Recent content by ruralmamma

I'm officially done with the garden and only have a tray of Coal Camp pods drying. Rest have been shelled and the majority are awaiting a final sort and packaging. Managed to get two beds of garlic planted and those beds mulched and one bean trellis down. Rain started yesterday and there's a...

Technically we haven't had the "killing" frost yet, but ice has frozen several mornings. Coal Camp is still hanging on but otherwise I'm finished with beans. I was out early yesterday taking one of the metal trellises down and preparing to plant garlic. It was a chilly day, so I started the...

Harvested a few more dried pods from Coal Camp before the rain started this morning. It survived a light frost without cover but I think Im prepared to sacrifice the last few pods as it seems there's a 50/50 chance that the seed has already germinated and I haven't had much better success...

We dodged the frost, but had a light coating of ice on the car both mornings. No damage to any of the plants that were left uncovered.

Frost warning tonight and Coal Camp is the only bean left. Picked all the pods that felt spongy and covered it, hoping for the best.

I'm still waiting on Coal Camp and Autumn Zebra but otherwise bean season is finished. Our first frost date is predicted to be the 14th and shouldn't have much to cover if it comes. A few varieties are blooming and forming small beans but they'll likely be headed for the dinner table. I'm...

@Oxford, If I didn't know better, I would swear the photo of your True Red Cranberry was actually my Arlington Red Cranberry as my harvest was pretty much identical.

@Oxford, beautiful beans! I've also gotten some amazing blues from Nona Agnes, Meerbarbe and September Blue this year. The few days of rain and the cooler nights have affected my harvest too. I was apprehensive about the thick spongy pods of Rose, but it's actually Rosey's Red and Arlington...

I'm pretty much doing the same. Not so much fog as heavy dew most mornings and a few days of rain lately. I am finding the combination of the ceiling fan and a box fan to be beneficial, especially with Rose as it has a thick pod. I'm down to around a dozen flats now as the majority of seed...

Had an inch of rain yesterday and went out this morning and grabbed any spongy pods before the rain started again. Been leaving the ceiling fan on 24/7 and also have a small fan blowing directly on the pods. Have had a few issues with staining on the beans I brought in before the rains but that...

Thank you! I have a tendency to make my supports a little too perfect but I love this idea! Also helps if my hubby has a visual too. I find some varieties climb the metal trellises and fishing line just fine and others need a little help at first. I have two varieties that were so vigorous...

Thanks for the recommendation! I've heard of Carol and am hoping to order a copy soon Still wrapping my head around the genetics. So the off-types I've gotten from Avalon are technically F2? I think I have this visualized, but could you post a photo if it's not too much trouble. We'll be...

Weather here has been a rollercoaster ride this season. May and June were cool and we had so much rain and flooding. That was followed by an almost two-week stretch of 90°+ weather and extreme drought for the second year in a row by the end of August. So far we've only had a total of 1/4" of...

Absolutely no dew this morning, so I went to work on the beans after I tended the chickens. Our area is classified as being in extreme drought once again but rain is expected for the next few days. Picked the last handful of pods from four varieties in the dry bush bed and went back a few...

Also I may have been mistaken about Avalon being a pole variety as the pods bearing the blue/black seed are the ones choking my tomatoes and reaching out to the fence. All of the striped seed were harvested at bush height and when I attempted to go through the tangle of vines, there's one plant...