I'm already planning my planting for 2019. This year was not an especially good bean year and our stock of canned green beans isn't what I like to keep it at so in 2019 I'll be growing 40' rows of each our favorites, KY Wonder, NT1/2 Runner, Little Brown Greasy and Ohio Pole.
In the back...
@Bluejay77 Russ, I'v been going over the network lists and picked out about a dozen I'd love to try out. Is it too early to go ahead and send off a list? There is even a Lima on there I'd like to try but given my history on Lima's I'd leave that up to you.
@Bluejay77 , glad to hear they arrived. Wish I could have done better on the Dr. Martin's and Mrs. Maud's.
I don't think I'll do grow out Limas anymore, at least not any that are in very short supply, chance of failure is just too high. I still want to get more in my collection but probably...
@Ridgerunner , I'm in southeast Indiana near the Ohio River. Gets quite hot which I thought Limas like but still they don't usually produce. Also very humid, don't know if they like that or not. Anyway they are always real iffy but we love them so keep trying. Lima's of any type generally...
I sent off my network beans the other day, should be arriving early this week. It was a bad year here for beans overall but did have some success.
Network Beans
Small Speckled Bunch - Did not fare especially well but got enough good seed to send back and a few to keep, wasn't able to trial any...
I got my return seeds for two of my network beans all dried down and ready to pack. Small Speckled Bunch finished up weeks ago and now Madagascar Limas, the Madagascar sure are pretty beans. Mrs. Maud's Limas were first to bloom quite awhile back but I didn't get any pods for that blooming...
I like to pick them just as seeds are barely forming, brush with olive oil or butter and drop on a hot grill for just a minute or two each side. A little winter savory or thyme chopped up in the oil is good too. I love pretty much any green bean that way but find runners especially tasty.
Add...
Our weather has been so terrible most of the season I was getting worried about my network beans. I have my quota, just barely, of Small Speckled Bunch but they look to be perking up to produce more now that it has rained. I didn't think they looked right either but I looked up their picture and...
My bonus Lima beans, Snowstorm and Rosie Clare are blooming and look great.
Mrs. Mauds were slow on the get go but once they took off they really took off and have overshot the 8' trellis. They are also blooming. *They did it with only one watering!! Definitely a keeper variety, assuming...
All my beans are coming along pretty well with exception of Dr. Martin. Three of four seeds sprouted. One died soon after. One did the weirdest thing I'v ever seen, it came up with a big fat stem in an arch. It just kept getting bigger and I kept thinking it will pull its seed leaves out of the...
The Mrs. Maud's Lima beans are up about a foot or a little more and holding themselves on stout stems but no indication of wanting to vine. I imagine they just haven't thought about it yet.
It's been very dry here, I filled a 55 gallon drum for that garden today and will be giving them a drink...
How did the Dr. Martin's produce? They look just like King of the Garden which we love but which does not produce well here. I'm in hopes Dr. Martin is more productive but similar flavor and cooking characteristics.
Also glad to hear the three plants I have are not the last of their kind.
I have bush and pole beans up 6 - 8 inches, the poles are getting ready to start climbing. All my network beans are up now. I wasn't paying good attention when I reported about the bird damage, those were my bonus beans not grow out beans so not as alarming but in any event they didn't get them...
I don't think transplanting beans would be really all that difficult, it just isn't something I had ever much considered before.
Lima sprouts are certainly brittle though and big! It looked like the birds were really after the seed leaves or maybe even the seed coat that was still attached...
All mine are in the ground and most are up. Blackbirds have broken a couple of my network Limas and pulled up some of my corn. That isn't acceptable. Corn is planted thick and not too much of an issue there but I can't afford to lose even one more bean.
Beans are now netted and some of it is...
It's interesting to me to seed folks planting beans in cups or cell packs. I have (rarely) transplanted beans when a patch came up sparsely and needed compacted but have never started them for transplant. Do they generally do OK that way? If so it sounds like a good way to give special...
O' no, I never want to get the surface wet. Watering an established crop I dig out trenches between rows with my hoe and fill with water, sometimes two or more times, however many it takes to slow down how fast it soaks in. Then I put the dry dirt back on top. In extreme cases I have even been...