2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[ruralmamma]

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overnight freezes/frosts still in our forecast for the next week. i don't plan on planting anything until it warms up a bit more.

Only the onions, cabbage and fava beans stay in the greenhouse overnight and then I've been sectioning off the area the flats are in and running a heater on nights when temperatures dip below freezing. Tomatoes and peppers enjoyed a week in the greenhouse when the temperatures were unseasonably warm but they're back inside and ready to be potted up (which basically means each flat will equal four flats when potted). Hopefully the rain is through for a few days and I can finally get the onions, favas and peas in the ground.

As for beans, I'm considering starting some of the hyacinth and runner beans that I know require a longer growing season. I may also start a few of the Bhatmash beans that took three months to flower last year. The harvest of those was great but required constant covering to protect from frost. Now would be an excellent time to look at the new varieties I'm growing this year and see if any have a longer growing season that I'm accustomed too.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Got 1/2 the bean tags labeled! God bless the P-Touch Brother Label Machine (and @Decoy1!) Most tidy & professional tags I've ever made in my life! And I LOVE tidiness and precision!

Will the sun fade those tags to the point where they can't be read. Might not be a bad Idea to do a word processing file and type out your layout of where every variety is planted. I don't put any tags in my bean gardens I have it all down on the word processor text file. Below is a scan of my 2025 bean garden plots pages. If I lose a any of the diagrams. I can just go to my saved file and print them out again.

 

[Decoy1]

Will the sun fade those tags to the point where they can't be read. Might not be a bad Idea to do a word processing file and type out your layout of where every variety is planted. I don't put any tags in my bean gardens I have it all down on the word processor text file. Below is a scan of my 2025 bean garden plots pages. If I lose an any of the diagrams. I can just go to my saved file and print them out again.

I’ve used the same kind of labels and found them to be both waterproof and sun proof, and in a few cases I’ve used them for a few years in succession with no deterioration.

I do have plans saved on file too but mainly because I only have big tags for certain things and small tags easily get lost or dislodged.

 

[ruralmamma]

I try not to rely on digital copies as I've had hard drives and devices fail and lost many, many things. I'm probably overly redundant but I like to have at least two backups of every file plus a hard copy just in case.

My 2021 garden notebook went AWOL and never has been found and the phone with my backup notes died, and unfortunately the notes app on it didn't automatically save to the Micro SD card. My current garden notebook spans from 2022 to present plus I have a binder full of inventory and planting sheets. I did work on copying most of the information to the laptop over the winter, but I don't think I'll ever abandon physical records.

 

[Artorius]

Will the sun fade those tags to the point where they can't be read. Might not be a bad Idea to do a word processing file and type out your layout of where every variety is planted. I don't put any tags in my bean gardens I have it all down on the word processor text file. Below is a scan of my 2025 bean garden plots pages. If I lose a any of the diagrams. I can just go to my saved file and print them out again.

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@Blue-Jay
The description of Fin de Villeneuve on the IPK Gatersleben website states that it is a determinate bush bean.

I also wonder if Tres Hatif de Massy from IPK Gatersleben is really this bean. Judging by the description of Vilmorin found on the internet, the shape of the seeds is different.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Blue-Jay
The description of Fin de Villeneuve on the IPK Gatersleben website states that it is a determinate bush bean.

I also wonder if Tres Hatif de Massy from IPK Gatersleben is really this bean. Judging by the description of Vilmorin found on the internet, the shape of the seeds is different.

These are beans what William Woys Weaver the food historian wanted me to obtain for him. He tells me that Massey is a bush snap bean and Fine de Villeneuve he says is a pole snap bean. I''m going to grow them out for him and send him the new seed. Whatever they turn out to be is what I will tell him that they are.

 

[ruralmamma]

@Blue-Jay, is there a specific reason for the 53-54" between rows or is that just the width of your tiller/cultivator? Trying to figure out spacing for mine.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Blue-Jay, is there a specific reason for the 53-64" between rows or is that just the width of your tiller/cultivator? Trying to figure out spacing for mine.

Has nothing to do with my tiller width. I am using 48 inch wide weed barrier fabric this year. So I want to have a little open soil so I can also lay down soaker hoses near the plants so the water will go into this narrow channel of open soil and water their root zone.

In some past seasons I have used 36 inch wide weed barrier fabric and have had 40 inch wide rows.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm so ready to grow some beans this year but it is still too early according to the weather forecasts we still have chances of freezing.

i won't even put in peas until after we get a bit more reliable warmer days and nights. i don't have a ton of experience with growing peas but what i do have reminds me that perhaps too early doesn't get me very far because the peas planted later in warmer soil will grow fast enough to catch up to any that might survive from the earliest plantings.

what has been your experience?

 

[ruralmamma]

I will be pulling up some 36" landscape fabric soon. Never thought about reusing it around the beans. Thanks for the idea!