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

[flowerbug]

shelling beans. i started last night with the most icky bunch of pods to work through (get the worst of it over up front). when i'm sorting i'll set aside the pods that look the worst so they won't spread mold to the other pods that are drying. i finished those last night. i have all the rest of the pods in flats or brown paper bags now so i can actually walk through my room without banging into flats any longer. just saying that i can walk through my room is nice right there.

this morning i started on shelling out the Puregold Wax. tough on the hands so i'm taking a break for a while. part of the box of those were some Yellow Eye pods and a few Red Ryder. the Yellow Eye beans looked great. i'm looking forwards to getting all of those shelled out from the bigger bags as there should be a good harvest in there. probably the best ever since in the past i'd never planted so many of them. we sure do enjoy eating them.

since i don't have the bags purely segregated by bean type i won't know the tally for several weeks yet at the soonest. when doing bulk beans my main concerns are to get the harvest in and dried well enough so it doesn't spoil further and this season i think i just sneaked that in for most of the dry beans that were ready. it's good when it all works out.

bean therapy season is the other phrase i use for this time of the year.

 

[heirloomgal]

W

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...

www.anthive.com

and this provides more history and context

Water | Anthive

Before you landscape, observe...

www.anthive.com

Wow! There is a lot of work you put into that!

 

[flowerbug]

W
Wow! There is a lot of work you put into that!

there's two of us and we've been at it a long time now. had i known they were going to be doing so much gardening here i'd have loved to have brought in decent topsoil as the added elevation and better drainage would improve a lot of results. much easier to bring in things while you can still have access to the site by trucks.

and for some strange reason almost all of Mom's projects involve heavy things.

 

[Blue-Jay]

New Bean Mail​

My lima friend Curt Burroughs of Leota, Iowa has collected lima beans for a long time. He's really been into crosses of Ping Zebra with various limas in his collection and then gets some interesting segregations. Recently he sent me this bean that was crossed with Ping Zebra. It's not stable yet, but it's about the same size as Ping Zebra and much redder than the more pink looking Ping Zebra.


Ping Zebra - Pole Lima----------------------------------------Ping Zebra Cross - Pole Lima

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I can't help noticing that the segregation looks a lot like the Christmas Lima analog that is grown so much in China. I know they aren't the same (if this is still the size of Ping's it's a lot smaller). But one wondering is Ping's itself has some Christmas Lima in it's ancesty.

My off type lima (red and pinkish grey, extremely fat seeds) is still growing, but no flowers yet (I have it in a pot however, so I can carry it inside if it takes so long it doesn't beat the frost.)

 

[flowerbug]

New Bean Mail​

My lima friend Curt Burroughs of Leota, Iowa has collected lima beans for a long time. He's really been into crosses of Ping Zebra with various limas in his collection and then gets some interesting segregations. Recently he sent me this bean that was crossed with Ping Zebra. It's not stable yet, but it's about the same size as Ping Zebra and much redder than the more pink looking Ping Zebra.

View attachment 43794 View attachment 43796
Ping Zebra - Pole Lima----------------------------------------Ping Zebra Cross - Pole Lima

i need early enough bush types that don't shatter to be successful here.

this year i put in a few rows of the brown lima beans that did well for me last year, but they're too prone to early shattering that they won't withstand the rains, fogs, dewfalls, etc. very well. of course if i picked more often and earlier that would avoid some losses, but the Fordhooks will work for me so i'll be going back to more of those next season.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I can't help noticing that the segregation looks a lot like the Christmas Lima analog that is grown so much in China. I know they aren't the same (if this is still the size of Ping's it's a lot smaller). But one wondering is Ping's itself has some Christmas Lima in it's ancesty.

I would love to know the ancestry of Ping Zebra, but I do not. It would be a fascintating story I'm sure.

 

[flowerbug]

I would love to know the ancestry of Ping Zebra, but I do not. It would be a fascintating story I'm sure.

i keep thinking that is a misspelling of Pink Zebra, but i have no real knowledge of the history of it beyond that the ancestors came from Central to South America.

 

[heirloomgal]

New Bean Mail​

My lima friend Curt Burroughs of Leota, Iowa has collected lima beans for a long time. He's really been into crosses of Ping Zebra with various limas in his collection and then gets some interesting segregations. Recently he sent me this bean that was crossed with Ping Zebra. It's not stable yet, but it's about the same size as Ping Zebra and much redder than the more pink looking Ping Zebra.

View attachment 43794 View attachment 43796
Ping Zebra - Pole Lima----------------------------------------Ping Zebra Cross - Pole Lima

Ever since I 1st saw this bean on your website, it made me think of something from a human biology textbook. And it comes to me now what organ - half a human lung.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

i keep thinking that is a misspelling of Pink Zebra, but i have no real knowledge of the history of it beyond that the ancestors came from Central to South America.

Ultimately, yes (though Lima beans are more a south than a central American thing originally, I think they have their ultimate ancestors in the Andes). But that's a bit like saying that Guatemalan Fava bean strains originate in the Old World, or Russian Black tomatoes come from Central America. It's correct if you go far enough back, but were are really concerned with ancestry a bit closer in time.

I THINK Joe say he found Ping Zebra in China, and I have no reason to doubt this claim. As I said before, the Christmas Fava (or something that looks just like it) is a commodity bean in China (I think it's because of the supposed chestnut like flavor or maybe it got in their good graces by being red*). If that is the case, "Ping" is a perfectly acceptable name. Maybe it was the surname of the person Joe got the beans from.



*Though given that there are lima beans that are ALL red you'd think one of those would have replaced it if that was the reason.