2024 Little Easy Bean Network - Growing Heirloom Beans Of Today And Tomorrow

[heirloomgal]

Wanted to take some pictures of my pole bean plants to show the funny growth of this year, but haven't gotten round to it yet. Will post soon. I will say they are indeed lush if shorter than normal. I really hope they catch up for the season - my neighbours and I are all having the same slow growth year. I'm tempted to think the fact that for most of summer thus far, the nights have been cool enough that I need to shut the windows at night. Never close to a frost, but chilly and I think the beans have not appreciated those kind of night temperatures. Last night was the first night where I slept with the window open and it was uncomfortably warm (we don't have AC), not great for the humans but good for beans. Plus, so much rain. I dunno what all the variables might be for such an odd start to things.

I can't complain about the bush beans though. I'm not crazy about bush bean plants because of the low yields compared to poles per square foot, but I must say it's nice to see all those swelling pods out there loading up on the bushes when the poles beans are so behind. I'm growing a variety called Declivius Romulus, and the plants are so strange. All the leaves are low down and the tops of the plants are all spindly with the beans hanging up there totally exposed. No leaf cover at all. It's rather unique I must say compared to all the others.

 

[heirloomgal]

It wasn't a great day for pictures, a thunderstorm and no sun, but I managed to get out there for a couple minutes before it started to fall again to get a few.

First, the Declivus Romulus (or soemthing close to that) plants. Odd little guys.

I think I grew a variety once called Purple Teepee which was similar, in that it was supposed to hang the beans above the foliage. These are more extreme though in holding almost the whole little bunch right above. Only one or two little leafy branches up there with the beans.

Pole beans; it was hard to hold the plants back and press the picture button, so probably not the best set of pics to show this strange growth. Usually any climbers will send out a single runner, maybe 2, and wrap around the pole or wire in a very spindly fashion and THEN bush out once it's climbed high enough - usually 5 feet at least. Most of my plants are barely 4 feet, if that, but their bases are huge. Tons of runners and crazy amount of branching at the plants base. SO ODD.

4 semi climber plants on here. They spent most of the season so far bushing out, though they are finally climbing nicely. I wish I had a journal to compare with other years.

Base of a SINGLE pole bean just above ground level. Most of them look like this, or worse.

It started climbing with this many runners! So, while the plants are short the mass of green matter is probably close to what it would be if they had climbed 'normally' . Growth went sideways first then upward, the reverse of usual.

Same.

I hope everything works out. Of course, I'm a somewhat worried but most plants have flowers and/or little beans so I should get, at the very least, seeds to try again if heaven forbid I wash out this year. Trying to think positive though, because there is at least 2 months left to go.
I LOVE beans, but sheesh, they are a stress to grow!!!!Problem is, I'm hooked now.

 

[flowerbug]

...I LOVE beans, but sheesh, they are a stress to grow!!!!Problem is, I'm hooked now.

perhaps they got pushed down by the rains and may have been taller otherwise? i don't grow pole beans here so i couldn't say for sure. i have bush beans and semi-runners and they are doing ok.

 

[heirloomgal]

Interesting observation today, a few Purple Dove bean plants are actually throwing runners.
And 2 out of the 10 Nigel bean plants are too.

Reisenkorn aus Omsk, putting on such pretty striped beans.

Galopka bean foliage seems a lighter green than the others. Not sure if the plants need food or if this is normal for them?

 

[flowerbug]

Purple Dove may get some semi-runners on them as i do grow some of those here and the bees will do their thing. since i do grow hundreds to thousands of them i can't always cull them out... you can cull out anything you don't like, it's ok, life happens.

it took me four years to get crosses to show up in the Purple Dove beans so i'm actually very excited by growing some of those the past few years. today i may get a chance at last to spend some time in one garden where i planted a mix of those crosses. the mathematics of all of the combinations possible between all the beans i plant each season is pretty huge even if the bees only manage a few of the ones i am really interested in. though it does take chance upon chance, because the beans must also then be grown and survive and then the seeds must be formed well enough and harvested before they get taken by mold or other issues. so it is a very long string of coincidences and chances which brings them to my eyes and fingers and hopefully a decent picture at some point.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Summer Bean Show Vol. #10 2024

Here are two bean wheels that someone has created. It thought they were pretty neat looking.

