A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

I am delighted that you got such a great harvest during such crazy weather. I calebrate with you!

I thought wine for a toast to your success, but I’m drinking coffee!

Haha! Love it! I clink my earl grey cup to your coffee mug @baymule !

 

[heirloomgal]

speaking of stunted plants that are persisting, i still have the FPJ plants blooming and trying to give me some seeds. none of the pods i've picked so far has had a viable bean in them. i hope they'll keep going but my guess is that this will be the last year i grow them unless i get really lucky next year somehow with them. i may not have any more FPJ seeds at all that will grow. we'll see...

Do you think it's too hot in your location? Why do you think you haven't had much luck?

 

[flowerbug]

Do you think it's too hot in your location? Why do you think you haven't had much luck?

a combination of heat, drought, full sun and heavy soil types where planted. i've been trying them in different gardens and only one really does even partly good with them has sandier soil. any time i've put them in heavier soil gardens they languish and pout like spoiled children who want their pudding and aren't getting it.

this late spring i planted them early hoping to get some cooler weather for them before the heat, but we had a very hot early summer so that plan was completely off-kilter from the get-go. the plants sprouted, but then sat there and hardly grew for six weeks. i was picking beans from 2ft tall Purple Dove that were planted later than the FPJs while the FPJs were just starting to get big enough to bloom. none of those pods filled properly. a bunch of empty pods or beans that were partly formed and then aborted. the neighboring peas, and PD beans just cruised along like nothing was much of a bother to them in comparison.

while i love the color and shape they're just not working here. i'll still plant whatever i can grow of them, but i'm also planting a lot more other more hardy beans instead that are more suited towards our conditions.

better garden soils and some shade and cooler overall temperatures and regular moisture seem to be what they're calling for. almost none of that exists here. the moisture i did keep up with. peas wouldn't have done very well had i neglected their watering. i had a really nice pea crop hanging on those plants until the chippies ate most of them.

 

[digitS']

FPJ? Can one of you ID?

HeirloomGal, Jacob's Cattle (& Soldier) were varieties that I grew for several years. I think that I was inspired by @Bluejay77 showing up on TEG 7 or 8 years ago. I did some reading about John Withee's Wanigan experience and what inspired him as a child. I didn't know that there was a Gold variety.

Anyway, those two were tasty and very productive in my garden.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

Fort Portal Jade (FPJ) is one of the few new beans I still hope to trial. If I can get the older beans I already have to produce new seed, I might even be able to make room for it one of these years.

 

[heirloomgal]

FPJ? Can one of you ID?

HeirloomGal, Jacob's Cattle (& Soldier) were varieties that I grew for several years. I think that I was inspired by @Bluejay77 showing up on TEG 7 or 8 years ago. I did some reading about John Withee's Wanigan experience and what inspired him as a child. I didn't know that there was a Gold variety.

Anyway, those two were tasty and very productive in my garden.

Steve

I posted a picture of them not too long ago on LEBN. #1082 I think it said.

 

[heirloomgal]

Starting to have some real rootin' tootin' FUN with my dried bean harvesting!!!
I am just LOVING my network bean 'King's Knight'! What a gorgeous dry bean, and it was totally weather resilient, held it's pods nice and high up off the ground (a trait I really appreciate) and it stayed quite upright compared to some others. The pod set was good and they are drying down quite nicely. @Bluejay77 is the photo of the bean on your website of a fresh bean? That is the only thing I'm wondering about this bean, they all look a bit different than that photo. These ones have more whitish speckling on the dark blackish/bluish seeds. There are a few totally dark ones, but nearly all of them are more speckled.

'Amish Gnuttle', crazy production for 4 plants. I can see why this may have been popular with settlers. If surplus food is what one seeks, this bean is it.

After several days, I finally finished shelling almost all the dried peas; all it took was Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2, and Back to the Future 3. Shelling requires only hands, not so much the eyes I've discovered.

Have another big round of squeezing tomatoes tomorrow, my last big one for this year. It'll only be a trickle after that, phewf. Then more beans, beans, beans! So thrilled that the 'Piekny Jas' beans will be a success, I see a lot of bulging pods out there now! (Although I'd like to rename that bean 'T-Bone' based on the size of them )

So, 'Hopi' 'Mitla Black' and 'Nicaraguan Black Turtle' are all very nice, very productive though tiny beans. They are also nearly impossible to tell apart!
Same goes for 'Shirolustuca Kovina' and 'Fruhe Goldbohne' - identical in every way as far as I can tell. 'Giele Waldbeantsje' might be their twin too, but it is taking them SO LONG to mature I may never know. Man, I can't believe how late this bush bean is. That aspect of them is certainly different.

Such a great time to enjoy the garden!

 

[Blue-Jay]

I am just LOVING my network bean 'King's Knight'! What a gorgeous dry bean, and it was totally weather resilient, held it's pods nice and high up off the ground (a trait I really appreciate) and it stayed quite upright compared to some others. The pod set was good and they are drying down quite nicely. @Bluejay77 is the photo of the bean on your website of a fresh bean? That is the only thing I'm wondering about this bean, they all look a bit different than that photo.

The photo of Kings Knight on my website was seed grown that season the photo was taken, but probably dried for about two months. It was not old seed. It just might be the difference in the soil I grew them in at the time and your soil. The place where I grew them I don't grow anything there anymore so it might be interesting to try that bean in the places where I grow beans now.

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, there is no frost in the foreseeable future yet, but I can really feel fall setting in. The temperatures have fallen to the low 20's now and nights hover around 10 degrees, 7 tonight. It's too cold to sleep with the windows open. There is a cool crispness in the air that wasn't present just days ago. It is amazing how quickly a season can go by; there is still plenty to do in the garden but we've turned a corner. Pole beans are just starting to dry, potatoes aren't dug up yet, lots of peppers need harvesting asap. I've started cutting the pumpkins off the vines. Somehow this captured the contemplative sense I had tonight while pulling up bush bean plants to hang dry indoors, a goodbye summer feeling-

I'll miss you fresh green tomatoes! This is the last ripe one on the vines.

I honoured his memory in tomato & feta salad

Collected several dried pods from this trellis now, the leaves are just starting to yellow. This was a garden construction I've wanted for a long time. It was so nice to see the hummingbirds fly from flower to flower. It covered much more thickly than I thought it would, I'll be growing runner beans on here for awhile I think. Not sure if there is any reason for it, but the north facing side grew more than the other, by quite a bit.

Dainty little flower of the 'Helios Yellow' radishes I planted. Patiently awaiting seed. I'm not a radish fan (unless they are steamed) but these plants put in with the carrots did a marvelous job of keeping the carrot rust fly away. I haven't seen a trace of them. If it wasn't for the radishes I wouldn't be able to grow carrots. My previous radish seeds were not very good quality, so I'm hoping to do better this year.

Another one I'm waiting for, dill. I could let it re-seed here, but the location won't be where I want it next year, so into a packet it will go.

I think I just might make it with the soybeans! Pods are not too far off from maturity. Fingers crossed.

My lone bean tower is in dire straits...tried, but mission impossible to get it back up. Very broken & really lots of 1,500 year old cave beans on it (I hope they finish! ) I accidentally created a giant bean wind sail. Turns out growing beans 15ft in the air is not the best idea.

 

[Zeedman]

That looks scary, like it is waiting for a victim to walk under it. I think you should give it a name... maybe "Audrey III".