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

[flowerbug]

i had a bucket of melon rinds to feed to the worms, which meant i had to pick up all the flats of beans drying and move them out of the way so i could get at the worm buckets. i also pack any bean pods that i have into the worm buckets as then they get repurposed back into plant food eventually. even if i don't get the pods into worm buckets i'll bury them in a garden someplace so they're never wasted or thrown away. always, always return the garden grown organic materials to the gardens, as much as possible. with that all said i had five buckets of worms fed and checked out. the next time i pick melons i'll do the other half. worms love melon rinds.

that one morning chore finished so on to the next project which was to combine all of the flats into large paper bags so i could consolidate and have all my ducks in a row. by that i mean seven large paper bags full to the brim of beans that now will need to be shelled out. these are the bulk beans i grew (mostly Yellow Eye, Red Ryder, Sunset, Painted Pony and Purple Dove) - and those bags are heavy so there should be some nice returns on my efforts for those this season.

the later beans are still out there to be picked as they finish up, some are still flowering.

one nice thing about consolidating things is that i can find ways to stack flats together - i have a one layer flat sitting here that has ten other flats nested inside of it. that's a great way to save space here in my tiny room. kinda like those Russian dolls that are stuck inside each other, but, well, not quite as artistic.

 

[Zeedman]

i also pack any bean pods that i have into the worm buckets as then they get repurposed back into plant food eventually. even if i don't get the pods into worm buckets i'll bury them in a garden someplace so they're never wasted or thrown away. always, always return the garden grown organic materials to the gardens, as much as possible.

I re-purpose bean hulls & corn husks by dumping them into the garden, along the main pathways or wet spots. About this time of year, there are enough hulls to keep the most often used paths covered.

 

[heirloomgal]

Wow you are getting just beautiful seed quality. The last time I grew this bean. It was grown in my small backyard plot. Since then I've found out the my soil ph on this plot was 7.8. Kinda aklaline. So that may have been the result of the smaller seed you got from me. I'm working on my backyard plot with soil sulphur and the last test I think I had the ph down to 7.3. This summer I grew some beans in my raised beds at Bean Acres that I grew last in my backyard plot and they have produced larger seed and larger more robust plants. I've got ph of 6.1 and 6.8 there. The 6.1 could be raised a little to 6.5 and the 6.8 could be droped to 6.5.

That is what I think has given you larger seed of Vaquero. I think it's soil difference. My backyard soil tests out with very high mineral content but the ph is to high also.

I'm very happy you approve of the seed quality! I found that virtually all the shelled Vaquero pods had well formed seed, and the plants were beautifully vigorous, but I was quite worried you'd be disappointed that so many of the seeds had so much white on them. The ones you sent were very spotted in contrast. I'll pick out and send the most spotty ones in the lot if you prefer those.

 

[heirloomgal]

i had a bucket of melon rinds to feed to the worms, which meant i had to pick up all the flats of beans drying and move them out of the way so i could get at the worm buckets. i also pack any bean pods that i have into the worm buckets as then they get repurposed back into plant food eventually. even if i don't get the pods into worm buckets i'll bury them in a garden someplace so they're never wasted or thrown away. always, always return the garden grown organic materials to the gardens, as much as possible. with that all said i had five buckets of worms fed and checked out. the next time i pick melons i'll do the other half. worms love melon rinds.

that one morning chore finished so on to the next project which was to combine all of the flats into large paper bags so i could consolidate and have all my ducks in a row. by that i mean seven large paper bags full to the brim of beans that now will need to be shelled out. these are the bulk beans i grew (mostly Yellow Eye, Red Ryder, Sunset, Painted Pony and Purple Dove) - and those bags are heavy so there should be some nice returns on my efforts for those this season.

the later beans are still out there to be picked as they finish up, some are still flowering.

one nice thing about consolidating things is that i can find ways to stack flats together - i have a one layer flat sitting here that has ten other flats nested inside of it. that's a great way to save space here in my tiny room. kinda like those Russian dolls that are stuck inside each other, but, well, not quite as artistic.

How large of a space is your combined bean gardens? Seems very big!

 

[heirloomgal]

they're grown in commercial quantities in Michigan and have been most of my life at least, but i still like growing my own as then i know what has gone into their production and don't have to wonder if they were sprayed with poisons or whatever. of course i also work with them to improve them and hope to see cross breeds show up. some i have already segregated and keep track of them where i plant them so i can see what happens next.

It's a pretty bean too

 

[Blue-Jay]

I'm very happy you approve of the seed quality! I found that virtually all the shelled Vaquero pods had well formed seed, and the plants were beautifully vigorous, but I was quite worried you'd be disappointed that so many of the seeds had so much white on them. The ones you sent were very spotted in contrast. I'll pick out and send the most spotty ones in the lot if you prefer those.

You can send the more spotted or the less spotted or even a mix of both if you like. I will let you decide. Either way I'm not concerned.

 

[flowerbug]

It's a pretty bean too

they certainly are, i love the pattern, but i also love the shape of them when they are fully formed. round is cheerful to me in beans.

 

[flowerbug]

How large of a space is your combined bean gardens? Seems very big!

it depends upon what i plant each season. this year i think about 2,000 square feet was in bean production. there's a lot of wasted space here which is not being used at all for gardens or much of anything else.

the lot is 200x400ft with half that space being not used or unusable. this pic is out of date by several years but shows the overall layout. the large drainage ditch that runs through the property means that we don't use the back part at all other than brushhog it once in a while to keep it from getting overgrown.

the perennial gardens and rock mulch decorations, pathways, house and driveway take up a lot of the rest of the space. thankfully there isn't much mowing left to do.

 

[heirloomgal]

it depends upon what i plant each season. this year i think about 2,000 square feet was in bean production. there's a lot of wasted space here which is not being used at all for gardens or much of anything else.

the lot is 200x400ft with half that space being not used or unusable. this pic is out of date by several years but shows the overall layout. the large drainage ditch that runs through the property means that we don't use the back part at all other than brushhog it once in a while to keep it from getting overgrown.

the perennial gardens and rock mulch decorations, pathways, house and driveway take up a lot of the rest of the space. thankfully there isn't much mowing left to do.

What a great aerial picture. Now I see why you identify your gardens by direction, it's not a 'backyard garden' in the traditional sense. You are nearly surrounded by garden space, the views from the windows must all be very nice. I think it is really lovely when gardens contain both flowers and vegetables.

 

[flowerbug]

What a great aerial picture. Now I see why you identify your gardens by direction, it's not a 'backyard garden' in the traditional sense. You are nearly surrounded by garden space, the views from the windows must all be very nice. I think it is really lovely when gardens contain both flowers and vegetables.

we have other names for some of the gardens but they would not make much sense to others who haven't been here much or who don't know the history. like the people who give directions by telling you where to go based upon where someone's house or barn used to be and such. like we have a tulip garden that isn't a tulip garden much any more, and then there's the lily tree garden which still does have lily trees in it but now it has lost the surrounding pathway so that is likely to be planted with a row or two of beans next year... etc.

the overall view gives context for the other closer-up pics. once in a while i used to have to get up on the roof and i would take pictures of the gardens from that vantage point.

From Space or Up on the Roof | Anthive

Views from the past and...

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and this provides more history and context

Water | Anthive

Before you landscape, observe...

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