2019 Little Easy Bean Network - Come And Reawaken The Thrill Of Discovery

[BeanQueen]

Buckskin Girl, Dapple Grey, and Serene all got blossom bagged. I like to do this so I always have pure seed to fall back on in case something gets crossed. Serene is tangling onto itself with all these "runners"

Serene

Buckskin Girl

 

[reedy]

I'm kinda bummed out. A stupid deer jumped the fence to the back garden and trimmed the leaves and small beans on a lot of my plants. I think most will recover, assuming I shoot that stupid deer which I fully intend to do. Even worse it ate ALL the leaves and little fruit clusters on one of my grape vines. I grew that vine form seed and this was the first year it was producing.

It's my own fault, I knew that deer was hanging around. It had already nibbled on flowers in the yard and we had applied rotten eggs and hot pepper spray. I guess it decided it would just up the game some, well the game is on now.

I'v never been a fan of killing things and last year about this time we had to put down our dog, whom I'd had for almost 15 years. After she laid her little head in my lap and died I had trouble so much as trapping a mouse. Now without her on guard everything thinks the yard and garden are free for the taking. I don't mind sharing a little but when they get greedy or do something that feels almost vindictive I have to draw a line, that deer has to go.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@reedy I feel for your damages but don't give up. I dislike deer with a passion. There are plenty of them around. If you only killed the ones in the area where a gardener lives there would still be an over abundance of them. Around here I see one on the road dead every once in a while, and I say there was probably another 4,000 dollar bill for someone's car or pickup truck.

In 2015 deer ate every single bush bean plant I had on a 3,300 square foot plot. A lost summer. The plants were eaten down to about 3 inches about the soil. I probably got maybe three handfuls of seed out of it. I'm also not fond of rabbits.

 

[BeanQueen]

The worst are woodchucks when they are able to get into your garden. Thankfully we have heavy duty metal window cages that are 3x6' we use for fencing. Also makes for great bean trellises. But last year my biggest enemy were stinkbugs, they decimated my garden, especially beans. They have piercing/sucking mouthparts and got to all the beans and so many bean seeds were sucked dry as they were developing and left unviable.

 

[flowerbug]

The worst are woodchucks when they are able to get into your garden. Thankfully we have heavy duty metal window cages that are 3x6' we use for fencing. Also makes for great bean trellises. But last year my biggest enemy were stinkbugs, they decimated my garden, especially beans. They have piercing/sucking mouthparts and got to all the beans and so many bean seeds were sucked dry as they were developing and left unviable.

i've not seen much of those here, that sounds horrible!

@Bluejay77 deer are all over around here and often along the road dead. we've hit four of them with our cars (well technically the last one hit me as it ran into the side of the car). the other night the neighbor hit one and totaled her car when driving her husband to the med-center. i absolutely hate driving at night now and even during the day too...

 

[flowerbug]

2 of 3 sections of beans on the fence are now ready for climbers as some of them are already sending out their feeler looking for a fence to climb that is a good thing. the problem with the last bit is going to be that they are further away from the fence and i have no sticks that long. i'm thinking that perhaps i can put some strings from the fence down to the ground and use stakes in the ground to hold the strings? i think it will work ok... i hope. that is tomorrow mornings task to figure out. too hot now...

 

[BeanQueen]

Russell, is Sweetwater supposed to have darker vines? A few are coming up taller than the others with purple pigment on the stems

 

[BeanQueen]

Most are green like on the left, a few look purpley like the one on the right. Purple ones are also much taller

 

[Ridgerunner]

Russ, are you ready for a bean show in early July? I was able to plant mine in Early March so I had a bit of a jump on most people. I am limited in space so there will not be a lot of different beans. All of them are segregations I'm trying to stabilize.

This is Banzala. This is a segregation from the Will Bonsall #39. It is a bush, good for a dried bean, fairly large. This is the second time I've grown in and it has remained true. We'll see if that holds true next time.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Next up is Jas, one of my favorites. Jas is also a segregation of WB #39. It's a pole bean and for dried only. It's fairly prolific and a decent sized bean. This is also the second time I've grown it and it has remained true. The first photo is what it looks like after it has aged a year and a half, I think it looks better here than when fresh.

The second photo is when it is fresh. I had a reverse the first year I grew it, I had a reverse this year when I grew it.

I also noticed reverse pods this year when I grew it. I think it is a fun bean.

I think the Jas bloom shown below is really pretty too.

I'll stick Valley View next. It's a bush bean from the WB #39. Also the second time I've grown it and it remained true. The first photo is what it looks like after it has aged a year and a half, the second photo is when it is fresh.