2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[Zeedman]

so glad you got that figured out @Zeedman but also glad for us that we now get to see pictures!

Apparently one of the phone "security updates" disabled my USB preferences, which were set to 'photo transfer' by default. Now the default resets automatically to 'file transfer', and a notification pops up which allows me to change back (temporarily) to 'photo transfer'. The problem with smart phones is sometimes they're smarter than those who update the programs.

But heh, this is a bean thread... so more photos. The cowpeas & yardlong beans are blooming.


Yardlong "Galante". I sent out nearly all of last year's seed, so had to grow it again - it's looking MUCH healthier than last year. A very productive variety from the Philippines, with firm pods.


Yardlong "3-feet-plus". Later, just beginning to get pods now, but will bear heavily just before Fall (when snap beans have mostly quit). One of my longest yardlongs. Ironically, it always seems to end up in the same location (next to the pole building) but does well regardless.


Cowpea "Pink Eye Purple Hull". Grown on new ground, the vines are somewhat restrained this year; they are usually more rampant (as "Kirby" is this year, which I'll post later).

As you can see, the differences in flowers between different varieties are subtle. If Phaseolus beans were blooming this late, dry seed would be "iffy"; but Vigna beans go from flower to dry seed so quickly, they seldom fail even in my short summers.

 

[heirloomgal]

How do you usually prepare the cowpeas and yardlong beans for eating @Zeedman?

 

[heirloomgal]

It rained today so I went out scrambling afterward to collect any bushes that I didn’t want sitting in that moisture. I stumbled on a neat way to hang some bushes. I prefer hanging entire plants to plucking off individual pods and drying in boxes if I can help it. My dowels are not up yet in the bean room so I have to make do until we get some, hopefully this weekend. My round tomato cages have a new incarnation. I weave the stems in the wire mesh and they stay nice and snug. I can probably get two bean plant layers around each cage.

 

[Zeedman]

How do you usually prepare the cowpeas and yardlong beans for eating @Zeedman?

The yardlong beans (and a few other cowpeas bred for use as snaps) are best lightly cooked, such as stir frying. They are very easily over-cooked. They are good in soups & stews too. The firmer varieties also make the best, super-crunchy dilly beans. I like them as an alternative to regular snap beans, lightly steamed & seasoned with vinegar, soy sauce, and home-made garlic powder. The cooked red-podded yardlongs become a beautiful burgundy red when vinegar is added... so they make eye-catching dilly beans. They can be cut to size to fit the jar. Unlike red & purple snap beans, red yardlongs don't lose their color when cooked.

For dry cowpeas, I most often use one of the black-eyed pea recipes, with either water spinach or chard as greens. DD#1 is vegan, so has more uses for them than I do. There are far fewer recipes out there for dry cowpeas than for dry beans... IMO there is a lot of room there for experimentation. Much to my surprise - given my Northern location - dry cowpeas are very reliable, and actually less problem prone than dry beans (especially this year ).

Just as the line between snap beans & dry beans can be blurry, so can the line between yardlongs and those cowpeas grown for dry seed. Yardlongs are a sub-species of cowpea that were bred specifically for use as snaps, and are mostly pole (one of my ongoing searches is for short-season bush types). While you can cook dry yardlong seed, the quality is inferior, and the dry seed yield is relatively low. Cowpeas bred for dry use are generally bush, or rangy prostrate vines; but the longer-vined varieties will usually climb if given support.

When planning the space allotted for non-supported cowpeas, it is easy to under-estimate their spread. Much like sweet potatoes, they can easily creep into & overwhelm adjacent rows. I spent about an hour yesterday trying to disentangle the longer-than-anticipated vines of "Kirby" cowpea from the indeterminate vines of "Santa Maria" tomato... and vice versa. There was a lot of fraternization going on between the two.

 

[Dahlia]

I'll try to post some more of the WB beans. These are still from the WB #27's.


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TTA 2A4 A is a new segregation grown in 2021. This bean has a brown color that I associate with water damage but I tried to germinate the two that appeared the worst. Both sprouted. I consider it the natural color.

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TTA 2B1 A is a new segregation grown in 2022.

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TTA 2B2 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

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TTA 2B3 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

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TTA 2B4 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

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TTA 2B5 is a new segregation grown in 2021.


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TTA 2B6 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

When planted in 2021, six total plants of TTA 2B produced 6 separate segregations. That makes me think a couple of generations back TTA 2 cross-pollinated with something. The 2 and 4 segregations above makes me think it may have been a Miss T version. Miss T versions come later.

Do you eat these fancy beans or do you just collect them?

 

[heirloomgal]

Network bean Crevette Kidney has pods that are so beautiful. I don't think I've ever grown bean pods with this kind of electric color. I'm not sure if even Jiminez has pods this bright! It's too bad that my files get downgraded, because the original file size really makes these pods pop.

'Sansavastre' from @Artorius. Another pod with some nice color. The plants are so loaded it's incredible.

Paul Bunyan Giant is SO HUGE it's hard to believe! I thought Canon City bean was the big one this year, but these are truly enormous. And this pod isn't the largest one on the plant, it was one of the smaller ones. I couldn't reach the bigger ones as they were too high on the plant. I'm going to have to measure these!!

Hemelvaartboontje has grown into a gigantic vine. The pods are starting to form some beans inside so it's looking good. This one matures a wee bit later than the others.

Diamont is starting to dry it's pods! Yay!

Fountain Pitts Allen was planted around a pole that was a bit short compared to the others, but that has not affected pod production it seems.

Mangetout Pleine Panier is starting to wind down too. Looks like this bean had a good season. Some pods are crispy dry. I like pods like these - nice and stiff and impervious to weather. I am really enjoying my selection of beans this year, lots of outstanding beans in this years group. Crevette Kidney and Mangetout Pleine Panier are very high quality bean varieties.

Lusaka is starting to wind down too.

The direct seeded Purple Kingsessing is turning out to be such an attractive plant. The pods seem to hang in big clusters. The coloring of the pods is subtle but charming. The difference between the transplants and the direct seeded beans is really showing right now. All the direct seeded ones are still fully green and showing no signs of fading or yellowing yet. I'm not going to direct seed anything next year!

 

[Blue-Jay]

Network bean Crevette Kidney has pods that are so beautiful. I don't think I've ever grown bean pods with this kind of electric color.

I think the pods of Lambada are also very striking, colorful and bright.

 

[Branching Out]

Last year I had amazing Ugandan Bantu beans that twirled their way up 4'. They were the best producing bean in the whole garden. Unfortunately this year with the hot dry summer they are absolutely pathetic. They ended up torched, with some plants only reaching a few inches high and yielding just one lone bean. One! I am so glad that I didn't eat all of the seed that I saved from last year's bumper crop. I will be needing it so I can try again next year-- planted in a much better spot.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Those bush green beans I planted on July 7th were ready to pick Saturday 8-26. It was originally how to make a straight row demonstration. They really grew fast. You can see the other row I planted in the other raised bed in the background. Two 24 foot rows. The the beans in the foreground are a half row of Kishwaukeen Green followed by the remainder of the beans being Contender. The beans in the foreground grew to 23 inches tall in this native soil. The plants in the other raised bed with purchased soil grew to 17 inches tall but they stand up nice. After I picked a little less than a half bushel I prepared them them for blanching and freezing. I wound up with about 8 quarts of cut green beans. Will check them again in about three days.

 

[flowerbug]

i did some dry bean picking today to see what the new experimental varieties did plus a few others while i was out there. have not shelled them out yet to know what i got. i need a nap first... might be hard to sleep.