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

[Decoy1]

@heirloomgal, what you are showing is not a Gold und Silber but most likely some outcross.

This bean is actually called Or i Plata and comes from Catalonia, Spain. Gold und Silber is the literal translation from Catalan to German and is the name under which this bean is sold in the Deaflora store.

Or i Plata looks like this. Photo from the internet.

View attachment 69512

And here is a link to Gold und Silber in Bohnen-Atlas. In the origin column it says Deaflora Only the main photo shows the correct bean.

Bohnen-Atlas - Detailansicht

Der Bohnen-Atlas ist Nachschlagewerk für Bohnensorten. Er beinhaltet Beschreibungen, die durch Bilder und Kommentare der Nutzer erweitert werden können.

www.bohnen-atlas.de

I have original Or i Plata seeds from the Malgrat del Mar area and I can send you some if you want. This is a late bean in our locations and the pods don't always have time to ripen. I tried last year. I didn't take a photo of the seeds because there was nothing to brag about.

Interesting. I received Gold und Silber from Bohnen-Atlas and these are the seeds I received

I grew them in 2020 and, like you, Artorius, I struggled to get good quality seed but this is what mine looked like shortly after harvesting

I haven't gone back to see whether the seed has darkened with age

 

[heirloomgal]

Interesting. I received Gold und Silber from Bohnen-Atlas and these are the seeds I received

View attachment 69529

I grew them in 2020 and, like you, Artorius, I struggled to get good quality seed but this is what mine looked like shortly after harvesting


View attachment 69530

I haven't gone back to see whether the seed has darkened with age

Now this is really getting intriguing, your seeds look just like mine do, even though you started off with a slightly different looking bean. There's patterning in the coloured patch, like mine have. I think the seeds I planted looked like yours as well now that I think back. I wonder what's happening with them, seems unlikely we could both have crosses that look the same - is the bean changing its expression somehow in our gardens? The way some beans can be more speckly or less speckly depending on the soil?

 

[heirloomgal]

Temps are supposed to go to 2C/35.6F tonight. I don't feel like they'll be frost, but most of the beans are drying down anyway so I pulled them out and put what was left under cover. There isn't a frost advisory in effect like last time, but I decided not to risk it. I threw a blanket over the Gabarone Sugar bean trellis. We've had lovely gentle breezes for 3 days, just over 16 C/61 F and sunny which is working wonders to dry pods.

I also did some bean shelling tonight, about 3/4 of the Purple Dove bean pods. I posted a picture of some seeds a ways back, but those actually were not really representative, it turns out, of the lot. These are quite dark purple, much more so than Blooming Prairie. Some of the seeds are nearly a solid dark purple color. I'm looking forward to photographing it, being so unique a shade. Years ago I sent Blooming Prairie to a friend, and she has been selecting with each grow out the darker seeds to regrow. With PD it's a done deal!

Posena, Cumberland Heritage aka Chinese Long, Nigel, network bean Harvey's White Haricot - I started shelling pods for all of them tonight. HWH is such a gorgeous bean seed; it's very large, almost square, super smooth and a luminous white. Oooh, I just love it. I shelled a few more of the more of the mysterious Gold und Silber beans, the quality of these seem a bit better than the last ones. Some of the first seeds had orange marks on them, but these were free of that. Lost a few pods of Saxon beans to the grass () in my misguided attempt to really let them dry before picking them - they broke open on their own. It's funny how certain bean pods do that, and yet others will stay totally glued shut and need to be manually broken open?

Anyway, it was a good bean day. I feel like I got lots accomplished. The driveway/carport has become my drying center because I can't fit everything in the dry room. Between all the poles covered in expired plant material leaning against the eave, and the dozens of box flats on the portable table and driveway asphalt, I look like I'm running some kind of obscure nefarious operation.

 

[flowerbug]

... but it is funny to see them around in places i'd not expect.

they're also beautiful. i love purple flowers...

