2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 Mrociumere is certainly one of my favorite beans (it's hard to speak of favorites ). i need to give it a trial grow out here next season.

I like Mrociumere too. It's a pretty bean and very productive to boot. Grow it in some good soil.

 

[Zeedman]

Some miscellaneous legumes from this year.


"Mesa" shelling pea. An afila (leafless) pea, former Vermont Bean "pea of the year" in 2000, when I obtained it from them (and since dropped). Small, very sweet peas borne on 12-16" plants. Has masses of tendrils in place of leaves, so does well in wide rows, since the vines intertwine to support each other. My last two grow outs have been disappointing; this year, they were on the wet side of the rural garden, and just barely hung on... which concerns me, because I may have the last seed in circulation. Glad to at least have enough seed to preserve it, but I'm only treading water (almost literally this year) and can't seem to increase my stock enough to share it widely, or to actually eat some. I froze a lot of peas the first few years I grew it.


"Yokomo Giant" snow pea. A new trial, obtained from SSE via their Yearbook listing. Tall 4-5' vines, purple flowers. Very large flat pods 4-5" long (and a few longer), needed to remove strings, but sweet & crunchy. The dry pods are over-sized, and shrink down slightly over the seeds. Those dry pods were exactly the color of the dry leaves, finding them among the vines was like playing 'where's Waldo'. It tolerated summer heat well, producing several harvests of pods & 1/2 pound of dry seed. Will definitely grow this again.


"PI 359241" garbanzo. Obtained from Will Bonsall in 2006, who stated that he nicknamed it 'Clifford', for obvious reasons. This is a large, beautiful chickpea, and I wish I could explore its culinary qualities... but much like the Mesa peas above, I just can't get a good year from it. I've had just enough seed several times to replant, and to share it twice. The photo above is this year's entire harvest. I either need a cooler summer, or to grow it in partial shade - and to keep rodents from harvesting the seed before it dries.

It was a rough year here for peas & other cool-season legumes. June was abnormally warm, and very wet. Two other peas, the soup pea "Rimpaus Green Victoria" (which is 2009 seed, and nearing the end of its storage life) and snap pea "Sugar Lace", were complete failures. The grass pea "Cicerchia" was severely stunted; there were a few flowers, but all plants succumbed to the heat & waterlogged soil before pods could mature. As hard as it is for me to say 'no' to any legume, I won't try grass peas again.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Bluejay77's Big Bean Show
Day 22- The Beans I Grew This Summer​

Pawnee- Bush Dry

The bean originates in my Capron, Illinois bean gardens in 1979 When I discovered it growing in a totally brown bean called Brown Kidney that I had acquired from John Withee's Wanigan Associates. After I found the bean I named it and first listed it in the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook in 1982. The bean is very productive. Soil sensitive and when grown in some soils the seed coat will be mostly brown with very little white or spotting. I found this bean on one website claiming the bean to be from the Pawnee Tribe. The bean was once sold commerically by Terrior Seeds that orignally started in Woodstock, Illinois and they are now based out of Chino Valley, Arizona. The bean can be found on Pintrest. All kinds of photos there. Can be found being grown by growers in Europe. The beans photo once appeared in Mother Earth News magazine. Pawnee is sold by Bernards Farms in McMinnville, Oregon. Also sold commercially by Full Circle Seeds in Sooke, BC, Canada. Another one of my original beans that has taken on a life of it's own. Glad to see so many people have accepted, and are enjoying it so much.

Pink Trout - Bush Dry

This is originally from the bean collection of SSE member the late Ernest Dana of Etna, New Hampshire. It is one of his original named beans. It too is soil sensitive and will display more or less white and pink spotting depending on the soil where it's grown.



Pawnee....................................................................................Pink Trout

Possum Trot - Bush Dry

This is one of my newer original named beans. It is a segregation in 2014 of a cranberry bean found in White Robin in 2012. This bean is very productive. The beans name comes from a sign over vendors booth in an antique collectables shop in Ocala, Florida. It was the first thing I spotted when I walked in the door and I said to myself that is a bean name.

Polaris - Pole Lima

This bean is another of several segregations from a outcross of the pole lima "Ping Zebra". The bean is very productive. Small seeded but larger than Ping Zebra and earlier in maturity. It reminds me of a miniature version of the pole lima "Purple Eye"



Possum Trot.....................................................................Polaris

 

[heirloomgal]

I like Mrociumere too. It's a pretty bean and very productive to boot. Grow it in some good soil.

I've found Mrociumere really productive too. Sometimes shockingly so; in 2019 I harvest a truly enormous quantity (for my garden size anyway), it must have liked that years' conditions.

 

[heirloomgal]

Some miscellaneous legumes from this year.

View attachment 45807 View attachment 45808
"Mesa" shelling pea. An afila (leafless) pea, former Vermont Bean "pea of the year" in 2000, when I obtained it from them (and since dropped). Small, very sweet peas borne on 12-16" plants. Has masses of tendrils in place of leaves, so does well in wide rows, since the vines intertwine to support each other without support. My last two grow outs have been disappointing; this year, they were on the wet side of the rural garden, and just barely hung on... which concerns me, because I may have the last seed in circulation. Glad to at least have enough seed to preserve it, but I'm only treading water (almost literally this year) and can't seem to increase my stock enough to share it widely, or to actually eat some. I froze a lot of peas the first few years I grew it.

