Ypsi Cooks

healthy and sustainable for the frugal foodie

Flower

Was Jack here? Because we have some beanstalks.

Sprouted Bean

Sprouted Bean

Our beans are about 3 inches tall and we planted them only a week ago. Want to know the trick? Pre-Sprout them.

You will need:

  • Canning Jar and ring
  • mesh onion or orange bag
  • some bean seeds
  1. Cut a piece of the bag big enough to cover the jar and the ring to keep it in place.
  2. Put your seeds in the jar. Your jar should be less than 1/4 full of seeds, so get a larger jar if you need.
  3. Fill jar with water and set on counter for 24 hours.
  4. After waiting 24 hours drain beans, and rinse. Keep away from light. Cover with towel, or put them in the cupboard.
  5. Three times a day give the beans a good rinse.
  6. After about 5 days plant them. A few more is OK too.
  7. Put the roots down and be gentle with them. If there are Cotyledon or real leaves allow them to stick out of the ground. The more developed the more you can leave sticking out.

Bean Cotyledon

Now you just have to wait for the plants to grow, climb, grow some more, flower, and then start harvesting beans. Another advantage is knowing right away how many will come up. In a couple days they will be out of the ground and any missing ones can be replaced. You can also stagger a small second batch by 4-ish days to fill in any gaps.

 

 

Photos by Elle-Epp and BlueRidgeKitties available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license

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