The Little Easy Bean Network - Get New Beans Varieties Nearly Free

[Blue-Jay]

Hi Mackay !

Just about all of what I told you about the early varieties were for dry beans. You should be able to grow snap beans, or green beans if you like that term better. Many varieties grown for the express purpose of green pods produce decent size pods in about 50 to 60 days. I have chewed on some dry bean types raw and it seems most of them have fibery, stringy pods, but there maybe some varieties that can be eaten for their green pods too. I have never tried using any dry bean varieties and cooking them for green beans.

 

[897tgigvib]

I've never actually cooked up a batch of dry bean pods but just by looking at and feeling some of the pods of certain dry bean varieties I can tell that there are some that would be pretty good. Probably be best to be ready for a different sort of snap bean texture and flavor though.

Rio Zape sure would be an interesting, (it is not an early variety), one to try. Rio's pods are soft and fuzzy and colorful. They have definite dark strings which make what I'd call a stringy creaseback. The flesh of the pod is not as thick as beans bred for snap but is thicker than most typical dry bean pods, and they fill up nicely with beans that I know are flavorful.

I just used Rio Zape as an example because I'm thinking of trying some to make a small batch of plain boiled green beans with. There are a lot of other dry bean varieties that have nice edible looking pods. Dapple Grey is making pods that are thick, juicy, and heavy. At most stages they feel soft. At their bone dry stage for harvesting dry beans from, they are very leathery, and do a kind of tightening up.

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A variety called Wren's Egg, a bush bean that is relatively quick to produce, is what I call a true multipurpose bean. Oh, and really pretty too. Wren's egg should be in a group called BORLOTTI or HORTICULTURAL. They make a nice sized plump rounded dry bean that when harvested bone dry is soft white with a shade of red splashed markings all around it. If harvested for shell beans they are bright white, with pinkish red markings, and they have a mild flavor with a touch of that "sharpness" when eaten raw. Real good as shelly. The actual pods for eating are real nice. Super colorful. They are green at first. That'd be when you want to pick them for pod eating. (Unless you go for Beans n Bacon with the pods more developed to get more protein.) I think mine will be making another flush of production. If so I'm gonna make a batch.

Stringing beans is almost always a good idea. It is an old common family tradition that was mostly lost about the time tv came along.

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Yep Mackay, there are a good number of varieties you can grow, and yes, starting indoors extra early works. Super careful with the roots. I used to grow dry beans in Dillon and Twin Bridges Montana, barely zone 4. A typical grow season would be June 15th to September 1st. But then I got good at stretching the season at the early part, and nature started helping at the late part by letting the season end later each year. 2007 lasted to sometime in October.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Russ, the Jeminez pole beans are in the mail and on the way to you. You should see them Friday.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Ridgerunner I'll let you know when the beans arrived many thanks for your participation this year. Hope you'll want to do it again in 2014.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Look what a fellow from South Africa has sent me this past August. 85 small samples of bean varieties. Many of them are between 3 and 6 seeds. He's hoping that they will be kept alive in America. A few commerical varieties, but many of them kept by tribal families in South Africa, and in other parts of Africa. I think I've even run across one from Brazil. Sometimes seed companies come in with their new bean breeding work, and displace varieties that have been grown for a long time. Then the old varieties aren't grown anymore, and they die out. I hope we get a whole bunch more people who want to become part of the Little Easy Bean Network. I can split these up amongst a bunch of gardeners plus the ones that I'll have on a list from A Bean Collectors Window collection. I'll try to squeeze in some of them in my own garden next year. I should put these on the website sometime on a seperate page. Maybe call that page "African Beans". I put these 85 tiny little ziploc bag samples on a plastic plate and took the picture.

 

[897tgigvib]

Oh boy Russ!

JACKPOT! That's like getting the triple 7's!

Are all of them Phaseolus vulgaris? I hear tell that they also grow a huge diversity of Vinca unguiculata Cowpeas over in Africa.

3 seeds of a variety is enough to grow a good sized packet in a summer, but it sure puts the pressure on to keep each plant alive and healthy. One mouse could do a whole variety in with 3 nibbles.

My 2014 garden is going to have more varieties in it. I am going to only have a few plants of each variety, and, one pole per plant.

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There had been a Rastamahn Jamaican down in Potter Valley who I sometimes saw at the little store there. He was always telling me about his elderly mother "in the middle of the rural country" down there who grows Lima Beans as big as Oreo cookies. He even describes how she grows them such as when to plant them. According to him, if planted one month they grow as pole limas, if planted another month they grow as bush limas. I suspect that Jamaica has more diversity deep in the interior than is known. It's south of Cuba. Google map Jamaica and zoom in on the interior. It's interlaced with little tiny roads. Zoom in more and you see a lot of gardens in the jungle. Somehow, next time I see Morton the Rastamahn from Jamaica I'm gonna bribe him by giving him 50 bucks to send to his elderly mother for a few of those seeds. Apparently his mother's Lima Beans may well be the biggest variety in the world.

 

[journey11]

Christmas came 4 months early for you! How very neat.

Well, I have enough Appaloosa, although they are ugly. The Top Crop in the row right beside them went bonkers. I have probably over 600 seeds saved from them. I lost one other variety I was growing out, Sno Caps, that were in the next row down from the Appaloosa. All I can figure is that the incessant rain gave them wet feet. They were also the first to bear. The others coming on later in the summer came out fine. There were lots of nice plump green pods on those two early on, but when it came time to harvest, the seeds were either tiny or spoiled. I didn't soil test this year, but I did check for pH. Once those Top Crop have dried sufficiently, I'll have those right out to you, Russ.

 

[Smart Red]

Bluejay77, this is Smart Red checking in with a report on your 'gifted' beans. The three pole varieties did well and have been harvested. At least one of those didn't climb my poles, however, and grew more like a bush variety. I don't have my record book with me right now so I can't tell which one grew short. Alphabetically, it was the first bean you sent. (Silly me, I tend to plant alphabetically in case I lose my precious record book.)

I still need to harvest the rest of my bush beans. There were two varieties of beans I planted this year that had really poor germination. I can't look to see if they were mine or yours - and I don't remember their names right now. Hopefully, I should have beans ready to send back to you by early next week.

This was such a neat idea! Thank you for including me in your project.

 

[journey11]

(Silly me, I tend to plant alphabetically in case I lose my precious record book.)

That is INGENIOUS, Red. I planted 26 tomato varieties this year and the PERMANENT marker washed off of my labels! I usually sketch a grid on paper and label what I planted...but was too busy this year...so there ya go.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hey Marshall !

Tripple 7's, now can I get as lucky playing Powerball? Wow if this is early Christmas. Some Santa must think I was a really good boy this year. Yep all these beans look like P. Vulgarisl. Some of the little packets look like they got 10 to 12 seeds in them. I'll have to check out the Jamaica thing on Google maps.

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Smart Red If I sort the list of beans I sent you. The pole bean that comes nearest to the top of the list is Migliorucci. That's good to know. Now we know that one is really a bush bean. I planted about 5 varieties this year that should have been pole beans but grew more like viney bush with little tendrils on top, or low growing half runner types. The neat idea of doing this with the beans came about from Marshall suggesting it. It is turning out to be fun and interesting experience for me as well. Thanks Smart Red for being a part of it and hope you'll do it again next year.

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Hey Journey

You got enough Topcrop seeds now you can plant them for your snap beans next year if you like. It's a nice variety. I used to grow them in my garden when I was in high school.