Written by Dr. Loreen Dawson, ND
One of my goals with the garden this year was to see if I could grow some protein.I planted a variety of peas, beans and chick peas. The beans in the garden beds did very well, and I had a good harvest of orca beans (black and white), coco beans (round and black), montezuma beans (dark red) and blue jay beans (dark blue and cream) [see them all featured in the photo above].
I also had an excellent crop of windsor and red broad beans. Chick peas were not successful. There were only 2-3 chickpeas per plant, and a variety of beans planted in the front bed were decimated by cut worms. However the carlin soup peas were a great success. These peas are from seed commonly grown in the middle ages and used to make meatless meals around Easter time.They are delicious; a huge improvement from the yellow or green soup peas available in the store. This fall I started a row of Brazilian snow peas (good fresh or dried for soup) and another row of windsor beans. We shall see how they overwinter, and if they produce the expected early spring crops. Overall, growing protein was a big success this year, and next year you can expect to see even more legumes in the garden.
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