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

[Decoy1]

@Decoy1
@heirloomgal sent seeds for me to my friend in London. All shipments reached her without any problems.

Thanks. That’s reassuring.

 

[heirloomgal]

I see you are all picking beautiful beans. I also collect the pods of most pole beans. Some of them are indecently fertile. One such bean is the Italian Zazza. The photo shows the top of the supports at a height of 2.8 meters but I already have a lot of dry pods from the lower parts.

View attachment 69193

@heirloomgal, what did Grandma Gina's pods look like when you cut the plants off from the roots to get good quality seeds? I don't know when to do this. The pods already have distinct purple patterns, but have not started to yellow yet.

Unfortunately I don't have much time to take pictures now. Maybe next year that will change.

I don't know how I missed this post @Artorius! Grandma Gina pods looked similar to this when I picked them (this is Pragerhof but they're close). You will likely lose some seed no matter which way you go early or late, I have every time, because they sprout so easily, it's a gamble. But as soon as I could feel good sized distinct bean bumps in the pods I cut the vines. I don't think I waited until they yellowed, because so many had sprouted on me by that point the fist year I grew them. Of course, if there is no rain in the forecast you don't need to worry quite as much.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Over the weekend I built this bean rack 5.25 inches tall (13 cm) 12 inches wide (30 cm) and 24 inches long (61 cm). It will hold 18 8.5 oz styro cups (251 ML). I can move 18 pole bean seedlings at a time. I want to build 11 more of these so I can prestart all my pole beans next year.

 

[heirloomgal]

Over the weekend I built this bean rack 5.25 inches tall (13 cm) 12 inches wide (30 cm) and 24 inches long (61 cm). It will hold 18 8.5 oz styro cups (251 ML). I can move 18 pole bean seedlings at a time. I want to build 11 more of these so I can prestart all my pole beans next year.

View attachment 69231

Such a great idea. That'll work fabulous! It's a good size of cup, it's so easy to burn through potting soil filling bigger ones up.

 

[heirloomgal]

'Blue and White of Bernardo' network bean. Gosh, I hope they all look like this! If only this darn rain would stop - I think tomorrow is supposed to be the last day and then back to nice weather, above average. Perfect for what these plants need.

Thought this pod was pretty nifty. Quite the stripe!

I grew 'Coral' bean back in 2021 and have no memory of what the pods looked like, or at least, I don't remember them having this rosey glow. Just adore this shade.

I uncovered the mystery of my odd North Carolina pole plants - the reason there was so few pods in the middle is there was only one true to type plant in the group of 3 I planted. As far as I can tell, the correct pod form is green and purple flecked, curved pods. This is the top of the North Carolina plants, none of those pods look right. The hybrid vigor in the crosses eclipsed the one true plant that was there (which made about 6 pods total), which I've seen a few times in the past. True to type plants usually get overthrown by the hybrids, so it wasn't able to make many pods. Luckily, I had two poles planted with this network bean and those were 100% correct. Funny how I had that little nudge to double up my network plantings. Boy has that saved me this year.

The 2 crosses that I have this year are also the latest maturing plants in the gardens.

 

[Artorius]

I don't know how I missed this post @Artorius! Grandma Gina pods looked similar to this when I picked them (this is Pragerhof but they're close). You will likely lose some seed no matter which way you go early or late, I have every time, because they sprout so easily, it's a gamble. But as soon as I could feel good sized distinct bean bumps in the pods I cut the vines. I don't think I waited until they yellowed, because so many had sprouted on me by that point the fist year I grew them. Of course, if there is no rain in the forecast you don't need to worry quite as much.

View attachment 69220

Thanks @heirloomgal
I decided that today I would cut Grandma Gina's off from the roots along with the Melungeon and Ohio Pole.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Such a great idea. That'll work fabulous! It's a good size of cup, it's so easy to burn through potting soil filling bigger ones up.

I guess I still have a creative mind at the age of 78 LOL !

It took me 1 hour to draw and cut all the holes in the racks's top. Where my offsite Bean Acres is located surrounded with my deer fence. The fellow who owns the property there is going to cut all the wood pieces for me on his table saw. He also has a circular saw he can cut all the holes in the racks's top. All I have to do is assemble them all. It will save me tons of labor and the pieces will be cut uniformily. I'm not really good at cutting pieces that need to be the same length with my skil saw. Cutting pieces uniformily only works out well for me when I get lucky. Formulating ideas and growing beans is really my thing you might say.

I really liked the way the prestarted pole beans worked out last year. The bean seed didn't have to put up with soil that was too hot, cold, or too wet. The seedlings were already established and even started growing runners or soon after planting. I will probably only use one or two plants per pole. One or two plants do seem to produce as well as 4 around a pole. I will start at least 4 plants per variety. I will still have to chance direct seeding my bush and semi runner beans.

 

[Blue-Jay]

'Blue and White of Bernardo' network bean. Gosh, I hope they all look like this!

That is the best Blue and White Of Bernardo I've seen in a very long time. That is the way the bean should look. You grow some of the niecest seed that I've ever seen.

 

[heirloomgal]

I will start at least 4 plants per variety. I will still have to chance direct seeding my bush and semi runner beans.

I did 85% - 90% of the beans this year, all growth types, in starter pots and I'm tempted to come to the conclusion that bush beans don't do as well as transplants as the pole beans do. The only super duper bush producers I had this year were Schwarze Valder, Purple Dove, Rosso di Lucca and Tytania; SV went in as transplants whille the others went in as seeds, and they seemed to do the best of all the varieties. It's hard to judge SV either way because it is such a later maturing beans, and late maturing beans all seem to be mega yielders. I have not found the transplants as effective with bush beans for some reason. I don't know what the difference would be though. And maybe it's too early to arrive at that conclusion, it's only my 4th real bean year. If I wasn't afraid of bean seed flies, I'd never start bush beans in pots given my experience so far.

 

[heirloomgal]

That is the best Blue and White Of Bernardo I've seen in a very long time. That is the way the bean should look. You grow some of the niecest seed that I've ever seen.

Awe, feels so great that you think so. Especially this year, when I feel like I've got some epic fails under my belt. Great to know that even though my yields are not what they were last year, the quality is still there. I'm happy you're happy with the beans.