2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[reedy]

Weather is always an issue anymore. It had been hot and dry here, not terrible hot or dry like in a lot of places but pretty hot. With mulch and just a little bit of watering my beans and most other things were doing well. Starting last few days of July and every day so far in August it has been overcast and wet. We have been getting brief pop-up storms with a 1/2 inch or as much as 2 inches falling in just a few minutes with cloudy, drippy weather between.

I had planted most of my beans in early May and have had a decent harvest of both snap and dry before the damp weather moved in, but the largest bulk of my dry beans are out there trying to dry down right now. I'm really picky about the beans we save to eat and even more so about those saved for seed. I don't want beans from moldy pods or that have staining on the seeds, or seeds that sprouted in the pods. If we don't get a bit of sun and some dryer air pretty soon, I bet my harvest will be reduced by 50%.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I'm really picky about the beans we save to eat and even more so about those saved for seed. I don't want beans from moldy pods or that have staining on the seeds, or seeds that sprouted in the pods. If we don't get a bit of sun and some dryer air pretty soon, I bet my harvest will be reduced by 50%.

If a lot of the pods on your bush beans are dry or yellowed out and even a small amount of them still fairly green but with good seed development. You can pull up the plants and hang them somewhere under cover out of the weather and let them dry for a month or so. I have gotten some beautiful seed this way and minimized the loss due to wet weather.

We think we have some strange weather now. I can remember my first year with John Withee's Wangian Associates 1978. I was growing out 35 of his varieties. It was a hot dry summer and my soil was a heavy clay type top soil. The beans grew very well that summer. I don't remember if I ever watered. Then September and most of October gave us rain every evening with some sun during the daylight hours. We had 14 inches of rain fall over the month of September and then another 12 inches in October. We had several summers near the end of the 1980's with long periods of 95 to 100 degree days. My sister and I owned a house and she told me to water the lawn. I said Nahhh it is just gone dormant and will come back once we get a decent amount of rain. Sure enough one of those summers killed huge patches of our lawn. I used to listen to a particular weather man on one of the Chicago radio stations on the way to work in the afternoon during the decade of the 80's. He said even back then we are living in the age of excess when it comes to weather.

This past July we have had two good rain events. Fourth of July weekend 4 inches and about 2 weeks ago a two inch rain. Lately I was starting to become concerned about the length of time we've gone without rain again plus with the very warm temperatures. Early this morning it started to rain. I checked my backyard rain gauge when I got up and it showed 1 inch. It's been raining pretty good on and off since about 6:30 this morning and we will probably wind up with another inch or so today and more predicted for tomorrow. Glad all my bean pods are still developing or still green.

 

[flowerbug]

we don't really need more rain but it looks like the rains that made it past you there @Bluejay77 have arrived.

 

[heirloomgal]

I learned an interesting bit of trivia recently about a connection between my raised bean beds, my city and your state @bluejay. The wood that we used to build my raised garden beds last summer (I posted pics earlier this season, my semi runners are growing in there this year) is from a lumber mill about 20 minutes away. They sell mostly rough lumber I think, pine. Anyhow, apparently there was a huge fire in Chicago in the late 1800''s and thereafter a huge demand for lumber began in the rebuilding. My city had not yet been developed, but loggers moved in thereafter to harvest the hardwood trees to ship to Illinois. The Canadian government then made a rule that no unmilled lumber could be sent across the border so mills were established in this area. The mill that I got my wood from for my bean beds, it turns out, was one of the original mills set up for processing lumber to ship to Illinois. I can't believe it's still around and even goes by the same name!

So much to my surprise, because I had always assumed our history was 100% related to the discovery of nickel, mining, but it isn't, it was actually that fire. The district, unfortunately, is pretty much devoid of all hardwood trees though in one small nearby little town there are still some oaks. I quite enjoy going there to collect those rare acorns with my kids in the fall, though I can't help but notice the insane amount of squirrels that run around that village because of those trees! I'm sorta glad I don't have to deal with those critters!

 

[Blue-Jay]

I learned an interesting bit of trivia recently about a connection between my raised bean beds, my city and your state @bluejay. The wood that we used to build my raised garden beds last summer (I posted pics earlier this season, my semi runners are growing in there this year) is from a lumber mill about 20 minutes away. They sell mostly rough lumber I think, pine. Anyhow, apparently there was a huge fire in Chicago in the late 1800''s and thereafter a huge demand for lumber began in the rebuilding. My city had not yet been developed, but loggers moved in thereafter to harvest the hardwood trees to ship to Illinois. The Canadian government then made a rule that no unmilled lumber could be sent across the border so mills were established in this area. The mill that I got my wood from for my bean beds, it turns out, was one of the original mills set up for processing lumber to ship to Illinois. I can't believe it's still around and even goes by the same name!

Well that is definitely interesting piece of information. That was known as the Great Chicago Fire. Happened in 1871. Started supposedly when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern in the barn which had straw all over the barn floor. The fire burned over 3 square miles of the city. Can you imagine a city as big as Chicago having cows in it. A real different era.

 

[Blue-Jay]

we don't really need more rain but it looks like the rains that made it past you there @Bluejay77 have arrived.

Yeah you been getting rains that have missed me. The ones that cross over Wisconsin and head over your way. This rain came over us from the southwest and moved northeast toward you.

 

[heirloomgal]

First dried beans of 2022 -

Pale Grey Lavender, network bean

Pale Grey Lavender on yellow...

I need to look at my packet for the perfect spelling of the name, but I think it goes something like, Mbumpa Boontjies (network bean)...what I planted was a very pale pink and white mottled seed and this is what came from a few pods.....!

As far as non network beans - Indian Woman Yellow. Such a diminutive plant with tiny little seeds.

 

[HmooseK]

@heirloomgal
Pale Grey Lavender is such a pretty bean!

 

[Decoy1]

I'm growing La Vigneronne as a network bean. It's a bean with splashes of red on the pods. Of the four plants I have, one is throwing plain green pods and is more vigorous that the true plants. I wondered whether there are any other reports of this stock of La Vigneronne having crossed or not being stable. I believe you have grown it, heirloomgal. Were yours all red splashed?
I imagine you want seeds only from the red splashed pods, Russ?

 

[jbosmith]

Yesterday was mostly about pea harvest, but here's an updated pic of my wall o beans (Seneca Allegheny Pinto) with some new cabbage neighbors where the garlic was last time.

If you get closer, they do have a few new friends.

Here's some cowpeas from @Zeedman with some pods. This is one of the MN varieties but I don't have my notes handy to know which.

The limas that @flowerbug sent are also trying to make pods. They've got about a month left before frost is a big risk so we'll see.

This is Cha Kura Kake soy from @Zeedman - again I don't have my notes so apologies if I butchered the name. I'm not really sure what to think of the yellowing. They seem to have gone from "I've got little pods!" to "Well I'm done" overnight, though admittedly I've been working a lot so it was probably over a couple week span. I'd be interested in thoughts on this.