Plot 2

Urban Harvest's eight-plot rotation provides the following directions for Plot 2:

Plot 2: LegumesIn plot 2, as the plot 1 squash finishes, plant about 30 sq. ft. of snow peas for pea shoot vegetable, and if there is a warm winter, for snow pea pods. Then in mid-December to early January, plant the rest of the plot in sugar snap peas or English pole peas or snow peas on a trellis, and bush English or petit pois or fava/ broad beans in the rest of the plot. In March or April, plant pole snap beans like Fortex at the foot of the trellis, even if there are still peas on the trellis, and plant bush beans like Derby where the November peas have finished. In May to July, as space frees, plant long beans and butterpeas (limas) on trellises, or peanuts, edamame (soy) or Southern peas such as blackeyes,crowders, purple hull, cream, or zippers, in the remainder of the space. In July, plant more pole beans, and in August bush snap beans. In October, tear down any unproductive plants and broadcast lettuce seeds in a vacant patch. Transplant some in late October to fill out the bed. In November, change the plot number to Plot 3.

In the first rotation, Plot 2 was in the north half of Bed 1. On March 2, I started planting beans in Plot 2, with pole beans at the northern 5 feet and the rest in bush beans.

• Orient Wonder pole beans along the western edge, where the trellis would soon be
• Edamame along the western edge where there would be no trellis
• Jade Bush Beans along the center

The next day, I sowed sugar snap peas along the eastern edge of the trellis area.

On March 20, the Orient Wonder pole beans were all about 5 inches high, but none had reached the trellis yet. The edamame bush beans along the rest of the western edge were all a few inches tall. Only a few of the Jade bush beans had emerged in the center of the bed. I thought about planting a different variety in the center line.

Click the photo to see it bigger!

On the east side, the sugar snap peas were all growing quickly and their tendrils were beginning to touch the bottom of the trellis. At the time, I realized I had neglected to plant bush beans along the eastern edge of the bed where there was no trellis.


On March 25, the peas were just getting tall enough to reach the trellis.

On August 26, I noticed nothing along the west edge of Plot 2 was coming up. I sowed some old Kentucky Blue string beans there and added purple hull southern cowpeas in the gaps in the bush bean rows.

All of the beans in this first generation did poorly. There were big gaps between the edamame plants, and they didn't produce any beans. The purple hull provided enough to make a modest meal or two.

In October 2016, I sowed some lettuce and some spinach seeds.

In November 2016, Plot 2 moved to the southern half of Bed 1.
In November 2017, Plot 2 moved to the northern half of Bed 4. Soon thereafter, I sowed the entire plot with sugar snap peas and snow peas.