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

[Artorius]

@Bluejay77 , do you have enough starter seed left for Artorius? If not, I can send you most of the ugly seed I have, so he can give it a try next year.

Seems like the first step in curse-breaking is always discovering the curse. Now that we know it's cursed, we can fix it!

@saritabee
Thank you for the offer. I will gladly send you something in exchange for the Frost seeds.
Sometimes I sowed seeds that didn't look very good and the results were great.

 

[flowerbug]

@saritabee

If you have had bean failures due to rabbits then you have a pretty severe rabbit problem. You need to fence them out of your garden. Chicken wire will not stop them. They will find a way in. Try going to Menards and purchase the vinyl lattice pieces that are 2 feet wide by 8 feet long. More expensive but once you purchased them you will have them for countless seasons in the future. You can create a rabbit proof barrier around gardens with this material. I support the lattice pieces with steaks cut to 3 feet long with a well tapered point on one end to make it easier to drive them into the soil. Steaks made out of 1 x 2 inch furing strips 96 inches long. I use one steak at each end and one in the middle. If I need to cut the lattice to size for reason. I use a jigsaw which works very handily.

that will work for rabbits but it won't discourage the climbers or jumpers. we have a six to eight foot fence around our main vegetable garden to keep the deer out - otherwise i'd not have much of a harvest of anything.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've stopped rabbits with chicken wire before by using aprons. The problem is that they can go under a fence, often without digging. If you bend the wire so about 12" is level and goes out toward the side you want to stop or connect a horizontal piece of wire to the bottom of the fence, they can't push their way under the fence. You can weigh the wire down with something heavy but I dig out the top 2", which is basically turf, and cover the wire with that. If they try to dig in, they typically go up to the fence and start digging. They hit the wire and don't know to back up. Installed correctly it can be extremely effective against digging critters. The method is used in dog kennels to keep dogs from digging out, keep predators out of chicken runs, and in zoos.

This will not stop critters that can jump over a fence, it won't stop climbing critters like groundhogs or raccoons, but if installed correctly it can stop some ground based or digging critters. I prefer to use the apron instead of digging a trench to bury the wire, especially in rocky soil. It's much easier to install.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@saritabee
Thank you for the offer. I will gladly send you something in exchange for the Frost seeds.
Sometimes I sowed seeds that didn't look very good and the results were great.

I don't think I got a single return of Frost this past autumn. I am in Florida right now and will have to set up my computer that I brought with me and check the Seed inventory in the freezer. I might do that sometime today.

I'm thinking of requesting it from that SSE member who has it and grow it myself and not let anyone have it. The Potowataomi Lima is gone. The Potowatami cranberry is in very poor shape. Kim's Italian was requested by someone two years ago and never heard from that grower again. I had another grower this past year who bought a lot of seed but also requested probably 15 network beans and didn't return anything. Doesn't email me to let me know if they had a bad year with all the beans and won't reply to me when I email this grower.

 

[Artorius]

@Bluejay77
What you wrote is sad. In Poland we say "there are people and there are stools".

I had a great harvest of Potawatomi Lima. I can put a batch of seeds aside for you. They are really pretty.

 

[Artorius]

This year I had more wax beans. Three Polish varieties, including two poles (Goliat and Tytan) and one bush (Bis), plus Schwarze Witwe, a German pole. I will post photos at the weekend.

I add photos of the wax beans I wrote about. Goliat and Tytan are old Polish varieties that have not been on sale for a long time. I got the seeds in 2020 from the Polish gene bank.
Bis can still be bought, but it is being replaced by new varieties of the filet type. I think it will disappear from stores soon.

Tytan - pole bean, flat, very long and wide pods. Khaki color seeds with lines and spots in a darker shade of the same color.


Goliat - pole bean, flat and wide pods, but half the length of Tytan. Light grey seeds with a golden ring around the eye.


Bis - bush bean, the pods are also flat and wide, about 15 cm long. Light grey seeds with a dark blue stain around the eye.


Schwarze Witwe (Black Widow) - pole bean from Germany


I will be growing all these beans again this year. Last year, they grew in a place damaged by moles, and I didn't harvest too many good quality seeds.

 

[flowerbug]

Bis - bush bean, the pods are also flat and wide, about 15 cm long. Light grey seeds with a dark blue stain around the eye.
View attachment 46534

sweet! good fresh eating? green bean or wax?

 

[saritabee]

@saritabee
Thank you for the offer. I will gladly send you something in exchange for the Frost seeds.
Sometimes I sowed seeds that didn't look very good and the results were great.

I figure I can send some back to @Bluejay77 , and then he can include them in your "official" import box next year?

That way hopefully they won't go missing in customs before they get to you. Since they're cursed. ;D

Let me check how many I have left, and then I'll split them between us. I still want to try again next year; now it's a challenge haha.

 

[Zeedman]

I don't think I got a single return of Frost this past autumn. I am in Florida right now and will have to set up my computer that I brought with me and check the Seed inventory in the freezer. I might do that sometime today.

I'm thinking of requesting it from that SSE member who has it and grow it myself and not let anyone have it. The Potowataomi Lima is gone. The Potowatami cranberry is in very poor shape. Kim's Italian was requested by someone two years ago and never heard from that grower again. I had another grower this past year who bought a lot of seed but also requested probably 15 network beans and didn't return anything. Doesn't email me to let me know if they had a bad year with all the beans and won't reply to me when I email this grower.

Inherent with success in any endeavor, is the ability to accept & overcome the inevitable disappointments. That is equally applicable when dealing with bad weather in the garden, or broken promises in exchanges. As dedicated as you obviously are to bean preservation & LEBN, believe me, I understand your frustration. But the enormity of your successes, @Bluejay77 , far outweigh the few failures.

I am already requesting other seeds from the SSE member who previously offered the Potawatomi lima (they apparently dropped their SSE listings this year). If you have no seed remaining, let me know, and I will try to add that to my request.
Ooops, didn't see @Artorius already has that covered.

 

[Zeedman]

Tytan - pole bean, flat, very long and wide pods. Khaki color seeds with lines and spots in a darker shade of the same color.

The seeds look very similar to the "Zlatak" pole wax bean that I grow; but based upon your description, the pods of "Tytan" are longer & flatter.