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

[flowerbug]

See, that is what I like about this forum. We can learn something new, and still be full of beans.

a windbag at both ends goes nowhere.

yes, i just made that up. haha...

 

[Zeedman]

Judge a man not by how hard he blows, but how he moves those around him.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal,

Seeds in green pods are mature enough to grow and at a more advanced stage than some gardeners realize. I discovered this when in 1978 I had a very rainy September and October. 26 inches combined total for both months. I saw green pods that were kept so constantly moist from daily downpours hanging from my plants with the roots of seedlings poking out of those green pods. I knew from that experience that I could probably harvest pods green when full of seed if need be and dry further undercover of my house or garage.

I harvest the pods off of plants and spread them out on cardboard in my house. Spreading them out so all the pods are not piled on top of one another so they dry well. My entire crop of Buxton Buckshot this past autumn was harvested when the pods were still green. A frost was imminent the day I clipped everyone of them from the plants. I dried them for one month on cardboard. The beans inside the pods looked like they could very well have been vine ripened and dried.

Thanks for confirming this @Bluejay77. After this past fall, I began to suspect that this might be the case. So many of the pods on the vines I brought in looked very 'not ready' to be harvested, 'specially the poles. Quite fleshy and green still. Yet, howdy doody, they were just about perfect when they did finally dry up. It was very surprising. This is great news for bean seed savers!

 

[heirloomgal]

Should you choose you can try to grow these out and develop your own bean variety. From what I understand, if it remains stable for three generations it's considered stabilized.

That is what I try to do. A few years back I got some outcrosses from Russ and have been trying to get stable beans from them. So far I have three and hope to add two more this year but time will tell.

You probably know all this but it is a long term project. It can get frustrating when one as pretty as your mystery bean just goes away and refuses to come back. But it is truly exciting for me each time I grow them, I never know what the bean I get will look like.

Editted to add: pardon the formatting. The way I used to "reply" doesn't work any more. I guess I'll have to read Flowerbug's post carefully and see if I can figure out how to get it to work. I'm sure there is a simple way to do it but I haven't learned it yet. You are not the only one that gets frustrated with how to manipulate the forum.

I'm gonna give it a try I've never done this, so it'll be fun. I already have so many beans planned for 2021 though! There just is no garden big enough for all my bean ambitions

Never ceases to amaze me how much life is like gardening, you need so much time and patience, aspiration and hard work, and in the end you still never really know what will happen

 

[heirloomgal]

All these frank admissions have me feeling much better now...

I carry the whole plants with the poles into the chamber. Last year my limas, runner beans, Tennessee Greasy Mix, Jembo Polish and Succotash were drying up like that. All for those few pods that didn't dry before the frost. Do you think I'm healthy?

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal the Mystery Bean is a lovely pattern isn't it!? love your Blooming Prairie. and am very envious of how nice and plump all those beans look. you must have very nice garden soil there.

A local greenhouse owner once told me that the area that I live in has somewhat of a 'microclimate'. I'm not sure why he said this, but maybe there is something to it, considering I've made just about EVERY mistake a gardener can make and always managed a pretty good haul. But thank you @flowerbug
Bloomin' Prairie this year, I'll admit, was grown in a part shade location (bad!), and was also too crowded(bad!) so the beans came about a bit smaller than usual but the colour was quite dark compared to other years, doesn't really show in the pic though.

 

[heirloomgal]

You have a beautiful bean collection! You will learn your around just fine. You are doing great at posting pictures.

Thank you @baymule This all seemed a bit daunting at first, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I am able to post pictures much more quickly now. The next is mastering the quotes and replies features. So far so good....

My great hope is that my children will inherit my collection, and pass it on to their children.

 

[heirloomgal]

In 2016 I grew a most lovely little bean. It was a pole type, and I received it from a really dedicated seed preservationist who kept track of bean histories as she collected them. However, for this particular bean she hadn't been able to find very much information, almost none at all. So....I was hoping to post a couple pictures to see if anyone here is familiar with it or knows any of its' history. She goes by the name 'Tarahumara Purple Star'. I originally thought that the originator was @Bluejay77; however, though there are beans carrying the name 'Tarahumara' in the window, I don't see this bean as looking like the others with this name. Perhaps, 'Tarahumara' is a more common bean name in the US...indicating a location perhaps? I do believe this is a landrace type - if that means a bean which will consistently and reliably produce seed coat variations (?). Sorry the photos are old, and they were some of the first bean pictures I ever took, so they have poor lighting.

My memory of growing this bean was that is was super productive, and dried up really quickly for a pole. There was possibly a few other variants, but these are the only photos I have. Any insights would be so appreciated!

 

[flowerbug]

In 2016 I grew a most lovely little bean. It was a pole type, and I received it from a really dedicated seed preservationist who kept track of bean histories as she collected them. However, for this particular bean she hadn't been able to find very much information, almost none at all. So....I was hoping to post a couple pictures to see if anyone here is familiar with it or knows any of its' history. She goes by the name 'Tarahumara Purple Star'. I originally thought that the originator was @Bluejay77; however, though there are beans carrying the name 'Tarahumara' in the window, I don't see this bean as looking like the others with this name. Perhaps, 'Tarahumara' is a more common bean name in the US...indicating a location perhaps? I do believe this is a landrace type - if that means a bean which will consistently and reliably produce seed coat variations (?). Sorry the photos are old, and they were some of the first bean pictures I ever took, so they have poor lighting.

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My memory of growing this bean was that is was super productive, and dried up really quickly for a pole. There was possibly a few other variants, but these are the only photos I have. Any insights would be so appreciated!

i'm wondering if it is this, which was recently discussed in last season's bean thread:

Search results for query: Veitch Wonder

 

[heirloomgal]

i'm wondering if it is this, which was recently discussed in last season's bean thread:

Search results for query: Veitch Wonder

They certainly look very similar, don't they. The pods seem a little longer though on Veitch Wonder, and I think I read in there that it is a bush type......hmmmmm. Such a unique colouring. Perhaps the mystery will begin to unfold from here...