2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[heirloomgal]

I'm thinking of growing Blue Gold Star as a network bean in 2024. Does anyone have any experiences they could share about growing that bean? I'm wondering about DTM and productivity.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Lohrey's Special - Pole Snap. I have never eaten these beans but they must be good enough for the Lohrey family in Tasmania Australia to have kept them in their family gardening for over 75 years. The new seeds always look neat to me. I grew them in my backyard flower bed this past summer where they could get enough water to grow well. I had probably about 6 or 7 plants growing around 2 single poles. Harvested 11.70 ounces of beans (331 grams).

McCaslan - Pole Snap. It's an old variety from the McCasland family of the state of Georgia introduced by them in 1912. I ate a few of these green pods this summer and they seemed stringless. Some young fellow gave them to me at the Michiana Seed Swap in Goshen, Indiana in January. They got planted later in June about the middle of the month. I harvested some pods dry and some yellow. However a frost was threatening one night in early October. So I harvested the remaining pods green. They were all very swollen with seed. Dried them in the house on large sheets of cardboard for about three weeks and the seed that came out of those pods looked just as good as the seed from the pods that dried outside on the plants in the sun.


Lohrey's Special - Pole Snap................................McCaslan - Pole Snap

 

[Branching Out]

I was so excited to see a seed coat anomaly when I was putting away my small harvest of Blue Specked Tepary beans--one bean has a tan coloured solid coat. And I still can't get over how tiny these beans are; they are smaller than Tic Tacs. For scale, the white label in the centre of the photo is 3/4" x 1".

 

[Blue-Jay]

Missouri Wonder - Pole Snap. This is the first time probably since the early 1980's that I've grown Missouri Wonder. The snap bean with seeds that look like a pinto. I think I originally bought the seed of this one from Baker Creek seeds maybe about 2017. They just sat in the packet on a shelf in my basement. I just decided I should grow them. Can be used as a dry bean also. Farmers in the midwest began growing this bean in the 1930's as the bean is supposedly good at growing in harsh conditions.

Mona Lisa - Pole Dry. I got his bean in 2015 from a bean trading friend in Austria. I love it's color and pattern. Harvested 12.75 ounces (361 grams).


Missouri Wonder - Pole Snap..................................Mona Lisa - Pole Dry

 

[heirloomgal]

Mona Lisa and Draper's Glen are two beans I hope to try growing someday. I didn't realize ML was on your list again this year until a few days ago, and I had already requested it from Belgium. Those two beans are such beauties. Looks like Mona Lisa is a fairly hardy variety because it seems like it's been a difficult bean year for lots of folks, and your seeds are really nicely formed.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Mona Lisa and Draper's Glen are two beans I hope to try growing someday. I didn't realize ML was on your list again this year until a few days ago, and I had already requested it from Belgium. Those two beans are such beauties. Looks like Mona Lisa is a fairly hardy variety because it seems like it's been a difficult bean year for lots of folks, and your seeds are really nicely formed.

I do spend some time culling out all the very small and misshapen seeds. As I recall Mona Lisa didn't have a lot of culls. Then of course when I do a photo the beans are hand picked to make a nice photo. However most of the rest of the Mona Lisa beans are pretty nice now that all the culls are out.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Mr. Tung - Pole Snap - I got this seed from one of the Network growers in Tennessee in 2018. So I finally decided it was time to grow it since it's a snap bean. Snap beans go well. Tender and stringless. The bean was brought originally in the early 1900's to Canada by a Chinese imigrant. The bean has made it around even on this side of the border. Nice tasty snap bean. Productive and produced nice quality seed. Only grew one pole of this bean and harvested 8 ounces, 226 grams. Even the small seeds were nicely filled out and formed well.

Neptune - Pole Lima - I hadn't grown this one in 5 years. It was one of the 100 varieties I donated back in the early 1980's to Seed Savers Exchange. Sent to me by a fellow named E.P. Griggs in 1980 from eastern Tennessee. It had no name so beans without names when in my hands get names. The bean didn't develop to it's fullest this summer because of the dryness and it was a little late. I got some dry pods in late September which contained nice well filled out seed. Most of the pods I harvest green just before a frost and when I shelled them out after drying in the house had just as nice seed as the dry pods. Total seed harvest from this bean was 10.25 ounces, 290 grams.


Mr. Tung - Pole Snap.............................................Neptune - Pole Lima

 

[Blue-Jay]

Mona Lisa and Draper's Glen are two beans I hope to try growing someday. I didn't realize ML was on your list again this year until a few days ago, and I had already requested it from Belgium. Those two beans are such beauties. Looks like Mona Lisa is a fairly hardy variety because it seems like it's been a difficult bean year for lots of folks, and your seeds are really nicely formed.

I think the fellow in Belgium got Mona Lisa from me. So it's just taken a different route to get to you.

 

[heirloomgal]

I think the fellow in Belgium got Mona Lisa from me. So it's just taken a different route to get to you.

It's sort of amazing how tiny the 'beaniverse' really is! I wonder what the common trait is that we all share, to belong to such a small, select group!? Is there a commonality that ties us all together? Aside, of course, from the fact that we love beans, some deeper, subliminal thing?

As for those beautiful limas you grow @Bluejay77 , I think I'll never get over my envy of southern folks who can grow them! The lima bean family has some spectacular members, really wild colorings. 'Genesis' is one of my favorites, but there are so many I like really. I'm afraid my season and climate will never permit me success with them, and it's not for lack of trying. I think they need a climate much like an easy bake oven.

 

[Triffid]

@flowerbug has hit all the issues of OSSI seeds perfectly for me. I couldn't have verbalized it any better. I wouldn't want to get entangled in this web.

Russ, shall I not send you the Frye's Golden Goose?
My seed came from the breeder without an OSSI-pledge, but you may not want to risk it.