Fava beans
Waiting for fava beans to dry before harvesting them is a problem because the area is needed for planting other things on time, so Beth thought of harvesting them green and then keeping them in a dry place which seems to be working but needs some more testing. The easiest way is to hang the cuttings with all the seed pods intact, as shown in the first two photos, but another way is to dry the beans themselves.
Growing kumara and potato in bags
Growing kumara or potato in bags is quite a popular method, and if successful in our area would be very useful for saving garden beds for other things and also useful for growing in other places with limited space. Beth’s experimenting with the idea using prepared soil, soaking wet saw dust and compoo (shown respectively in the photo below).
Preserving root vegetables
A well known way of preserving root vegetables such as kumara and potato is in a box of dry soil in the cold dry place, preferably a root cellar. Here Beth’s experimenting with preserving beetroot in a small plastic box filled with dry dirt which will be stored at the back of the house between the wall and the trailer. Note that the vegetables should be completely covered, but are shown exposed here for clarity.
