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Woolly Bean

Woolly Bean

$4.50 Sale

Strophostyles helvola

Origin: Holyoke, Massachusetts

Improvement status: Wild

Seeds per packet: ~18

Germination tested 12/2020: 80%

Life cycle: Annual

From our seed source, author and scholar Eric Toensmeier: "Self-sowing annual produces edible beans, eaten dry or fresh. Native to eastern US and Canada. Archaeological evidence shows that this species was cultivated by native peoples in the Missouri River basin thousands of years ago. Pods shatter, shooting seeds everywhere, necessitating daily harvest over an extended period. Comes on late in the season – this can be annoying when grown with corn as it is still producing right up until frost on the corn stalks, which I might have wanted to clean up by then. Long season, late season, and need for daily harvest are somewhat bothersome, but its ability to come back every year without replanting makes for a great interseeded cover crop. Collected from the wild in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and grown out at Paradise Lot in 2020." GROWING TIPS: Pricking the seed with a pin or a tweezers will allow water to penetrate it and greatly increase the speed and amount of germination.