A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal,

Talking about tough beans to shell when the pods have dried. The toughest all time most difficult bean to shell for me has been one called Petit Gris. You should grow a couple sometime just to experience this bean. It is mean and tough. I put small amounts of this beans pods in an old pillow case and work it with my hands. Kneading and crushing the pods. Then seperate the beans, chaff and pod matterial in front of a fan in my garage.

both Venda and Puregold Wax are pretty difficult to shell out too. Adzuki's are a step up from those, not horrible, but not really easy either.

some of the greasy beans i've tried to grow haven't been easy either.

and then you have the lima beans with their sharp points on the ends which can make for some pokes when shelling.

 

[heirloomgal]

Some of the pods that shrink down over the seeds can be a real bear to shell (the hyacinth beans I'm growing fall in that category). Some cowpeas too, especially those that are long-podded... they tend to break rather than unzip. I made a tool that is helpful for those, cutting a small hook in the corner of a used gift card. If the pod is dry (or nearly so) I can pinch the tip of the pod, and open a small hole in the belly suture. Inserting the hook into that hole, I can usually unzip the entire pod. Other hooks might work for difficult beans... maybe a filed-down crochet hook?

And for some of the more stubborn beans, you may just need to place them in a burlap sack & dance on them.

As for drying wet or partially-dry seeds, I too use fans. Fortunately for me, my living room has a ceiling fan, and the HVAC keeps the indoor humidity low enough to dry pods & seeds quickly. Because I wash some pepper seeds after removal, those need to be dried especially quickly. Any seeds processed wet also need to be dried quickly after cleaning, or they can begin to sprout.

Actually, a purpose altered crochet hook is a great idea. I've been shelling so many beans using my thumb as a seam ripper, that I actually wondered if I had cut myself a few times on the sharper dried pods. I didn't, but I had sore thumbs one night and decided to change my sitting set up to alter my shelling technique. I don't like it when I accidentally fling beans around, and the thumb method helped avoid that. A tool is certainly something worth trying.

 

[heirloomgal]

Spent quite a bit of time this evening pulling big green leaves off pole bean plants. Had a massive downpour last night, and I didn't want to encourage fungal issues with the now higher humidity and cool (almost cold) nights. Learned so much on LEBN about hastening the drying down stage. Been eyeing the pole beans to see if it might be time to cut them at ground level as @Bluejay77 mentioned. I'm going to wait for now since the weather still seems favourable and some of the pods are greener than I'd like them to be for hanging. A bit yellowed with large bumps, and then I'll get at them with scissors.

Isn't it odd how some pole beans 'puff up' during dry down? It's like they become a rod of spray foam, while others remain perfectly smooth like a worn stone. Louisiana, Tung's, Mennonite Purple Stripe have all puffed. They do shell easily, though, from that state.

Lifting my wooden walkway has eliminated my mole problem, and it's been awhile now since I've seen damage. Thank goodness too, because the blighter knocked out probably close to 1/2 of my bean trees with more to go. It was some special luck I had that most of my network poles were grown on the wire frames, none of which were touched by him, minus one bean variety that was on an edge beside a corner. He killed the 4 bean plants I had there, but I have more seed left and can try again next year with that one. Rain & heat was bad, but as I continue shelling bean pods, I see that though my losses were grave, plants are very generous with seeds. Even with a little success, the harvest can be good.