 

[flowerbug]

...
I also did some bean shelling tonight, about 3/4 of the Purple Dove bean pods. I posted a picture of some seeds a ways back, but those actually were not really representative, it turns out, of the lot. These are quite dark purple, much more so than Blooming Prairie. Some of the seeds are nearly a solid dark purple color. I'm looking forward to photographing it, being so unique a shade. Years ago I sent Blooming Prairie to a friend, and she has been selecting with each grow out the darker seeds to regrow. With PD it's a done deal!

garden soil quality also plays a role,

if you look at this pic closely you'll see the full range of color:

compared to:

which were grown in poorer soil and worse conditions.

side by side:

 

[flowerbug]

...Lost a few pods of Saxon beans to the grass () in my misguided attempt to really let them dry before picking them - they broke open on their own. It's funny how certain bean pods do that, and yet others will stay totally glued shut and need to be manually broken open?

a genetic trait often called shatter. many beans used for dry beans have had that trait bred out of them because it makes losses during harvest too large. PD does not have it bred out of it so they are very easy to shell, but that can make it a challenge to pick some of them out of the garden soil as they may open when you grab them or shake the plant by accident.

 

[Artorius]

@heirloomgal , @Decoy1

This is Gold und Silber that I grew from Deaflora seeds in 2023. The seeds are little smaller than they should be because I shelled them from pods that were not fully ripe.



And this is the Or i Plata bean that I got from Catalonia.



The photos aren't very good, but I didn't have good lighting.

Deaflora has several other Catalan beans in its offer, such as Bitxo, Mongeta del Ganxet or Genoll de Crist, hence my claim. Both beans are identical. I also know that sellers sometimes provide names in their own languages. For example, I have seen in catalogs a lot of Russian tomato names translated into English. It may be similar with beans and other vegetables.

Guy Dirix may have received a stable outcross from someone during a trade. I'm in constant contact with him so I'll ask him about it at the next opportunity.

 

[heirloomgal]

a genetic trait often called shatter. many beans used for dry beans have had that trait bred out of them because it makes losses during harvest too large. PD does not have it bred out of it so they are very easy to shell, but that can make it a challenge to pick some of them out of the garden soil as they may open when you grab them or shake the plant by accident.

Yes, I've always attributed that shattering quality to wildness for seed dispersal effectiveness. Some of them even fling far and wide when the pods go. And it makes sense that it's an undesirable trait in dry beans, which is why I'm surprised to see it in several dry bean types this year. That said, none of these dry beans are commercial varieties. The Tinga peas this year REALLY fly far, I put 3 flats of drying pods in the sun last week and it was like listening to a popcorn maker. I had to go around the patio pavers picking up seeds later.

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, well, well. The mystery of the last 'super vigorous' Purple Dove plant has explained itself. This is what the seeds look like...I thought the pods seemed kind of skinny compared to the others? I can say for sure though that the cross was between 2 snap bean varieties because these were scrumptiously good. I got the seeds from PEI Seed Alliance so they had the cross, and they're market gardeners first and foremost, I imagine that they grow lots of snap beans. One thing that carried over from Purple Dove - the rusty eye.

I'll take a photo at some point with daylight not evening light to better capture it. It's pretty! The color reminds me a little of Lavender bush, though there is a bit of grey tones in some of the seeds too.


I enjoy seeing a wax bean with unusually coloured seeds! This is Sultan's Golden Crescent and it's a marvel. Only quirk is it's yet another one whose pods are blasting open on me. Odd for kipfler type. I got smart this time though, I put the whole pole in the dry room - the little escapees can't elude me on that kind of floor.

 

[Decoy1]

@heirloomgal , @Decoy1

This is Gold und Silber that I grew from Deaflora seeds in 2023. The seeds are little smaller than they should be because I shelled them from pods that were not fully ripe.

View attachment 69552

And this is the Or i Plata bean that I got from Catalonia.

View attachment 69553

The photos aren't very good, but I didn't have good lighting.

Deaflora has several other Catalan beans in its offer, such as Bitxo, Mongeta del Ganxet or Genoll de Crist, hence my claim. Both beans are identical. I also know that sellers sometimes provide names in their own languages. For example, I have seen in catalogs a lot of Russian tomato names translated into English. It may be similar with beans and other vegetables.

Guy Dirix may have received a stable outcross from someone during a trade. I'm in constant contact with him so I'll ask him about it at the next opportunity.

So Bohnen-Atlas, Deaflora and Guy Dirix (and @heirloomgal and I) all have the wrong strain, the more elongated form. Bohnen-Atlas might have the right strain too, or might have used a photo from Jannes Aalders who apparently has the correct rounder strain.

Thank you, @Artorius for clarifying beyond doubt.