2018 Little Easy Bean Network - Join Us In Saving Amazing Heirloom Beans

[flowerbug]

@reedy, ayep... early and bush type are ones i aim towards. good luck for the rest of the season.

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 how are things looking there? anyone else? how's the season shaping up?

i'm starting to see some pods getting ready. picked a few lima bean pods today. went to check other beans and to see if i could find out where i'd put the other rows of wax beans and for some reason can't find them at all. it was getting hot out and i was getting overheated from weeding so i gave up for the day and will try again tomorrow. haha... Mom said the handfull of beans i brought in to steam were pitiful and that i should have just eaten them raw. but what i don't usually tell her is that there's a good chance i've eaten quite a few already raw. i'll cook these up for a few minutes and tell her she can have 'em as i have had enough for the day...

 

[Zeedman]

This has thus far been a perfect season here for beans. The heavy rains & storms have all gone around us, so it has been just warm, sunny, and dry all summer. The Emerite snap beans are done for the moment, but are re-sprouting for Round Two. Bosnian Pole blossomed much later, but is loaded with pods now, and should have plenty of time to mature. The Cave Dweller Black limas have begun to mature, we picked the first dry pods this week. We also picked the first dry pods from Thai Soldier "long beans"... in quotes because I don't count anything less than 12" as "long". The true yardlong 3-Feet-Plus has started bearing, and is heavily loaded. The Tarahumara runner beans have really come on strong; flowering heavily, and beginning to set pods in large numbers. Hard to believe that they were nearly destroyed by squirrels at one point.

The only disappointments have been the edamame soybeans. The plants are healthy & I was expecting a large crop; but the blossom set has been less than usual. Apparently they did not like the warm temperatures as much as I thought they would.

 

[flowerbug]

This has thus far been a perfect season here for beans. The heavy rains & storms have all gone around us, so it has been just warm, sunny, and dry all summer. The Emerite snap beans are done for the moment, but are re-sprouting for Round Two. Bosnian Pole blossomed much later, but is loaded with pods now, and should have plenty of time to mature. The Cave Dweller Black limas have begun to mature, we picked the first dry pods this week. We also picked the first dry pods from Thai Soldier "long beans"... in quotes because I don't count anything less than 12" as "long". The true yardlong 3-Feet-Plus has started bearing, and is heavily loaded. The Tarahumara runner beans have really come on strong; flowering heavily, and beginning to set pods in large numbers. Hard to believe that they were nearly destroyed by squirrels at one point.

The only disappointments have been the edamame soybeans. The plants are healthy & I was expecting a large crop; but the blossom set has been less than usual. Apparently they did not like the warm temperatures as much as I thought they would.

have you grown that variety of edamame before? i've had good crops from the ones i've grown if i can get the plants to survive past groundhog/chipmunk/rabbit raids.

here is blurb from Vermont Bean Co which is source i used for these:

"...
01266a Besweet 2020 Soybean

One of the earliest. Ideal fresh (prepare like peas) or dry. Fresh bean is green and mature bean is yellow. High Yielding - best when planted in late spring. Bushy, 30" plants produce medium-sized pods containing 2-3 flavorful, large beans. High protein content. Ideal for Northern climates.

Height: 30"
Spacing: 2" to 4"
Maturity: 87
..."

not sure if they still carry these or someone else has them. i have barely enough seeds left now my last planting was so wiped out that i've given up on planting them again until i have a much better fence/setup to keep the chippies/etc. out.

 

[flowerbug]

@Zeedman we've had a few dry spells so i have had to water regularly through those and i know the heat does affect seeds/pods setting and forming if i can't keep enough water on them.

the runner beans i do think need a mechanical helper for setting, hummingbirds here work for those very well or a heavy rain or watering with the hose set pretty blobby instead of the finer mist. i'm not as sure about heat bothering them, they've always done well here when i've planted them other than it being a shorter season than they probably like. for best results like i had the first season i'd have to start them in pots and then transplant. that year i had quite a nice crop and the beans were solid/well formed. last year it was so dry i'm pretty sure they didn't get enough water (like everything else) and a lot of them were somewhat hollow feeling like they didn't finish.

i've no experience with super long beans, but the bigger pods of some of the pole beans are interesting.

it's foggy bottom season here. pea soup fogs most evenings. i did water yesterday. i want those beans to develop and fill out those pods even if i have to rescue each one.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 how are things looking there? anyone else? how's the season shaping up?

