2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

ruralmamma said:
SIx varieties did not produce well enough to return seed:
Click to expand...

You can use the Georgia 4 off types as food if you want. I had the best year ever with my Rio Zape grow out. That was due to our extended summer in October. The beans were even larger than any I had grown previously. @ruralmamma the beans in your photos are all just beautiful.
 
ruralmamma said:
Finally getting around to editing bean photos and now for the bean show! These are the varieties returned to Russ. I believe I'm regrowing six varieties and hopefully will post photos of them and their variations soon. Please excuse my photography skills. Due to weather, these were all taken inside with a poor lighting setup.

View attachment 79283

First up is Blue Tip. One of the first beans to produce. Average of eight seeds per pod.

View attachment 79284

I chose Brinker Carrier because of its history. Average harvest.

View attachment 79285

Cade's Cove was one of my favorites as it really produced.

View attachment 79286

Coal Camp was a bit of a problem child. Took forever to produce and late season rain wrecked havoc on the harvest. Will grow this again in 2026 along with seeds obtained locally in hopes of a better harvest.

View attachment 79287

Cold Creek was another favorite. I did lose several seeds due to late season rains but still a pretty good harvest. Also had a blue variation on at least two of the eight plants and will post that later.
Click to expand...
Those Cold Creek beans remind me of Holstein cows! Do you eat those or just collect them for their beauty?
 
Dahlia said:
Those Cold Creek beans remind me of Holstein cows! Do you eat those or just collect them for their beauty?
Click to expand...
I eat them too. They are a bean I named and I think it's getting close to stable or might already be stable. If you are getting any off types from it, it may have crossed again with something in the vicinity of where it was last grown.
 
Blue-Jay said:
I eat them too. They are a bean I named and I think it's getting close to stable or might already be stable. If you are getting any off types from it, it may have crossed again with something in the vicinity of where it was last grown.
Click to expand...
How neat! I didn't know you made up the name! (Good name BTW!)
Are most of the bean names I see on this forum made up by the growers?
 
Blue-Jay said:
You can use the Georgia 4 off types as food if you want.
Click to expand...
They're too beautiful to eat! I'll have to grab a new photo of them next time I'm home.

Dahlia said:
Those Cold Creek beans remind me of Holstein cows! Do you eat those or just collect them for their beauty?
Click to expand...

My main concern was growing enough for seed this year. Will sample them next year

Blue-Jay said:
I eat them too. They are a bean I named and I think it's getting close to stable or might already be stable. If you are getting any off types from it, it may have crossed again with something in the vicinity of where it was last grown.
Click to expand...

The off-type was blue/purplish when it was harvested. Will pull it out and see how it looks now that a few months have passed.
 
ruralmamma said:
View attachment 79309

Wren's Egg was the first dry bush bean to mature. Larger than the average dry bean and a decent harvest considering I lost two of the four plants early in the season. I did lose a few lingering pods to late season rains.

View attachment 79310

Ma Williams was the star of the show in 2025 with her bright pink pods. These seeds represent the cream of the crop as late-season rains stained or ruined many of them. Extremely large seeds and I'll grow them again for the spectacular color show if nothing else. Average production.

View attachment 79311

And finally Onyx, formerly known as WB-PKT#45.1. Average production which I think would have been much better if the bed had been more fertile. Outproduced the other two varieties in the same bed by a landslide! Will grow again in 2026.

SIx varieties did not produce well enough to return seed:

Arlington Red Cranberry
Avalon (only one of four seeds produced true to type)
Batumi Georgia 4 (approximately 30 seeds total with half sporting an off-type)
Pixie
Rio Zape
Woodboogie
Click to expand...
I like that Wren’s Egg. I wonder if it might do better in an area like mine where falls are typically very dry (no rain for weeks), and generally dry for the rest of the season most years. It sounds like a short season bean…I wonder if I can find some here (Canada).
 
Dahlia said:
How neat! I didn't know you made up the name! (Good name BTW!)
Are most of the bean names I see on this forum made up by the growers?
Click to expand...
I don't think that most beans be circulated among bean growers are made up by them. I think most of them are genuine heirlooms or you might say golden oldies.
 
ruralmamma said:
Finally getting around to editing bean photos and now for the bean show! These are the varieties returned to Russ. I believe I'm regrowing six varieties and hopefully will post photos of them and their variations soon. Please excuse my photography skills. Due to weather, these were all taken inside with a poor lighting setup.
Click to expand...

Your bean package came today. I'm just blown away by the beauty of your beans. Wow ! you really did a lot of work this year on all these beans. Thank you so much. Did you get any off types from September Blue. You really returned such blue beans on this one.

I hope you got to keep a great big crop of beans for yourself too.

Your photography skills look fine especially of the beans themselves. I love looking at them over and over again.
 
Last edited:
Blue-Jay said:
Your bean package came today. I'm just blown away by the beauty of your beans. Wow ! you really did a lot of work this year on all these beans. Thank you so much. Did you get any off types from September Blue. You really returned such blue beans on this one.

I hope you got to keep a great big crop of beans for yourself too.

Your photography skills look fine especially of the beans themselves. I love looking at them over and over again.
Click to expand...

Thank you! So glad they arrived safely. All of the blue beans were beautiful this year and I'm assuming it was due to the drought and extreme heat. No off-types of September Blue either I have an ample supply of most of the beans and reserved a few of each variety for storage in my parents freezer just in case.

Just ordered a tripod for my daughter and hoping to utilize it for better bean photos this year.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Sister Sites

BackYardChickens.com
BackYardHerds.com
SufficientSelf.com
Back
Top