Vegetable Growing 2024

@Escarpment we were given the pea beans by a cousin about 7 years ago and were amazed at how much they produced. We always keep some of the seeds back for sowing the next year. They are climbers. We sow indoors and then transplant out. They do sulk at this but once they get going they climb and climb. As usual the more you pick the more flowers are produced.
Pea Beans - Slightly Self-Sufficient (slightlyselfsufficient.co.uk)
I am not sure where you can buy the seeds, Kings Seeds maybe.
When I am picking them I have to make sure I have long sleeves and gloves on as the leaves give me a rash.
I hope you can find some as they are so worth having.
Some web sites call them navy beans but these aren't the same. The correct name is Atherfield peas from the Isle of Wight.

 

Ours too were poor this year, but have had 3-4 fruit off and 1-2 more to come. Grown these for the last 4-5 years and never pulled them out until after first frost. They can and do produce late.

 

Harvested the amaranth as we were worried about the rain. coulda done another few days i think. good amount of grain falling off though.
We had 5 plants, 3 of which in a shallow pot. very pretty flower for the last 2 months.



not bad yield of leaves. no idea what theyre like though. bitter spinach? will try cooking it, i think indians call it kallaloo or something


i think all the protein comes from the hundreds of spiders that bolted when i seperated it i think we are supposed to dry it for a few days? not sure

 

Boiled it for 5 minutes. Like mild spinach. Not bitter at all. Not tough either considering it is mostly old leaves from the mature plants.
The seed heads taste okay but are a bit odd of a texture, a bit rough. Perhaps if they were cooked or roasted for a longer time they would be softer, or were done in a sauce.

I think itl be a great crop for when our hot summers return in the future... whenever that is. Drought and heat hardy spinach!

Edit: Oh notably it was unaffected by any leaf miner unlike both the spinach and chard here, and no mildew either.

 

Do the amaranth seeds have any particular taste @Adam I ? Or is it mostly just texture? I've never grown them - they're big plants aren't they?

 

If you like amaranth try aztec broccoli, Huauzontl. You can eat the young leaves in salad, then pick the flower shoots like sprouting broccoli. I'm sure the seeds will be edible too. I find one plant is enough, it rows to 5 ft tall eventually and is quite attractive in its own right, you could put it in the flower border. All this family is easy to grow and has no pests except maybe slugs when they're tiny. If I grew nothing else I'd grow this and yakon, also pest free.
By the way my melons were hopeless. I shall try again next year.