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The Few, The Proud, The Green Beans

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By PENNY CARNATHAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 26, 2009

Updated: 03/27/2009 05:46 pm

I thank my second-grade teacher, Miss Staples, (no, I didn't make up that name) for the beans in my new organic vegetable bed.

Second grade was, gulp, 40 years ago, but that little science lesson really stuck.

Back in January, I started some veggie and flower seeds indoors. Ah, the visions! So sure was I that everything would sprout, I planted only a few of each.

I was particularly excited about the Sequoia green beans, whose long purple pods turn bright green when you cook them. Edible and ornamental, with shades of magical - a novelty bean!

And the lima beans. My husband's skill with butter and bacon fat has made me a huge fan of the lima. If he can turn canned to candy, I thought, imagine what he'll do with garden-fresh.

I got sweet pea sprouts, tomato sprouts, cilantro and nasturtium. But alas, after three weeks, just one Sequoia and no lima. I planted more of both. This time, a lima sprouted.

I dug into the little pots for some forensic investigation. Almost all of the bean seeds, it seemed, had turned to mush.

That's where Miss Staples stepped in. I remember well her bean seed project. We laid the seeds between wet paper towels, sealed them in jars and witnessed the miracle of germination.

I tried it and in two days, I had all the germinated seeds I needed. I planted them in the veggie bed a couple weeks ago and they've been popping up ever since.

I only wish the teacher who taught me long division had been so good. I could not for the life of me remember what to do with the decimal points last week when I tried to figure out the price-per-roll for the 20-pack of Scott Extra Soft toilet tissue versus the 12-pack. I had to resort to my cell phone calculator.

By the way, if you could use a good teacher right now, a team of University of Florida professors is ready to provide. Videos of their February vegetable gardening workshop are posted at www.solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu. Click on Spring Gardening. They cover Basics, Alternatives, Organic Gardening and Pest Management. You can also download the recently revised Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide from the site.

Penny Carnathan

Come play in The Dirt at TBO.com, Keyword: Dirt. We provide all the tools.

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