View attachment 45809 View attachment 45810
"Yokomo Giant" snow pea. A new trial, obtained from SSE via their Yearbook listing. Tall 4-5' vines, purple flowers. Very large flat pods 4-5" long (and a few longer), needed to remove strings, but sweet & crunchy. The dry pods are over-sized, and shrink down slightly over the seeds. Those dry pods were exactly the color of the dry leaves, finding them among the vines was like playing 'where's Waldo'. It tolerated summer heat well, producing several harvests of pods & 1/2 pound of dry seed. Will definitely grow this again.

View attachment 45806
"PI 359241" garbanzo. Obtained from Will Bonsall in 2006, who stated that he nicknamed it 'Clifford', for obvious reasons. This is a large, beautiful chickpea, and I wish I could explore its culinary qualities... but much like the Mesa peas above, I just can't get a good year from it. I've had just enough seed several times to replant, and to share it twice. The photo above is this year's entire harvest. I either need a cooler summer, or to grow it in partial shade - and to keep rodents from harvesting the seed before it dries.

It was a rough year here for peas & other cool-season legumes. June was abnormally warm, and very wet. Two other peas, the soup pea "Rimpaus Green Victoria" (which is 2009 seed, and nearing the end of its storage life) and snap pea "Sugar Lace", were complete failures. The grass pea "Cicerchia" was severely stunted; there were a few flowers, but all plants succumbed to the heat & waterlogged soil before pods could mature. As hard as it is for me to say 'no' to any legume, I won't try grass peas again.

I have found Sugar Lace peas to be really challenging to succeed with. There's a handful of peas that seem to be such fickle germinators, this one and Sugar Ann too. I wonder if they have a narrow window of weather and temperatures they prefer, deviate beyond that and they just don't move.

 

[jbosmith]

I have found Sugar Lace peas to be really challenging to succeed with. There's a handful of peas that seem to be such fickle germinators, this one and Sugar Ann too. I wonder if they have a narrow window of weather and temperatures they prefer, deviate beyond that and they just don't move.

I definitely have better luck in cooler springs and if I get peas in super early. My ol' reliable peas didn't even get to full size this year and I think it's because a) I was a week or so late getting them in and b) it got warm early and stayed that way. Not a great combo but I think the first was a bigger factor. My neighbor has great peas (as rated by the chipmunks) and he got his in waaaay early.

 

[Artorius]

Bluejay77's Big Bean Show
Day 21- The Beans I Grew This Summer​

Owl's Head - Half Runner Dry

This bean came to me as a surprise back in the early 1980's. A package in the mailbox from Will Bonsall contained this striking looking and interesting bean. A bean Will discovered and named from his gardens. I've grew this bean this past summer on 4 foot tall hog or handy panels. The plants never climbed much beyond the top of the wire. So almost seemed like a semi runner this season. It did quite well under difficult conditions.

View attachment 45792
Owl's Head

@Bluejay77
I also had Owl's Head this year. Some of the seeds have a strong black pattern, others have a weaker pattern and a brown ring around the eye. Just like in your photo. I wonder if these are off type seeds. I also noticed that the pods from which I shelled them were softer. The walls of the pods that contained the seeds with a distinct black pattern were thicker and stiffer. All the pods had time to dry on the plants.

 

[flowerbug]

I definitely have better luck in cooler springs and if I get peas in super early. My ol' reliable peas didn't even get to full size this year and I think it's because a) I was a week or so late getting them in and b) it got warm early and stayed that way. Not a great combo but I think the first was a bigger factor. My neighbor has great peas (as rated by the chipmunks) and he got his in waaaay early.

hahaha, peas and chipmunks... oy... !!!!! <-- not enough exclamaition marks really...

i had some great peas this year, planted them early and even if we had a very warm and dry long spell i still had a lot to eat and then i left the rest of the pods on the plant because i wanted to harvest seeds to increase my seed supply and be able to give them away to other people. then the chipmunks discovered them and i didn't notice until they'd raided and eaten most of the seeds from the pods. i do have enough seeds to replant and will keep a closer eye on things next year as i do plan on repeating these. they were so good and they persisted quite a ways into the summer even with the hot and dry weather. they lasted longer than the Purple Dove beans. i hardly ever have had peas go very long into the summer. these would have even gone longer had i been patient enough but i really needed to get that space turned under so they had to go. i found pea plants all over that the chipmunks had moved around and planted for me, but i'm not sure any will return next spring. at least i do have enough seeds.

all good fun and good learning too.

i love fresh peas and fresh pea pods too.

 

[flowerbug]

Pawnee- Bush Dry

the Pawnee color and pattern is very common in my grow outs here. i think it comes from the bean Painted Pony and whatever bean it might cross with as brown tends to be a very common color here among any grow outs of out crosses that haven't become stable yet.

and yes i am planning to plant Mrociumere in good soil.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I also had Owl's Head this year. Some of the seeds have a strong black pattern, others have a weaker pattern and a brown ring around the eye. Just like in your photo. I wonder if these are off type seeds. I also noticed that the pods from which I shelled them were softer. The walls of the pods that contained the seeds with a distinct black pattern were thicker and stiffer. All the pods had time to dry on the plants.

I think the reddish brown Owl's head are probably segregations or maybe outcrosses. I will always continue to select the black figured seeds for growing. Some years in an Owl's head grow out I haven't gotten any of the reddish brown seeds.