Re: [gardeners] This weekend
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 02 Mar 1998 12:47:36
At 09:13 PM 3/1/98 -0600, you wrote:
>On Sat, 28 Feb 1998 13:27:27, George Shirley wrote:
>
>>I have no idea what variety these are, someone gave them to me and I forgot
>>to write down who sent them in. They just sat there blooming their little
>>heads off for the longest time and then started setting pods. From what I
>>could find on the net the average for spring planted is 100-150 days and
>>for fall planted, what we did, is about 240 days. It was 5 months to the
>>day from planting when we harvested some yesterday and they really need
>>some more time to mature properly. The biggest problem is shelling them out
>>of the outer pod, then boiling them for 1 minute and shelling out of the
>>inner pod. Sheesh, you would starve to death if you only lived on fava
beans.
>
>Were those the fava's I sent you!? I haven't ever gotten any planted and
the
>seed were from a friends harvest. Good grief, if I had known they were
such a
>bother I wouldn't have sent them. Maybe it was the shock of being grown on
>rocky, dry soil way up here in the north then being planted way down there
in
>the south! :-D FWIW I believe they are Windsor Favas.
>
>
>Terry King North Central Eastern Washington
>taeking@televar.com USDA zone 4, Sunset Zone 1
>
Now that you mention it it was you. Just found the original wrapper, piece
of paper with "fava" written on it and I had put "TK" on too. Maybe that's
why they are taking so long, it's the shock of being in a beautiful, warm,
green climate with rich soil. They do have a nice flavor but we're lazy
gardeners. I experiment with chiles and tomatoes as those are easy to
harvest, clean, cook, and eat. We had never seen fava's growing before and
they make a weird plant - these got about 5 feet tall with stalks that are
3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. They stand upright until the wind blows them
over. Covered with pea blooms (natural since they're really peas, not
beans) from the bottom to the top. Little white blooms with purple/black
centers. The bees love them and, as they bloom in winter, are a nice feed
plant for the bees of all types. The outer pod is at least 1/8 inch thick
with what looks like white velvet lining it and then each inner pod is
attached by a little umbilical. When fully ripe the beans are as big as the
first joint of my thumb, about 3/4-1 inch long by 1/2-3/4 inch wide and
about 1/2 inch thick. Thanks, Terry.
George