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

[flowerbug]

Up til now it’s probably 7 or 8 per year but we are adding a whole new section of gardens this spring so I’m hoping to grow out around 20? We will have to see if we can get it all done and ready in time for planting.

welcome to the bean brigade!

 

[Artorius]

Today I took more photos of beans from 2023.

Awahsohs Bear
One of Kris Hubbard's beans. My offer of kidney in exchange for his native beans is still valid because apart from Awashsohs Bear I only have Gunagei seeds I have many more tomatoes from his collection.




Pink Trout




Jack In The Beanstalk




Ocean View
After three years of selection, I managed to eliminate colors other than blue on freshly shelled seeds.

 

[Artorius]

Runner beans that I grew in 2023.

Wey
British selection.




Jeżycka
Polish local bean from the Poznań city area in Greater Poland




Wey vs. Jeżycka

 

[Zeedman]

welcome to the bean brigade!

You mean the Bean Beret?

 

[Decoy1]

Runner beans that I grew in 2023.

Wey
British selection.

View attachment 63743
View attachment 63744

Jeżycka
Polish local bean from the Poznań city area in Greater Poland

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View attachment 63746

Wey vs. Jeżycka

View attachment 63747

Interesting. The only P. coccineus varieties with white seeds which I’ve come across have larger than average seeds. The Wey variety clearly has smaller than average white seeds which makes it specially interesting. It seems to be one of the varieties claimed to have some P. vulgaris in the breeding. Do you know any more about them, Artorius? How were they to grow? Prolific? They look that way from your lovely seeds.
I’d also be interested to know whether you isolate your runner bean varieties and, if so, how.

 

[Triffid]

Interesting. The only P. coccineus varieties with white seeds which I’ve come across have larger than average seeds. The Wey variety clearly has smaller than average white seeds which makes it specially interesting.

I think this Jeżycka variety is just absolutely massive! The original Wey seeds were from me a couple of years ago, and at the time they had seeds of an average size for the white Tozer varieties, no different than Moonlight or White Lady. I couldn't get them to grow, but that's another story... @Artorius clearly has the magic touch.

 

[Decoy1]

Thanks Triffid. I guess I haven’t even encountered average sized white seeds in a P. coccineus but there are probably many and thanks for setting the scale. Is this a variety offered as a vulgaris-coccineus cross?

 

[Neen5MI]

if you are a bean collector and willing to take some time i will have most or all of my bean collection with me at the mid-Michigan seed swap that is coming up in about a month. you can sit there and take samples of any beans i have with me as long as they aren't the newest ones where i may only have a few seeds to start with. see the other forum for swap, sales, for details...

this offer is open to anyone. first come, first served.

I am also in mid-Michigan. When and where is this seed swap?

 

[Eleanor]

I am also in mid-Michigan. When and where is this seed swap?

Saturday Feb. 24th at Bullock Creek High School in Midland

 

[Artorius]

Interesting. The only P. coccineus varieties with white seeds which I’ve come across have larger than average seeds. The Wey variety clearly has smaller than average white seeds which makes it specially interesting. It seems to be one of the varieties claimed to have some P. vulgaris in the breeding. Do you know any more about them, Artorius? How were they to grow? Prolific? They look that way from your lovely seeds.
I’d also be interested to know whether you isolate your runner bean varieties and, if so, how.

@Decoy1
@Triffid partially answered your questions for me. Indeed, when photographing, I could have added something that would have helped better show the size of the seeds.

Wey grew very well for me. I had two plants. I obtained 0.68 kg of good quality seeds, not counting those that were somehow damaged or smaller from pods that did not reach the size typical for the variety. In Poland, runner beans are grown for dry seeds, not for fresh, green pods.

As for the isolation of varieties. I have three places where I grow runner beans. They are quite distant from each other and are separated by belts of bushes and tall trees. I grow only one variety in each of them. So far, I haven't had any runner bean crosses from seeds I collected. However, I had crosses betwen p. coccineus and p. vulgaris.