kabuki peas and "iron-age beans"

[bikermike]

anyone grown either of these?
I bought them at acton scott victorian farm.

the kabuki peas I can find lots of agricultural info, but not for the home grower.

the iron-age peas are a survival seed they found in one rural village. if I can get some more info from the farm, I'll post it in case anyone is interested.

broadly speaking, can you grow multiple peas and beans on one plot and avoid cross-polination?
how close do they have to be species-wise, I'm hoping to have mangetpute, maincrop peas, and the above two going on at once.

[veggiechicken]

The "iron age beans" may be similar to Martock beans - small broad or field beans.

Broad beans cross with other broad beans . You may not grow other ones but neighbouring plots might.
Peas - its OK to grow several varieties.

Interesting site Medieval Beans - LivingHistory.co.uk

[bikermike]

They are like Martock beans - just got the info from Acton Scott. As much as they have anyway


"Iron age beans – Similar to the Martock bean, which was grown in the Summerset fen village of Martock. It is an early field broad bean which is very hardy. Once the bean has grown and allowed to die back they were harvested and threshed to provide a high quality source of protein for the peasant society.
Today it is best to pick them young before they become difficult to shell. Older beans can be threshed and used as feed for poultry and livestock.

Kabuki peas – High quality and easy to grow, will be easily supported by tendrils and produce a good crop. If left long enough they can be harvested like a marrowfat pea."

thanks for the website, I'll have a look.

So, is there much that I can do to stop cross-pollination of BB - can I net them and still get beans? I'm assuming that a martock bean will be less than good news for other eating broad beans? Might be a bit anti-social to other plots?

[veggiechicken]

Copied this from Realseeds
SEED SAVING INSTRUCTIONS

BROAD BEANS
Broad beans will cross with other varieties that are growing nearby. So if you want to keep your variety pure, you need to isolate them in some way. Theoretically you should aim for at least half a mile between varieties. In practice, in a built up area, fences, trees and houses will all reduce insect flight. This means you should have minimal crossing even with beans much closer than half a mile so long as none of your immediate neighbours are growing different varieties of bean.

In an open situation like an allotment, you can physically isolate plants. Broad bean pollen is transferred by insects working the flowers, but the plants will also self pollinate, so if you can exclude insects at flowering time, say by a covering of fleece, your seed crop will be pure.

The simplest method of all, if you are growing a relatively large number of beans and you are not concerned about achieving 100% purity (eg just for your own use), is to mark and save seed from several plants in the middle of a block of beans. Insects are relatively unlikely to come from a neighbouring patch straight to the middle of your patch, tending to work the outside flowers first. So by the time they reach your seed beans, the amount of 'foreign' pollen remaining should be small. Always keep seed of strong, healthy plants and get rid of any that are not typical of the variety ideally before they flower.

Let your seed beans mature and dry on the bush. The pods will turn dark drown, dry & wrinkled. Then pick and shell them out. Check that they are really dry by biting on them. If your teeth leave a dent, dry them further in a warm (not hot) place with a good flow of air. Broad bean seeds should keep for several years, so there is no need to grow plants for seed every year.

[bikermike]

oooh, ta! (lengthened to meet GYO requirements...)