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

[Blue-Jay]

How many bean varieties do you have at any given time?

Do you mean how many do I grow in a single season? Do you mean how many I have total? I guess I can answer my own questions.

I usually grow over a hundred varieties in a season. The number of beans I have in storage I could only estimate at around 1,400. Did that answer your question. All my seed stocks are kept in a freezer. That keeps germination from dropping faster than normal room temperatue kept beans. My freezer stored beans will proibably have about 90% germination rate after 30 to 35 years.

 

[Zeedman]

Giant Nilgiri - Pole dry photo left. This bean came to me in 2018 from a grower in Pennsylvania. Large seed. The bean comes from the mountain region of Nilgiri, India also called the Blue Mountains.

Beautiful. If the yield is decent & the DTM short enough, I'd be tempted to squeeze it into one of my grow outs. Unfortunately, given that my garden is shrinking, I'd probably have to drop something to make room for it.

 

[heirloomgal]

Beautiful. If the yield is decent & the DTM short enough, I'd be tempted to squeeze it into one of my grow outs. Unfortunately, given that my garden is shrinking, I'd probably have to drop something to make room for it.

I've grown it @Zeedman and it matured in plenty of time in my location and the yield was amazing. It's a really great bean.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Holy - Pole dry, left photo. I acquired this bean from the Central Tree Crop Research Trust of New Zealand in 2012. This year was the sixth grow out since 2012. Nice bean productive. Basically a white bean. Mild flavor if you want to stew them for some recipe.

Italian - Pole Snap, right photo, I acquired them from an Iowa grower last year. He says the are a very nice green bean. The Iowa grower said they have been his go to bean ever since he first grew them for fresh eating over 10 years ago. I haven't tried them but will sometime.


Holy - Pole Dry..................................................Italian - Pole Snap