 

[heirloomgal]

Purple Dove may get some semi-runners on them as i do grow some of those here and the bees will do their thing. since i do grow hundreds to thousands of them i can't always cull them out... you can cull out anything you don't like, it's ok, life happens.

it took me four years to get crosses to show up in the Purple Dove beans so i'm actually very excited by growing some of those the past few years. today i may get a chance at last to spend some time in one garden where i planted a mix of those crosses. the mathematics of all of the combinations possible between all the beans i plant each season is pretty huge even if the bees only manage a few of the ones i am really interested in. though it does take chance upon chance, because the beans must also then be grown and survive and then the seeds must be formed well enough and harvested before they get taken by mold or other issues. so it is a very long string of coincidences and chances which brings them to my eyes and fingers and hopefully a decent picture at some point.

Ok well this is interesting, I didn't realize this variety could develop runners. I got the seeds from PEI Seed Alliance, and I have no idea where they got their supply from. So, either they had crosses themselves or their original seed pool didn't have semi runner variations rogued out. My Nigel beans are from a trade, so we'll see what happens with those - maybe the semi runners will look like bush variety Nigel beans too. I am very partial to the semi-runner growth type so I'd actually prefer to grow semi's over bushes.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Ok well this is interesting, I didn't realize this variety could develop runners.

I had never grown Purple Dove myself but from what I understand Purple Dove is a true bush type. I will tell you what I would be doing in my bean garden if I was growing PD and I saw some plants growing runners. I would be following those runner plants down to the soil line and be cutting them out with my hand pruning shears. I don't even grow semi runners or pole beans near my true bush types. My true bush types are exposed to each other but not to any beans that grow runners.

What I think I have noticed about semi runner beans when you get crosses with them. They seem more difficult to stablize than true bush types.

 

[heirloomgal]

I had never grown Purple Dove myself but from what I understand Purple Dove is a true bush type. I will tell you what I would be doing in my bean garden if I was growing PD and I saw some plants growing runners. I would be following those runner plants down to the soil line and be cutting them out with my hand pruning shears. I don't even grow semi runners or pole beans near my true bush types. My true bush types are exposed to each other but not to any beans that grow runners.

What I think I have noticed about semi runner beans when you get crosses with them. They seem more difficult to stablize than true bush types.

In my main bean gardens in my backyard, I keep all the beans (especially network beans) separate by growth type in different areas & beds, but in this case both Nigel and the Purple Dove beans are in my front yard edible garden where I have a mishmash of everything and no network beans. Almost all the plants were extras I had and used for my edible landscaping experiment.

But on the topic of crossing, I have had a bizarre year for not only bean plants but bees. I usually see quite a few of those on the clover in the lawn, and the odd ones floating around the tops of the pole beans or even the potted tomatoes. But aside from a couple in very early spring, I have not seen a single bee of any kind this summer. Anywhere. It's very odd. I'm not complaining, I don't want them around, but it's highly highly unusual and I can't help but wonder what happened.

I'm actually tempted to think that my area has been sprayed aerially, or something like chemtrails happened. It would explain the dual weirdness with both bees & bean bushes.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm not sure that they are actually semi-runners as the plants themselves can get tall. i'd have to see them and perhaps they are not winding to climb i don't consider them really semi runners.

@Blue-Jay i won't be doing any trimming as i intentionally interplanted several gardens this season. working in the first of these gardens today i noticed some white flowering plants so those are definitely some of the crosses i put in there. i hope i can eventually get enough back crosses to get those back to purple flowers but to retain the other traits on the seeds that i liked seeing.