picking (and weeding as i go) through the last of the dry bean patches that were ready again and had most of them done except for the last patch of Purple Dove beans that are not ready.
got a lot of them sorted and some were dry enough to go right into the bags. i topped up one large bag of Yellow Eye pods and weighed it at about 7-8lbs so the dry beans out of that should come in about 5lbs, plus i have another bag already 1/3 full i think so we should be good for these for another season of eating (i still have dry beans from previous harvests to finish eating). i also shelled out a partial flat of the worst dirty and rotten looking pods so that i would not have to bring those inside at all and got those looked at and set aside. not bad really considering what they looked like on the outside of the pods. often the last bean in those pods are starting to spoil from dragging in the dirt or laying on the ground too long, but the upper beans may be fine. i look at each one closely (i can't help it!
they're purdy!
) to make sure it has no rot at all starting on it and i'll set them aside and look at them again in a few weeks to make sure before i put them in a separate container from the better looking pods. i don't want to risk any chance of spoiling a larger container...
Purple Dove beans i also have some bags of those set aside for eventual shelling. not sure of the weights of those but it won't be as high as the pods are a lot lighter and the beans are a lot smaller. still delicious.
Painted Pony are another large harvest bulk beans and those too are in bags already for the most part. i'll have a few more flats of pods from those to sort tomorrow or sometime Monday.
Red Ryder i think i have about a quarter to half a bag of pods. depends upon what else i have mixed in there and i do know there should be some because the few rows next to them were similar pods.
the rest of the miscellaneous 26 other selections that were planted are mostly going to be small bags or even just a handful of pods here or there. some i won't even have separated from other look alike pods until i get back to those flats for shelling. i've pulled a few pods apart to see how they did but mostly i've not had the time yet to get into them. perhaps tomorrow i'll be able to start on some of them.
i would say that so far those particular beans in that patch didn't do very well, between critters, hot weather, white rot in a few spots and just generally tough soil conditions that was not a great patch. i did pull some of the dry lima bean pods to make sure i did get some seeds from there before these next few rains, but i'm not sure how many of those remaining pods will finish. i have in the past had up to three pickings of lima beans from different gardens but this one was just not doing much in the heat and dry spell we had and i didn't want to overwater them in that patch because of how heavy the soil is in there... so... i may not get much to eat from those in terms of dry beans and perhaps some shellies too if i get a chance to pick again. we'll see about those...
oh, and as usual this patch is also going to tease me by giving me some Light Olive Eye beans that in the past have never become repeatable or stable to become their own variety. will this be yet another attempt at those? only the future will tell... i know i didn't plant anything like those or even close... hmmm...
, I don’t remember blue!? But I planted so many different beans this year its not hard to forget and all the seeds are perfectly uniform from each plant so it’s true to type. I do certainly like the seeds though, snazzy for a snap bean.
).