Next year, I will be potting up as many bean starts as I can manage. I swear by transplants now. Many of those bush pods were dried by end of August. Here is something I noticed @flowerbug, as you have written somewhere about planting bean seeds in raised ridges; I don't usually plant in raised ridges but I did this year in one bed. I wanted to see if they sprouted faster due to increased warmth in the ridge, and if they'd grow better too for the same reason. I was not happy at all with the results of doing that. I think I planted the seed at proper depth in the ridge, but when I watered them after, the soil eroded slightly from the ridge. Every subsequent watering caused more soil to move downward. They all sprouted, but when they grew the seed root balls were too close to the soil surface. When I read why beans were actually hilled, for subsequent rooting, I concluded that some of the stunting may have been from heat as well as the roots being too close to the surface.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Next year, I will be potting up as many bean starts as I can manage. I swear by transplants now. Many of those bush pods were dried by end of August. Here is something I noticed @flowerbug, as you have written somewhere about planting bean seeds in raised ridges; I don't usually plant in raised ridges but I did this year in one bed. I wanted to see if they sprouted faster due to increased warmth in the ridge, and if they'd grow better too for the same reason. I was not happy at all with the results of doing that. I think I planted the seed at proper depth in the ridge, but when I watered them after, the soil eroded slightly from the ridge. Every subsequent watering caused more soil to move downward. They all sprouted, but when they grew the seed root balls were too close to the soil surface. When I read why beans were actually hilled, for subsequent rooting, I concluded that some of the stunting may have been from heat as well as the roots being too close to the surface.

i've never windrowed beans here as most of what i plant for bulk beans are short enough season to mostly be done by the time the frosts start up. new varieties and project beans aren't planted in large enough quantities that i do that for those either.

as for ridges. we have pretty heavy soil here. the ridges do settle by the time harvest comes around but the problems this year were due to the plants rotting somewhere along the stem and that was just from it being too hot and too wet too early (i never had powdery mildew start up in early June before). next season i'll try to make bigger ridges and combine two rows into one ridge and see if that makes any difference. i'm ok with the results of the ridges in the one big garden that had most of the bulk beans. another bulk bean garden would probably have done better with a more level layout but that problem is due to the fact that i did a lot of digging in that garden the previous year and i wasn't sure how much the ground would settle so i just need to move some more dirt there to even things out again now that it has had a year to settle. i'm always having dirt move too much in that garden as it is on a slope, but i'm gradually getting the edges filled in with creeping thyme and building ridges along the edges to hold rains and dirt in place instead of having it head downhill. gravity does win in the end though - short of a hardscape wall of some kind to keep the edge it won't ever be a zero erosion garden.

 

[heirloomgal]

i've never windrowed beans here as most of what i plant for bulk beans are short enough season to mostly be done by the time the frosts start up. new varieties and project beans aren't planted in large enough quantities that i do that for those either.

as for ridges. we have pretty heavy soil here. the ridges do settle by the time harvest comes around but the problems this year were due to the plants rotting somewhere along the stem and that was just from it being too hot and too wet too early (i never had powdery mildew start up in early June before). next season i'll try to make bigger ridges and combine two rows into one ridge and see if that makes any difference. i'm ok with the results of the ridges in the one big garden that had most of the bulk beans. another bulk bean garden would probably have done better with a more level layout but that problem is due to the fact that i did a lot of digging in that garden the previous year and i wasn't sure how much the ground would settle so i just need to move some more dirt there to even things out again now that it has had a year to settle. i'm always having dirt move too much in that garden as it is on a slope, but i'm gradually getting the edges filled in with creeping thyme and building ridges along the edges to hold rains and dirt in place instead of having it head downhill. gravity does win in the end though - short of a hardscape wall of some kind to keep the edge it won't ever be a zero erosion garden.

I had similar problems as well with rot; when we went through a period of extended rain the bean plants became super hydrated, and when they become like that they break easily in the stem. Some of the bigger bush bean plants snapped under the weight of their plant matter, falling over. Was not a good bush bean year for me.

 

[heirloomgal]

Took a few bean pics tonight.

'Duane Baptist Potato', which did have runners in the end (though that was not indicated in its description). Seems some sell a version that has runners, some sell one that doesn't.

'Tendergreen'. For a commercial green bean, the pods grew very large. The bean seeds varied in size, but some were surprisingly big.

Another attempt at 'Meerbarbe' - just love that blue colour!

