from the online sources below.

As a gardener, I pledged to myself to grow a pulse this summer. Although I grow green beans every year, I have never grown a “pulse” or I should say I have never grown a shelling bean. I just purchased Tiger Eye from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in my first round of seed purchases and am continuing to look at other catalogs (see below). Shaped like a kidney bean, Tiger Eye is a beautiful brown mustard color with maroon swirls. It is supposed to taste like a pinto bean but creamier and can be used like a refried bean or in soups and stews. Many of the shelling beans are beautifully colored or marked beans with intriguing names such as Jacob’s Cattle, King of the Early, and Black Turtle. Grow shelling beans like green beans only let the pods dry on the vine. In the fall, probably late October in my Northern Virginia zone 7 garden, when the plant is mature, the leaves are brown, and the pods rattle in the wind, cut the pods off, take the beans out, and store the beans in a dry, cool place.

For 2016, take the pulse pledge and learn to cook beans, lentils, split peas, and chickpeas. Better yet, try growing your own!

Resources for more information on pulses including recipes:

http://www.pulses.org

http://www.pulsepledge.com

http://www.iyp2016.org/

http://www.northernpulse.com

http://www.cookingwithpulses.com/

http://www.pea-lentil.com/

http://www.northernpulse.com/

Cookbooks that can be downloaded:

http://www.northernpulse.com/uploads/resources/885/cookbook-final–2011–for-website-2013.pdf

http://www.northernpulse.com/uploads/resources/904/pulses-the-perfect-food-july-2013.pdf