Cherokee Trail of Tears are a heirloom variety from the Cherokee nation. This variety produces green purple pods that can be eaten green when young or left to dry. The dried beans are beautifully black. The Cherokee Trail of Tears beans come with a dark piece of history where the Cherokee nations were driven forcibly out from their homelands 1838 by the US Government. While forced to leave, they took with them the seeds of their traditional varieties in their long and painful displacement trip from North Carolina to Oklahoma. The Dr. John Wyche of Oklahoma shared then the beans with the Seed Savers Exchange.
Scientific Name: Phaseolus vulgaris
Plant Life Cycle: annual
Optimal Germination Temperature: 16 °C
Germination time in days: 4-10 days
Indicative Days to maturity: 65 days
Sunlight: Full sun
Soil requirement: Average, well-drained soil.
Sowing and cultivation: Start indoors 4-3 weeks before the last frost date. or Ssw outdoors 2.5 cm deep and 7-10 cm apart around poles, trellis, or fence when danger of frost has passed and soil temperature is over 16C. A strong, sturdy trellis such as a fence panel to support the plant foliage is recommended.
