The 2014 Little Easy Bean Network - Get New Beans On The Cheap

[the1honeycomb]

well so happy to see that the Woza sugar beans labelwas still in tact!!! these are the vine beans that I have growing in the back of the garden! I have several plants and they seem to be producing very well so you will definitely be getting some! Lazy house wife is still up in the air

 

[Blue-Jay]

Thought I would do a progress report on the Armenian Giant Black. You can see the single plant in the center of the photo. It has now climbed all the way to the top of it's 6 foot tall single pole support. It also has begun to bloom. A bit behind many of the other pole beans around it, but it's still got the rest of this month and all of September to produce some dry pods and seed. It's really a nice looking plant.

Also got my first two dry pods today. One pod of Littlefield's Special, and Honey Keygold an Australian wax variety I got from Hal.

 

[Hal]

Thought I would do a progress report on the Armenian Giant Black. You can see the single plant in the center of the photo. It has now climbed all the way to the top of it's 6 foot tall single pole support. It also has begun to bloom. A bit behind many of the other pole beans around it, but it's still got the rest of this month and all of September to produce some dry pods and seed. It's really a nice looking plant.

View attachment 3868

Also got my first two dry pods today. One pod of Littlefield's Special, and Honey Keygold an Australian wax variety I got from Hal.

Looks good , glad to see the AGB with flowers. What are those two monsters in the back left?

The Honey Keygold comes from an organic seeds vendor here who I've dealt with since I was a child.
I've seen no one else selling them here my entire life. They are a decent wax bean with a narrow black seed and they seem to crop quite heavily.
The closest bean I could find was Keygold listed by Mandy's Greenhouse in Canada which could well be the same thing going from the description.
It seems quite early, I'm guessing that will be worth something if I'm looking for breeding earliness in wax beans.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Looks good , glad to see the AGB with flowers. What are those two monsters in the back left?

The Honey Keygold comes from an organic seeds vendor here who I've dealt with since I was a child.
I've seen no one else selling them here my entire life. They are a decent wax bean with a narrow black seed and they seem to crop quite heavily.
The closest bean I could find was Keygold listed by Mandy's Greenhouse in Canada which could well be the same thing going from the description.
It seems quite early, I'm guessing that will be worth something if I'm looking for breeding earliness in wax beans.

Hi Hal,

Honey Keygold was planted on May 23. So that's 77 days to the first dry pod, and the plants are loaded with pods.

I need to get my garage set up soon with all my carboard boxes to put my dry pods in them after I start the harvest. Dry pod picking will really be underway around the 3rd week of this month. Some days I will spend 6 hours, two or three days in a row harvesting pods. Start about 10 in the morning when all the dew has dried off the plants. I will pack a lunch and won't go home until after 4 (1600) in the afternoon. The bean patch is growing 6 miles (9.6K) away from were I live.

Those two monsters in the background are Ramshorn which is a long poded snap bean. I've got to try these out for snaps next year. They are strong climbers, and have overgrown their supports. I had grown that variety back in the early 80's after acquiring it from John Withee's Wanigan Associates. The Japanese beetles haven't picked on this one two much either. The plants look very massive around their single pole supports as I plant 4 seeds around each pole. One seed north, south, east, and west. Sometimes all the seeds don't grow, but that's fairly infrequent. Paul Bunyan Giant is another monster in the bean patch this year that I had obtained from Mark Christensen's New Zealand bean project. Paul Bunyan Giant is also the Japanese beetles favorite pole bean in my garden this year.

 

[the1honeycomb]

glad to see llarge pods on the woza pole beans and the lazy house wife pole beans as well! I will have plenty to send to you!!!

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi 1honeycomb,

Sounds like your having fun with beans and they are growing well for you. Bless those bean for making you smile. Also as you have watched these beans grow if you can keep a little record of how tall the pole beans grew, how long their pods were, if the pods were wrinkled or smooth. Color of the pods, or if they had markings on them. Is alway kind of neat to know some of this stuff. I have planted pole beans that I wouldn't even call pole beans. They grew short runners and could have been grown on the ground like a bush bean. I would call those types semi-runners. It would be neat if everyone could do something like this. Just a little general info about the beans they grew.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Thought You all might enjoy a little shot of my home bean patch behind my house where I'm growing a crop of carrots, bush, and pole beans. The bean plants have really been cranking out snap beans the last couple of weeks. I just picked more today and have already frozen 45 quarts.

This is a shot from the south looking north. 4 - 12 foot long rows of Atomic Red Carrots just beyond the rabbit fence then 8 varieties bush snap beans then 6 varieties of pole snaps. The whole garden is 12 feet wide and 24 feet long.

This is a shot from the north looking south.

Three of the six snap beans I've grown this year. From left to right. Cassie's Purple Pod, Louisiana, and Weaver. A lot of these pods are from 7 to 9 inches long. All three are very handsome looking varieties.

 

[baymule]

Your gardens are looking good Bluejay77! The Bambarra and Jugo beans I got from you are still growing, green leaves, tiny blooms every so often. I can't tell what they are doing-their beans are underground! When do I pull them? After the leaves die back?

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi Bay,

Yeah try waiting until the leaves die back then pull one up to see what you got. This is going to be another one of those surprise packages. You figure out what you got and how the gadget works as after you open the box without the instructions. Another learning experience.

 

[baymule]

Well, I sure hope I find something in the box!