2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[jbosmith]

.....old Canadian varieties.....hmm, you've got my curiosity piqued now jb

These are all the ones the critters ate. The ones with * are old Canadian varieties from the part of Quebec that's near me.

@flowerbug - I didn't get to try eating yours but I loved the tendrils.

* St. Hubert pea (IA SSE HF)
* Trapper pea (IA SSE HF)
Flowerbug's Smooth pea (Flowerbug)
* Carling pea (IA SSE HF)
* Century pea (IA SSE HF)
* Creamette pea (IA SSE HF)
Alaska pea (True Leaf)
Kiefel Vermeer (VT DA S)
Wando pea (Southern Seed)

 

[meadow]

I did transplants and put them in at maybe a 5-6" plant spacing, mostly out of habit from beans.


The idea of dry pea hummus is what started this project. I've never done that, which I guess might have been a good step one, but if it doesn't work out I can always use them in soups.

I also grew Gorah, which looked similar but was more variable in size and smaller overall, Swedish Red, which is super pretty, but which I don't enjoy shelling due to very thing, clingy pods, and a bunch of old Canadian varieties which both the deer and chipmunks liked at various stages in my community garden.

Thank you! I'd love to hear what you think when you try the dry pea hummus.

Swedish Red is one that I would like to try. I shelled Retrija today, which is a lovely pea. I think @heirloomgal grew that one this year too. I wish that I could share a photo; they're so beautiful.

 

[heirloomgal]

Thank you! I'd love to hear what you think when you try the dry pea hummus.

Swedish Red is one that I would like to try. I shelled Retrija today, which is a lovely pea. I think @heirloomgal grew that one this year too. I wish that I could share a photo; they're so beautiful.

Lucky you! Mine seem so late! The plants still have flowers

 

[heirloomgal]

Tuscarora Bread. I only got 3 plants to sprout in the end. But from the one comes many. Shelled my first dried pod today. Seeds are BIG. Will grow this one again next year.

Next to Nez Perce, for size difference,.

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug - I didn't get to try eating yours but I loved the tendrils.

the fresh peas are great, the pods aren't.

ain't those tendrils something though? the times i grow it i just block plant it and let them all hold each other up.

Flowerbug's Smooth pea (Flowerbug)

it was seed selected from a soup bean mix, so a very generic agricultural green pea variety. i'd call it a soup pea and leave it at that. i do not want my name associated with it as i did not create it or cross-breed it.

the only downside i've ever had with them is powdery mildew, but that is due to our location and conditions and not anything intrinsic to the peas.

 

[meadow]

Lucky you! Mine seem so late! The plants still have flowers

My Retrija was still blooming too, but I needed the bed for some Lillian's Caseload transplants. I think Retrija may have kept going until frost. The hummingbirds loved this one!

In case any seed-savers among us might be interested, Lillian's Caseload is a delightful shelling pea. Early, prolific, disease resistant*, and has a very generous harvesting window. Did I mention that it is sweet and delicious? The correct spelling is Caselode, and it was developed by Brotherton Seed in central Washington for the frozen green pea industry. Johnny's sold it from 2004-2011. Baker Creek started carrying it a couple of years ago under the name of Lillian's Caseload, claiming that it is not the same as 'Caseload' because Lillian located some after Johnny's discontinued it and had been growing it herself ever since (they say "after almost two decades" but Johnny's stopped selling it one decade ago). Since Brotherton's has protection from the USDA for Caselode as a distinct variety, and Baker Creek is selling it as "Lillian's Caseload," I wanted to be sure to have a supply in case legal actions force Baker Creek to stop selling it. Regardless, I suspect that Baker Creek will discontinue it when their current supply runs out, as they did with the Joseph Simcox beans. They just restocked Lillian's Caseload a few weeks ago for the 2023 season and it is the same lot number as was sold for 2022. If you're interested in this one, you may want to acquire seed sooner than later.

*according to their USDA application, Caselode is resistant to fusarium wilt, downy mildew, powdery mildew, and pea enation mosaic.

 

[heirloomgal]

I'm hoping someone might be able to explain how Ugandan Bantu 'works' for lack of a better word? I know it's a diverse population of seed coats - but does each type reproduce itself? Do they flop back and forth through generations, or each distinct & stable? I'd really like to know how this variety has come to include that diversity?

Collected more pods from Ugandan Bantu today, which got me wondering in the first place. I recall planting the small round purple seed but not the other kidney shaped ones. Is it the variety, a cross, natural variation?

@Zeedman I LOVE Solwezi!!! Even pinker than I imagined it would be! Ooooh, I am enjoying these pink speckles. I checked out the name, turns out Solwezi is a town in Zambia.

Same bean different textile. Makes it look a bit different.

This was an interesting find - found them on the Solwezi plant! Outcross I imagine?

 

[flowerbug]

one good use for a rainy day here is that i can go through the dry pods today and sort through my pickings from yesterday. i have markers in the boxes i picked so i should be able to know everything i got (including a few hundred American Solanum berries).

 

[meadow]

Collected more pods from Ugandan Bantu today, which got me wondering in the first place. I recall planting the small round purple seed but not the other kidney shaped ones. Is it the variety, a cross, natural variation?

I don't know about that particular bean, just writing to say that my first dry pod (Beka Brown) involves a round bean that produced the same shape and color pattern as your picture, except brown.

For your Ugandan Bantu, are both types being produced by the same plant? Are all of your plants producing a mix?

In the case of my Beka Brown, I know which plant this pod came from and I'll be keeping track of the production coming off of each individual plant.

 

[meadow]

We finally have yellowing of leaves around the garden. GaGa Hut even decided to drop a bunch! So glad to know from @Bluejay77 that leaves can come back and production continue. In the past I'd have pulled them up.

Swedish Brown continues to lag behind everyone else. I'll measure them after they're harvested, but I'm guessing they are about 4 feet tall now.

Marfax is under a heavy load! Fortunately the wire framing used to hold the netting is helping to keep the pods off of the ground.

Hundreds of tree frogs are all over the place. I've never seen them this thick before! (I love tree frogs!)