@Ridgerunner, I'm also curious if the Karachaganak are good for snaps. I hope to find out but for network beans I save the first pods for seed. Once I'm sure I have return seed and some for me too I'll sample the rest. Unfortunately though, letting the first ones go to seed slows production...
I bought a pint jar at a yard sale one time, one of those with the class top and wire bail, about half full of what looked like lima beans. It was so old the rubber seal had deteriorated and adhered to the class. About half of the seeds were just dust where some critter had apparently eaten...
I think I reported wrong before. Veense was the one that came up last but reached the top of it's trellis first. It was also the one I dug up and found the BIG roots before the sprout emerged.
Second to make it to the top is Witsa
Several others bushed up a little before starting the climb...
A couple of my network beans are at the top of their trellis, looking for blooms soon, I hope. Funny the one, I think it is Witsa that was last to come up was first to to the top. It also was the one I dug one up and found had developed large roots before a shoot. Very interesting I think, will...
Here are some of my network grow outs as of today, not the best picture and don't look at my weeds please.
I have very little freezer space so only keep a few special things in there. I'm not entirely convinced it is necessary except for very long term storage, I'v planted seed five + years old...
I thought I had all my beans planted but then came across a pack of Missouri Wonder someone gave me down at Bill Best's seed swap a couple years back and I don't have much freezer space so got to find a spot for them.
Also some interesting out crosses from 2015, I put them back in freezer for...
All of the beans are up good now with true leaves getting big. Of the network beans one kind Veneese, I think was, took it's time with none up when all the others had at least five out of eight. I had actually dug one up and found it apparently likes to grow a pretty good root system first and...
I'v got beans sprouting! Witsa and Wide Pod White Greasy were first. I'm a little surprised as I expected some of my own to be first, they were planted the day before and come from generations of my own seed. Thinking about it though I don't really have good reason to have expected that.
We are...
I agree completely, I ain't having people wander around my garden, no way! On the other hand, when I lived in town I would often put little grocery sacks and extra stuff in a box by the sidewalk with a sign that said something like "Tomatoes, some for the price of none". Some people were...
The grow out beans are in the main garden, it is about 80 feet south to north but irregular the other way, about 65 feet wide at north end, down to about 50 at south end. Rows isn't really accurate, it is a series of permanent beds about 3 feet wide running all the way across.
My trellises...
I always plant a lot of beans but this is the most I'v had for grow outs, I don't care so much about isolation or records on my beans, I just remember what they are and some are so mixed up I don't even know what they are.
They are in the ground now separated by about five feet, so no...
I was really surprised at how well the labels inside the bags lasted, a couple were left till spring and I could still read them, Still I think a marked diagram is prudent.
For absolutely permanent markers I cut a piece of metal roofing and etch it with a Drimmel tool, mostly I only do that...
We had some sunshine and drying breezes yesterday and I got a good part of my ground prepped and most trellises up. Sunshine and 80 F predicted today with lowest over next 7 days of about 50, highs from mid 60s to low 80s but some chance of rain about everyday. My job is just part time and don't...
@flowerbug , I'm in south east IN. I don't have any bush beans saved pure. They aren't all crosses but they are all mixed up. Mostly various brown seeded, early producing types. Some names I remember as being in the mix are Contender, Top Crop, Burpee Stringless, Provider but that is just a few...
Yea! the bean network is up and going. I got big plans for beans this year but know already I may have to trim it down some due to space. I'll start with my own ongoing projects and then to the network.
"Survivor Pole Beans" this is my ongoing collection of every pole bean I'v ever come across...
Weaver looks very much like my KY Wonder beans except mine lack that redish colored eye. Those that mine evolved from and we always bought each year from either Burpree or Henry Field were much darker brown.
I also have a cross bean I'm working with. I know it's mother is Ky Wonder and suspect...
I don't ever recall a greenish appearance to KY Wonder seeds, all I ever remember is the dark brown. That's going back to the early 1960s. I'v grown them ever since then and the dark brown is what I started with when I started saving my own seed a coupe decades ago. They transformed either...
That's interesting how the Smith River shows different in different soil and climate.
Kentucky Wonder is one of the first kinds where I started saving my own seeds. Someone recently gave me a new pack of KY Wonder and they don't even look like mine. My seeds are larger and lighter color and...
@Bluejay77 , Beans arrived yesterday, they sure are pretty. I have an old cooler marked "next year" and sort seeds in the fall instead of putting them all up in bulk. That way I don't have to keep as much notes and stuff. If it's in next "next year" I know I want to plant it even if don't...