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A Mexican Food Staple For Your Survival Garden
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Survival Institute

A Mexican Food Staple For Your Survival Garden

by
May 10, 2018

I don’t know about you, but I love Mexican food. Tortillas, guacamole, chips, salsa, chorizo sausage. It’s all music to my mouth. And going with all of that, I love black beans.

Now, maybe you’re more familiar with the brown beans commonly used to make refried beans (which I like, too), but black beans are different. They have a bolder (though, not too bold) flavor than brown beans, and are wonderful to add to salads and dishes of all kinds (even non-Mexican food) to add flavor to the dish and make the dish more filling.

They also have lots of protein, and, if you have constipation issues, you’ll be happy to know that black beans have lots of fiber.

One difficulty with black beans, though, is that, if you live in colder climates, you will have more of a challenge growing them. A writer going by the name of SurvivalWoman writes,

Beans are heat loving plants and that means the only time to grow them is during the hotter summer months. In fact, the ideal soil temperature is between 70° and 80°F. In comparison, tomato seeds like to sprout when the soil is on average 55°F. The best time to plant black beans is very dependent upon where you live and your local climate.

If you want black beans, SurvivalWoman recommends planting about 36 plants per person so that you have enough to store because black beans, fortunately, “they will last 1-2 years in a sealed container” in a pantry.

Now, growing the beans is pretty straightforward. Allow about six inches between adult plants, and plan seeds about 1.5 inches deep. Also, be careful the soil where you plant black bean seeds as “wet, mucky soil” can kill the plants. A good choice is to plant your seeds on hills as beans seem to love hills, possibly because the height allows excess water to drain away from the plants.

You will want to water the plants daily but never too much, and avoid spraying water on the leaves. One last consideration, which is mostly a consideration about where you plant your black beans, is that black beans like “5-6 hours of full sun each day.”

So, there you have some quick basics on why and how to grow black beans for your survival garden, and, if you’re like me, you’ll want to plant them right away because you are looking forward to harvesting them when the time is right.

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