2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[heirloomgal]

@flowerbug
In my region, the weather is unchanged. Tropical heat alternating with storms and heavy rains. Many flowers and little pods have fallen from the pole beans. All of them from Bill Wheatly Fall. Fortunately, it's still blooming so the chance for some seeds is still there. Beans that grow in places where shade appears faster looks best. It's a tough year for beans.

Seems like a lot of us are in the same weather boat.

 

[Zeedman]

Seeing lots of bees this year too. Much more than I'd like to really, I'd prefer they stick to the perennials. I didn't realize how much my Piekny Jas beans would draw them. I've seen one crossed bean in my life, which didn't originate in my own garden but someone else's. I have a funny feeling that that number might increase now, after seeing bees move among the bean flowers several times.

A lot of bumblebees & smaller native bees here too. I'm not too worried, they seem more interested in the runner beans & pole limas... which I plant between different beans as barriers. I use trellises of cucumbers or bitter melon as barriers too. It's not 100% effective at preventing crosses, but I've only had a few in the last 20 years.

Oddly, I've seen no honeybees this year either at home, or in the rural garden. One of the reasons I grow a lot of "Zebrina" flowering mallow is as a long-term pollen source for the honeybees, since they start flowering in June & continue to flower a couple weeks after frost.

I question whether all of the Japanese beetles may inadvertently be increasing the pod set on my runner beans. They are swarming on the flowers to the exclusion of almost everything else nearby, including the row of Jembo Polish directly adjacent. Lots of pods set already, in spite of the heat.

 

[Zeedman]

The Thailand Pole cowpea/yardlong has been flowering & setting pods. Given the place of honor for heat lovers (on the South side of the garage) it has proven to be only a weak climber - at least so far. It was a weak climber in the rural garden previously, I wanted to see if I could coax it into full pole habit at home. That doesn't appear likely, but it is sending out a lot of new runners at the base.

 

[Blue-Jay]

With all the heat we've had so far this year. My Bean Acres raised beds are just lush looking and setting tons of pods. I just hope that when it comes time for all those pods to dry we don't get an over abundance of rain like I got last year in late September and early October.

Raised Bed East taken 7-28-21

Possum Trot - Bush dry growing in raised bed West. Seed planted June 5.

Prince Purple - Bush Dry in raised bed west. Planted June 5.

Fruhe Goldbohne - Bush Dry in raised bed west. Planted June 5.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Oddly, I've seen no honeybees this year either at home, or in the rural garden. One of the reasons I grow a lot of "Zebrina" flowering mallow is as a long-term pollen source for the honeybees, since they start flowering in June & continue to flower a couple weeks after frost.

with 20 bee hives out back along the NE property line we've been seeing a lot of bees but since we did not open up the bird baths until summer we've not had so many using them which is nicer for the birds. starting to see Bluebirds visiting and yesterday i had a lot of amusment watching two Mourning Doves use the smaller one (which they don't normally do). i think they were doing a bit of a courting dance.

hopefully some of this cooler weather will reach others soon.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I really like mead and would love to make my own.

I'm not sure what the laws are like in England, but from a technical direction, making mead is quite easy. Besides the fermenter and yeast (which you can get from any brewing supply company) and the corks and corker (same place) all you really need is some bottles (I use old wine bottles). Ingredients wise all there is is water, yeast and honey. And of those. the only one that can get sort of expensive is the honey (well, expensive for me, but I make mine from rare and exotic honeys). Just mix them together to make the wort, add the yeast, pour into the fermenter, and wait. There are a few other tricks to make GOOD mead, but I can cover those later.

