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

[flowerbug]

a kiss from a bean plant.

 

[Zeedman]

Run for your lives, its a triffid!!!

 

[flowerbug]

Run for your lives, its a triffid!!!

we're all safe, it is worm food now! i thought it was interesting how that broken off stem healed up... hard frost last night, all beans done now for sure, even if the bush lima beans have flowers on them, i'm very sure not much is on those plants any more to harvest. as i'm putting up gardens i'm still finding a few beans here or there and even if they're not all perfect they're edible.

 

[reedy]

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 as snaps.

Mrs. Maud's Limas - Massive growth and lots of pods but very poor production. Lots of issues with misshapen seeds and lots of mold issues. They came on early and I thought they were going to do really well but the earlier ones did not mature. I sorted and sent back all of the best ones but even they are not what I call quality seeds.
Dr. Martin's Limas - Total crop failure, not one good seed.

Madagascar Limas - Wonderful beans, excellent production, enough to sample in the kitchen and we liked them a lot. Plenty to keep and able to return as many as the pack would hold! Great find, first Lima I'v come across that rivals production with the little red ones I'v had for a long time but we like the flavor a lot more. Definitely adding them to my mix and keeping some for isolation grow outs as well.

Bonus Limas, Rosie Clare and Snow Storm both did well. Not as well as Madagascar but very happy to have them. I didn't have space for good isolation so I imagine they are already just part of the mix.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@reedy where are you located? Interested in your climate and success with certain lima's. The only ones I've ever had success with in Arkansas was Jackson's Wonder and I didn't think they tasted like lima's. I think that Jackson's Wonder seed packet may have been mislabeled. Practically all my lima's up there were like your Mrs. Maud's. My space is going to be limited down here but if I can find something that is really productive I might try them. I do like good lima's.

 

[reedy]

@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 either don't produce, or they mold or there is only one or two seeds per pod.

I have a little dark red one given to me by the local historical society cause I do their web site and sometimes help out in their little pioneer garden. I don't remember the name right off but Thomas Jefferson supposedly grew it. It is the only one I have that is consistently productive and it seems to overwhelm others with its pollen. My mix always yields lots of the small dark red seeds even if I didn't plant any.

We like lighter color or solid white ones much better which is why I'm excited about the Madagascar, it isn't all white but largely so and like I said it rivaled the little red ones in production. Rosie Clair is very similar but smaller seeds and Snow Storm was all white. I have a big back up supply of my mix so next year I'm going to grow these new ones about 90% of the total mix and try to overwhelm the productive red ones with their pollen.

Also gonna grow a patch of Madagascar in isolation, or at least as isolated as my three acres will accommodate.

**Madagascar also filled out their pods very nicely. I found one pod with 8 full nice seeds, they were so crowded that the edges reminded me of cut shorts. Probably just some sort of fluke but I saved those seeds separately.

 

[flowerbug]

i started some sorting last night. it's hard for me to resist once they are all dried and ready... i'm always curious to see what's happened.

 

[Blue-Jay]

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.

Your beans were sent Monday October 22nd. They were in my mailbox yesterday already. Many thanks. Your package was the second one back so far. The first one back was from a grower in New Mexico about a week and a half ago. Thank you also to our New Mexico grower. We had 28 growers this year, and 29 if I count myself. All my beans are dry enough for storage already. There is a third package on it's way back from a grower in Canada. Only 25 more returns to go.

 

[reedy]

@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 better to stick with common beans for grow outs.
Sure glad to have those Madagascar though, great flavor beans and they are happy here when most are not.

 

[Blue-Jay]

The first Saturday of this month of October I went to Livingston, Tennessee to attend Bill Best's "Sustainable Mountain Agriculture" seed swap. I had no intentions of coming back home with any new beans, but some of the folks I knew did a little pre-seed swap seed swap and after the seed swap was over the next day I wound up with 20 new bean varieties. Took photos of them last night and thought you might like to see them today.

The first one is a pole bean called Anasazi. It's typical of the many southwest beans that have this pattern but of various colors.

"Anasazi" - Pole

The second bean is what is called a fall bean in the Kentucky Tennessee environment called "Smith Osborne" and also sold by a seed company called "Great Lakes Staple Seeds" The beans are said to be sweet as sugar when slow cooked.

"Smith Osborne" - Pole

The third bean was being given out at the seed swap on Saturday 10/06 by a fellow and his wife from Alpine, Tennessee called "Granny". The beans look pretty rough. It would be interesting to see what real quality new seed of this would look like. I have a feeling that the drying weather was not conducive to great looking seed when these specimens were grown.

"Granny" - Pole

This fourth bean I got the night before the seed swap from Karen Golden who owns and runs Michigan Heirlooms. She sells mainly tomato varieties. The bean is called "Grey Eyed Greasy"

"Grey Eyed Greasy" - Pole

This fifth bean was also from Karen Golden called "Fisher Bird Egg" She brought her entire seed stock of beans with her and said we could pick out what we wanted and take as many beans as we wanted. She didn't have many of these so I only took four beans. Little round bean smaller than a Navy bean.

"Fisher Bird Egg" - Pole