Propagation Month, Day 10: Pre-Soaking Roma Beans

Beans are supposed to be easy. Really easy. But for some reason, I always seem to have a hard time with Roma beans. A few weeks ago I planted several beans in a container and kept it watered well. Nothing. The beans were still there a week later, but nothing was germinating. So I decided to pre-soak them in a wet paper towel, thinking it would only take a day or two for them to germinate that way. Instead, it took several days for just a few of them to germinate. I planted them in the same container as the previous beans, but only one so far has actually sprouted leaves. I had to keep soaking the rest of the beans for about ten days to get all of them to germinate.

I finally planted out the last of them today. I really don't know what the problem has been. The beans are a couple years old, but I thought beans stayed viable for longer than that. It's also possible that the potting soil I have in the container is too fast-draining and the beans haven't gotten enough consistent moisture to get going. I'm not sure, but they have definitely not been the no-brainer they're supposed to be. I'm not giving up, however. Roma beans are too delicious to not keep trying.