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

[flowerbug]

Probably after seeing so many kidney shaped beans over the years perhaps I have been selecting more rounded seeded beans as a refreshing variation. @flowerbug wait until you get your grow out of netwok beans and see the Monachedda Pale. You are really gonna like that. So round they roll on a table top nearly as smooth as a bowling ball. You need to shell the dry beans in some sort of low walled container to keep them from rolling off your table all the time. I have this old rectangular tupperware continer I found in a garage sale about 2 1/2 inches inches deep about 13 inches long and 8 inches wide I hand shell beans in to keep them more contained.

i usually finish drying beans in shallow box tops and then shell them out in those as i get time. i think my first time really noticing the round shape was with the Top Notch wax beans, some of those seeds would be bigger and more round than the others. and then i found the Yellow Eye (aka molasses) and the Black Coco and really started noticing that shape. ever since then i've gradually been selecting beans of the more round shapes that show up.

almost everything i selected this year from you are rounders. i think they'll fit in nicely.

 

[flowerbug]

In Italy the bean is known as Monachine but since its name is regionally protected like Tarbais or Greek Elephant, in the US it goes by Pellegrini, named for Seattle's culinary icon Angelo Pellegrini who grew it for over 50 years. It is a dual purpose snap / dry bean that climbs to ~5 feet. It is delicious and was exceptionally productive for me last year.

ETA here's a great article on the bean - https://www.seattletimes.com/pacifi...e-bean-is-truly-a-pellegrini-family-heirloom/

thanks for the info. some year i'll have to add it to the mix.

 

[reedy]

I haven't been paying good attention and missed a lot of good discussion and pictures on the 2017 thread so I just got caught up on that. The discussion about crossing I found particularly interesting because I see a lot of that in my garden. So much that I need to isolate ones I'm growing out for seed by distance and with tall stuff like corn in between. I have noticed the bees are very methodical in their visits, carefully moving from one flower to the next closest rather than flying around at random so 50 feet between kinds isn't 100% effective but works good enough.

I feel real behind in general too, weather has been rather uncooperative this spring. I had beans and corn up at this time last year. It's still too cold and ground too wet even now.

Gives me more time to sort seeds and study the lists to decide what to grow I reckon but I'm ready to plant something.

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 got package today! thank you so much. looking forwards to planting.

i hope i don't have the last Red Bollito bean, how do you grow singletons? i was thinking i would start it in a pot and wait until it had three sets of leaves before putting it out near the fence. that is if it sprouts at all. *nervous parent*

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 got package today! thank you so much. looking forwards to planting.

i hope i don't have the last Red Bollito bean, how do you grow singletons? i was thinking i would start it in a pot and wait until it had three sets of leaves before putting it out near the fence. that is if it sprouts at all. *nervous parent*

Don't Want to make you nervous but yes you have the last Red Bollito seed. Plant it around a single Pole by itself. Wait till your normal planting weather and plant it like the rest of your pole beans.

You could presprout it between damp not soaking wet but damp folded paper towl. In a quart size Ziploc baggie with the end left open for air. Start checking it after the third day in your house. When it looks like it's germinated plant it outside around a single pole by itself. When the weather is normal for planting beans.

 

[journey11]

@flowerbug , I've done that both ways; paper towel pre-sprout or in a little peat pot. They don't take kindly to to much handling once they take off, so with the peat pots, I just pick the sides apart a little and try to set the plant without disturbing the roots any. It can really stunt it if you do. And be sure to put a little circle of wire fence around it to shield it from the groundhogs, bunnies, etc. I also like to dust mine with a little Sevin dust while it's small so the bugs don't wear it out. Happy parenting!

Mine came the other day too. Man, am I excited for this year. Probably not going to do too much else in the garden this year, so the beans will get most all of my attention and space. Spotted Dog...what a beautiful bean! And Karachaganck is a bit bigger and plumper than I expected, really stunning in person.

I took a sizable donation of tomato seeds to my local Seed Library that was started last year, but it doesn't appear yet that they intend to continue it. I'm glad I didn't give them the big box of beans and other stuff I had saved and set aside for them. If I don't find another place to donate them to, I guess I'll list them on SSE as I have time.

 

[flowerbug]

well if you want to order by container load:

https://good-luck.en.alibaba.com/product/1952100404-200312605/Red_Ball_Beans.html


here is a smaller company:

https://hawthornfarm.ca/our-seed/vegetables/pole-beans/true-red-cranberry

ah, and these are actually in Canada.

i'm not so worried now that i may have the only red round bean left... just not called the same name...

 

[Ridgerunner]

@journey11 I grew Karachaganak last year, so did Russ. We both had the same possible segregation. One bean was rounder than the other. You may be able to seethe difference in this photo. The #1 was rounder, the #2 was more oval. Yes, it is stunning in person. I don't know how they look after a year's storage but that tan looked almost 3-dimensional to me. It will be really interesting to see how they do for you.

 

[flowerbug]

Don't Want to make you nervous but yes you have the last Red Bollito seed. Plant it around a single Pole by itself. Wait till your normal planting weather and plant it like the rest of your pole beans.

You could presprout it between damp not soaking wet but damp folded paper towl. In a quart size Ziploc baggie with the end left open for air. Start checking it after the third day in your house. When it looks like it's germinated plant it outside around a single pole by itself. When the weather is normal for planting beans.

i'm not worried about the sprouting/growing as much as about various animals that sometimes manage to make it through the fence. however, i was doing some work today on the end of the small drainage ditch and rescued some wire mesh that i can use to protect the bean from critters. this will give me a second fence and so as long as it sprouts i should be able to get a plant to grow.

i've always had good luck sprouting beans here.

 

[flowerbug]

I haven't been paying good attention and missed a lot of good discussion and pictures on the 2017 thread so I just got caught up on that. The discussion about crossing I found particularly interesting because I see a lot of that in my garden. So much that I need to isolate ones I'm growing out for seed by distance and with tall stuff like corn in between. I have noticed the bees are very methodical in their visits, carefully moving from one flower to the next closest rather than flying around at random so 50 feet between kinds isn't 100% effective but works good enough.

I feel real behind in general too, weather has been rather uncooperative this spring. I had beans and corn up at this time last year. It's still too cold and ground too wet even now.

Gives me more time to sort seeds and study the lists to decide what to grow I reckon but I'm ready to plant something.

i was having fun today puttering and there was snow down in there that i had to get out of the way...

it's a ways from planting time...