 

[heirloomgal]

I discovered in a bean row this year a variety which expressed somewhat unusual leaf shape, more pointed than usual, and from a distance they looked almost a bit ruffled. So I've been working on finding a expert in my area to have a look at them. Turns out the individual in my area is on leave right now, but I did eventually find a bean agronomist/specialist who could help me out, as well as the team they work with. They are employed by the government to work in conjuction with commercial bean growers (some agriculture here is not free market as some crops are automatically 'sold' to government) in regards to plant diagnostics, and all manner of angles to increase bean yields and assess problems. Research and development is involved as well in what they do. @Bluejay77 mentioned it might be helpful to share some of what I've learned from them, for anyone who may be interested. I am still sorting through all of information, but I picked out so far a few tidbits I thought were interesting to post here.

I have never fertilized my beans, mostly because my understanding was that beans are capable, for the most part, to fix their own nitrogen. And there is a strong sentiment in books etc. that it is easy to overfertilize beans and mess up your harvest. However, a recent study they shared with me showed that beans are able to fix anywhere from 11-75% of the nitrogen they require. Not nearly as much as many people think, myself included. Being such a wide range, they feel an application of nitrogen to bean crops is necessary. But it isn't a simple initial fertilization in that the when and where really matters.

So, for the first 30 days a growing bean plant will uptake less than 20% of all the nitrogen it will use in its life. But after 30 days the bean plants uptake increases really, really quickly. At the 45 to 50 day mark (from planting) the maximum daily uptake of nitrogen peaks. It's kind of amazing how they've literally got so fine a point on all this. An initial fertilization at an early stage wouldn't be very effective given it wouldn't really be used up for another month, if it didn't leach away with watering.

Another noteworthy point is that commercial bean growers turn in stems and foliage at seasons end back to the soil. I mention this because probably most of us compost the plants, or dispose of them one way or another, but we are removing them from our garden. They tell me this because if you look at their charts of how much various nutrients are returned back into the soil as a result of doing this it's quite surprising. 65% of the nitrogen is returned, among many others some of which return up to 80% of a given necessary nutrient. All the more reason to consider adding nutrients after several years of growing beans in an area where the plants are not turned under.

On the topic of crop rotation in a garden in regards to beans - not a good idea they say. Keep your beans in the same spot. Here's what they explained to me; the bean plant roots colonized by mycorrhizae (VAM) access a greater amount of soil, and this helps in extracting both water and greater nutrient levels. However, nutrient intake with regards to health and vigorous plant growth is most associated with P or Z uptake actually. When beans are planted where no beans have grown before, or other VAM fungi crops, the zinc uptake is lower. No matter how much Zn fertilizer is applied, the bean plants cannot take it up. So, in a garden better to plant beans in the same area if the beans are a priority crop for you.

 

[Artorius]

Seems like a lot of us are in the same weather boat.

I can't write that everything is going wrong because I would lie. I have varieties that do well in the weather I have this year. Most of them are not network beans and that worries me. I have no obligations to them. Fate is malicious.

A few of today's photos.

Snow Cap


Nimbus


Dapple Grey



Potawatomi Lima



Wild Gonny


Brown Lazy Wife

 

[Artorius]

@flowerbug
I harvested the first two Huey dry pods today. Plants end their vegetation. Lower leaves turn yellow and fall off.
Looks like very early bean. I will send 50 good quality seeds in autumn to @Bluejay77.




I also harvested dry pods from Arikara Yellow, King Of The Early and Wild Pigeon.


.

 

[Artorius]

I have a big riddle. This year I sowed more Arikara Yellow beans. Among the seedlings, I found 6 with two-colored cotyledons. 2019 seeds. I checked my notes. Thibodeau Du Comte Beauce grew next to Arikara Yellow then, probably outcrosses appeared. I planted them in the gap between the chokeberry bushes, because it was the only place where I found some free space. Unexpectedly, these beans released the runners, and look at the inflorescence of one of them. It looks like runner bean. Color of flowers like the color of pink tomatoes.



The remaining 5 plants have normal flowers and pods. Could I have found a cross between common bean and runner bean? In 2019 Piękny Jaś grew in the row opposite. I'll be watching this freak closely.