Season has been a mixed bag here. April was so dry that the ground cracked open. It was that way til mid May. Then 24 inches of rain all the way to the end of June. I have a large offsite plot 2,000 square feet that I spent 4 grand to fence out deer last year. The soil in this place remained so wet it went past my planting window. So I tilled out the weeds and covered each of the 1,000 square foot plots with a big vinyl tarp. I'm sure I've solarized the weed seeds. Hope the planting time rains next year are less than half of what we got this year.

I've got two small plots at a former Nursery about a quarter mile from my hosue. One 700 square foot plot with 33 pole beans planted. All came down with mosaic except about 9 of them. Tore out and disposed of the diseased plants. Will not use this sight next year. the other plot at the Nursery is 1,700 square ft. Planted 32 varieties of semi runners there, and about 50 some bush beans. Harvested the first seed from those yesterday. Semi runners seem to be doing alright.

My home ground is a small subdivision lot. I've turned most of the west facing backyard into bean growing ground. Have two plots in the backyard. one 12 x 24 feet and the second one 12 x 16 feet. Had a landscaper take out sod and dig about a foot deep several years ago and replace clay with decent top soil. In the backyard I also dug a flower bed next to the house about 5 years ago myself. 2 feet wide and 23 feet long. Dug it out about 18 inches deep and filled it with Walmarts Earth-gro top soil. Grows beans really nice and great carrot crops. Sandy loam and well drained. I have mostly bush beans in the back yard. 35 varieties. and 8 pole varieties in the backyard flower bed. All these backyard beans are doing great. I have some of Robert Lobitz's legacy beans growing there. Two of his legacy beans have already almost completely dried the entire crop down. Very early and fast drying beans. Never seen beans dry this fast. Other beans in the backyard are still green and two later ones have just bloomed and produced pods recently.

South flower bed 4 x 40 was also done by a landscaper. I have 15 varieties of pole beans growing there. Beans there look great. Two varieties there have just about dried most their pods.

After all the beans are harvested I will photo all the seed and do my annual Bean Show here on this thread. Probably close to 174 varieties.

I even have 5 flower pots on my back concrete door step with bush beans in them.

To bad my two large offsite plots didn't get planted. I would have grown 306 varieties this year.

 

[flowerbug]

ok, after looking again this morning. no more wax beans survived. i planted two other half rows besides another spot and today i double checked my planting maps and in those two spots no wax beans to be found.

i did poke some other seeds in those places way back when i realized they didn't grow and those additions/changes were in my notes so at least that explains what happened to the wax beans, but we were hoping for more fresh beans. i know i didn't get as many planted as i originally planned due to injuries. i stopped about half-way planting one last garden and i was going to put more in there. oops.

the rest of this week is overscheduled, i'll be lucky if i get any time in the gardens other than picking and putting up tomatoes tomorrow and a few quick things Sat or Sun. boo!

 

[flowerbug]

...
...
After all the beans are harvested I will photo all the seed and do my annual Bean Show here on this thread. Probably close to 174 varieties.
...

always ready for more bean pictures.

oh that's too bad on those big spaces... but i know how sometimes things don't go as initially planned... i was hoping to have my two overflow gardens weeded and planted with beans this year but didn't get to either of them.

sorry to hear about the mosaic virus taking out most of that patch too. hard to sacrifice that many plants. i feel bad enough just taking out one plant.

so far mixed is a good comparison vs. last year. i'm seeing a lot more full pods this year so i sure hope i can get them harvested and dried down well before the frosts. some are flowering pretty heavy now and i'm trying to keep the JBs from having an easy run at all of them.

 

[aftermidnight]

AERON PURPLE STAR Just a heads up, This stringless purple podded runner bean unless you already have seed might not be available from it's original source in the future.
I just noticed seed wasn't being offered for 2019. The Welsh man who bred this wonderful sweet runner hasn't been well of late and his good friend who grew his APS's in isolation for him passed away suddenly in January (he had a small holdings in Devon UK and had just joined our forum).
I grew up eating runner beans, actually they were the only fresh beans we had. The APS's are by far the best runner variety I have ever eaten so, those of you that are lucky enough to have seed for these please grow and share seed with others.
It would be such a shame to lose this wonderful runner variety. The man who bred these put his heart and soul into perfecting them. All he asks is they be grown by amateur gardeners, they keep the name Aeron Purple Star and not be sold commercially.

Annette

 

[ninnymary]

Ok, I've finally gotten the courage to ask my question on Scarlet Runner Beans. I've only grown them for their orange flowers and for the pretty bean seed. We like to use them in our art/craft projects. Are they edible at all as a green bean? If so, I must admit that the fuzzy pod turns me off.

Mary