Red Ripper Cowpea and Heirloom Lima Bean

[Tracydr]

I’m going to try making a 28 foot one in the garden just like this this weekend,love yours!

[Hillhunter4]

Update on the progress. Pictures taken on 7-21. Should see some runners starting this coming week. Ignore the grass as we have had several downpours the last week. Weekend before we received 2 days of rain, 3" to 5", from Tropical Storm Barry. This past Saturday we received at least 5" of rain from a thunderstorm. Temps have been cooler though. Added a picture of some Cowhorn Okra that is growing nicely.

[Worth1]

Really looks fantastic.

[GoDawgs]

Okay, they say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. My imitation of your trellis is a far cry from how pretty yours is but I just wanted to see how good it was at keeping a row of peas from going everywhere! I hope so because just on the other side of the trellis the Lady Finger peas are wanting to reach out and touch everything!



I made mine from t-posts, poles and baling twine because that's what I had. I hope the baling twine isn't too slick for them to grab on to. Unfortunately the row is 18' long and the poles were only 8' long so I had to connect them in the middle with a short third piece.

These are the four rows of Red Rippers that just popped up. We’re in a dry spell again and I had to keep them damp until they sprouted. They’re planted in the same rows the corn was because it got dug up when I removed the corn stalks. Just to make sure it was loose deeper down I took the broadfork to each row before planting. The rows are about 4.5' apart as that's what the spacing was on center for those double rows of corn. More room for peas to run and hopefully a little room to for walking and picking!

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Hillhunter4

Cows love the leaves also. I would not plant bamboo on my property, but since my parents have a huge patch that established unintentionally we make good use of them. I told my wife after we built the last trellis that it was going to look silly if the peas and beans only got knee high. Good luck with the Panda Cubs. There may be some laws involved there.

I’ve decided I need to put up a couple of signs on the edge of my bamboo forest:
“Don’t feed the pandas” and “The Panda Forest”

[PhilaGardener]

Sounds like Pandamonium is breaking out all over!

[Hillhunter4]

Godawgs, Trellis looks great. How do you post pictures inside the body of message?

[Hillhunter4]

Update from 7-28. Seeing some insect damage and disease. I have added mulch to the Lima's. This will be the first time mulching vegetables, so we will see if it helps.
Okra 7-28 2 (2).jpg
Okra is really growing and should be blooming soon.

[ATTACH]Joey Bean 7-28 2.jpg[/ATTACH]

Peas and Lima's are just now starting to run.

[Hillhunter4]

Update, Pictures from 8-12-19. 2 weeks of growth with plenty of rainfall and there is a drastic difference. The beans and peas have went straight to the top of the eight foot arbor and should now start branching out. Have harvested a few pods of Okra, but I feel that it should be producing lots more. We will see if it increases.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by Hillhunter4

Update from 7-28. Seeing some insect damage and disease. I have added mulch to the Lima's. This will be the first time mulching vegetables, so we will see if it helps.
Attachment 89223
Okra is really growing and should be blooming soon.

[ATTACH]Attachment 89220[/ATTACH]

Peas and Lima's are just now starting to run.

Pretty stuff, Hill! Good job. My Rippers are about 15" tall and about ready to start running.

[Hillhunter4]

I have been delayed on posting an update. Harvesting Peas and Okra. Butterbeans are just now setting pods. Pictures are from 9-8-19.

[Ken B]

Nice!

A note on Big Red Ripper = even though several different seed companies carry it, there's a lot of different strains available, and it may be that yours is better for your area than one you'd get from a seed company!

(We carry Big Red Ripper ourselves, and though I think that the strain that we have is a good one with nice big seeds, I've had a few old-timers tell me, "Wait, you call *that* Big Red Ripper? Are you sure? That's not as good as the one *we* grew when I was a kid, *ours* had bigger seeds, " etc... and I've always wondered how much that's someone's memory having exaggerated how good their family's seed was, and how much it might be that maybe they *did* have an ever better strain of it...)

[GoDawgs]

I got my initial Big Red Ripper from SESE at least four years ago and have been saving the seed ever since. Big pods with large seeds and I love 'em. They get planted in the corn rows once the stalks are pulled since the peas thrive in heat. The perfect summer crop for here.

This year the vines are going nuts. It may be due to cooler and happier roots since I mulched them this year. Maybe because of leftover nitrogen in the soil from the corn. Regardless, when I checked them this morning and saw baby pods forming, it was "Hmmmm...." when I thought about how I'm going to get in there to pick when the time comes.

[Hillhunter4]

Ken B, Im sure there are several different strains grown regionally. I purchased some from a feed store and they were not nearly as big as mine.
GoDawgs, that's a good looking pea patch. Im sure you will make a way to get to them because they are too good to not.

[Nan_PA_6b]

GoDawgs, you lucky duck, you have HORSES!