Why didn’t I listen to my mother?

When it comes to gardening, I need to remember to listen to my mother. Her dad grew a huge garden when she was a kid growing up in Michigan. As an adult, she's grown gardens in Wyoming, Alaska, Oklahoma and Nebraska. She knows more about gardening than half the experts who are writing blogs, books and advice.

She grows food that she likes to eat, so when she discovered Anasazi beans from the Dove Creek area, she decided to plant a few and see if they'd grow in Nebraska. She didn't bother ordering seeds from a catalog, instead, she bought a bag of beans intended for cooking from Alida's when she was visiting and planted those in hopes they'd produce. They did, and she had a boatload of dried beans last winter that she'd grown herself last summer.

This year, my friend, Jan, and I decided to try and grow a bean that was meant to be dried. We ordered a cowpea from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds called a Red Bisbee. It was supposed to come from Bisbee, Arizona and thrive in the heat.

We ordered a packet of seeds for $2.50. There were maybe 30 seeds in it, which we split between the two of us. Although most (not all) of mine germinated, the bugs decimated most of them. I have five plants left - they're the bigger plants in the row on the right in the trellis.  

Those are some expensive beans.

I have this great trellis just waiting for beans. I finally remembered what my mom did, so I went to Alida's for beans, where I bought an entire pound of Anasazi beans for $2.50. I re-planted my trellis area, where I had enough seeds for double rows on either side of my planting box, plus a few in the center.  I gave some to Jan (whose red Bisbee cowpeas were also not performing) and cooked the rest for dinner.

So far, they're germinating just fine, but I'm feeling stupid for not listening to my mom. When it comes to gardening, Mom always knows best.