There are so many new varieties I've tried this year that I'm head over heels for. This is one, 'Zumbro Falls'. Seems like Zebra Falls would fit too.

 

[heirloomgal]

Yesterday was SUCH a great day in Canada! ❤❤❤

It is only today that my feet are starting to touch the floor again! Kids & I went to a nationwide event which was so full of kindness, harmony and goodwill. What an incredible outpouring of support! Heartwarming sense of community and true solidarity! Been awhile since I experienced such a profound, and moving, sense of utter connection with my fellow Canucks. There may be hope for the country after all!

Such a great start to the homeschooling year too. The absolute icing on the cake is that I don't think I could have provided a more meaningful education experience for my children within the remainder of this school year, that what yesterday's events provided for them. It was that epic. What a fantastic foot to begin the week with. I'm just feeling so blessed, grateful and totally renewed. Can barely stop smiling.

The connection with seeds.
It's been about 5 years that I've been socking away seeds. When it began, it all seemed very logical, economical, practical. My confidence started very low, since it's easy to be intimidated by what you don't know. Once you start to get a handle on things, even just trying it, the momentum builds. So I kept going, and the reasons to save seeds started growing as well; preservation, local adaptation, beauty, biodiversity. Then Seedy Saturdays came along, and I would sell some packets and maybe do a bit of talking, making back the yearly expenses and a bit to continue expanding. That was rewarding in its own way as well, and I really enjoyed it. Eventually I came to the conclusion that it could be a legacy for my children, living memories of their childhood locked in glass bottles. Seed genies, just waiting for soil and water to appear. As a homeschooling mom, it made sense. The garden has been such a big part of family life for us.

But all along, in some ellusive sense, I felt that there was another influence exerting itself over this ever expanding seed collection. All the reasons my mind listed were real, but there was something else in there pushing it too. I just didn't understand what. It was like I was Noah, but in my case I hadn't gotten any specific directive or explanation. I just started hammering stuff together, sort of knowing why, but also going on a kind of blind instinct. At some point, when the seeds started to number in the thousands, and with the super seedy stuff like tomatoes, probably into the tens of thousands or more - well, I don't think I could possibly use up, or sell, the seeds in my lifetime. Not even if this was my last year saving seeds; at least not in the garden I have today.

Yesterday seemed to answer so well that ellusive unknowing of what started years ago as an inkling. The reality that seeds can help people. That seeds can feed people, and that people will want them someday, maybe for the first time in their whole life, regardless of age. They might even need them. When people begin to remember, or realize, how important freedom is, how close it is to slipping away, they want seeds, because they are a kind of freedom too. The placard I brought I found in the basement at the last minute, given how sudden the opportunity was to go; I grabbed an old, beat up used and bent foam board that was once a garden display. It was the only thing I had. I didnt even think about the seed photos that were visible on the backside; it's as if it was preordained. More than one person looked at me inquiringly after glancing the back of the board......"you have seeds?" To which I answered yes, of course, and their eyes registered a look which I can't quite put to words but seemed a mixture of relief, and proof of a cosmic order. 'You're just who I've been looking for' they said. Little do they know, that I've been looking for them too. ❤

 

[flowerbug]

i've done two seed swaps and enjoyed them and i'm not really a social person, but i do love to talk about gardens and beans so it works out in the end. planning on going to the next one.

 

[heirloomgal]

i've done two seed swaps and enjoyed them and i'm not really a social person, but i do love to talk about gardens and beans so it works out in the end. planning on going to the next one.

Haven't been to a Seedy Saturday seed swap event since 2018 I think. I had a ton of fun at those when I did go. Not likely I'll ever make it to one again.

 

[heirloomgal]

'Blue Shaxamaxon' pole bean. I think the uniqueness of this bean is when it's in the shelly stage. I saw a photo of it at that stage once, it was absolutely electric blue. Being my first grow out I didn't dare harvest a single immature pod to peek, but I will in the next round!