2020 Little Easy Bean Network - An Exciting Adventure In Heirloom Beans !

[PhilaGardener]

Pretty eye candy - reminds me of jelly beans!

 

[flowerbug]

I thought I'd post this for fun. I'm harvesting a lot of dried beans right now. I can do that since i can plant mine in early March. Most of these are new segregations I got this year from the Will Bonsall beans and the segregations I found in Bluejay. A few of the Will Bonsall beans are stabilizing but very few. But I'm not posting this to talk about that.

Most of these are not the final mature colors. I collect a lot of pods after they have dried enough to be crinkly but before they have totally dried out. If I don't do that and they get wet in our regular afternoon thunderstorms they sprout in the pod. I'm getting some of those even though I usually collect daily.

When I do my bean show about these you won't see many of these colors. Purple will probably be black. The pinks can change to different colors, muddy brown to maybe a sharp purple. Patterns may be easier or harder to see. I thought these immature colors would make a nice picture.

View attachment 35783

some of the early beans i pick look like those too and then change as they finish drying and aging. the normal red bean i grow here is called Red Ryder and it is a small red kidney bean. when shelled early they are a bright bright red (nearly carmine but brighter).

 

[flowerbug]

well, i got the worms out in the garden today, i didn't think i was going to get all nine buckets out, but it happened. tomorrow morning i plant the last bean garden inside the fence.

since i have so many seeds i'm also going to plant half the pathways which will give me a few hundred more plants. i'm not going to do any major prep work for these just scrape with a four pronger a bit to stir up some clay from underneath some sand i put down and then water them in, but they will be the last things i put in.

in the meantime i've found two beans chewed off (i think by a cut worm that i can't find) and a few of the lima beans along the fence sprouted and then promptly died so i have to replant a few seeds in those spots to see if i can get them going. i may have watered them too much in pretty heavy soil but it is raised up so it isn't puddling there. i try to only give them enough to keep them moist but not too wet.

all in all things are progressing.

 

[BeanQueen]

Here are some of the Network beans I am growing out this year. Some are slow to pop out, but with all this heat they will not be hiding for long.

Chocolate

DH-16

Frost (the rest of the circle are starting to crack the ground) @Bluejay77 they will survive!

Blue and White of Bernardo (GORGEOUS BEAN COLOR)

 

[Blue-Jay]

Planted all the pole beans Saturday in the new raised bed which is 960 square feet. After planting gave them all a little water. Set all the poles 72 of them for 36 varieties Friday. The pole beans are planted off a road called Pleasant Valley so this is my Pleasant Valley offsite. I visted Pleasant valley again today to give them a little more water and in watering some of them I uncovered one seed and discovered they are quite advanced in germinating already.

Sunday I went and roto-tilled again my 2,300+ offsite plot that you have seen photos of before. This was the site of all the pole beans in 2019. The soil was just almost hard as brickettes of charcoal. The tiller did pulverize the top 2 or 3 inches. I'm going to wait for rain tuesday night then let it sit a day or two and till it deeper. This will be the site of 80 varieties of dry bush beans this year. It's located on a road called Pheasant Lane.



Today I'm planting my small backyard bean nursery. I will plant 30 varieties of snap beans here behind my house

The photos below are all the Pleasant Valley pole bean raised bed plot. This is the area where I had it fenced to keep deer out. 80 feet by 48 feet fenced area. In the two top photos you can see in the background another 960 square foot plot inside this fenced area. That plot will become another raised bed next year.

 

[flowerbug]

looks like some nice sandy loam there!

my most recent garden plot just finished up yesterday is not as impressive as @Bluejay77 's patches, but at least it is done for now and planted...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll share a photo of my only damage from Tropical Storm Cristobal. I have several beans ripening right now and we had a few days straight of rain. The wind and rain did no damage here, we were lucky. But the wet weather caused beans in the pod to sprout. And it caused some to start that brownish color that means they are starting to rot.

I was out a much as could be, gathering beans as the pod even started to turn even a bit leathery. This is 358 grams (12.6 ounces) of the bad beans. This is a wet weight, they had not totally dried out before I threw them in my compost pile.

I don't trust the beans that were not sprouting to still be safe to try to germinate later. I've got the ones that looked good in three different containers spread out and drying. I'll look through them well later but those are destined to be soup.

This is not threatening my growing and stabilizing. I have plenty of other beans collected before and quite a few still green and growing, I'll have plenty of seeds. t's just one of the risks in what we do. If it sets in wet at the wrong time it can really hurt.

 

[flowerbug]

I'll share a photo of my only damage from Tropical Storm Cristobal. I have several beans ripening right now and we had a few days straight of rain. The wind and rain did no damage here, we were lucky. But the wet weather caused beans in the pod to sprout. And it caused some to start that brownish color that means they are starting to rot.

I was out a much as could be, gathering beans as the pod even started to turn even a bit leathery. This is 358 grams (12.6 ounces) of the bad beans. This is a wet weight, they had not totally dried out before I threw them in my compost pile.

View attachment 35857

I don't trust the beans that were not sprouting to still be safe to try to germinate later. I've got the ones that looked good in three different containers spread out and drying. I'll look through them well later but those are destined to be soup.

This is not threatening my growing and stabilizing. I have plenty of other beans collected before and quite a few still green and growing, I'll have plenty of seeds. t's just one of the risks in what we do. If it sets in wet at the wrong time it can really hurt.

throw 'em in a pot and cook 'em up!

 

[thejenx]

Loved reading of what you all are up to and seeing beans! This is my bean list of what I'm growing this year, got almost all planted. Tomorrow I plan to get the last ones in, the first ones are up. Planted 9 kinds for fresh eating, the rest are for seeds.
(P) = pole
(B) = bush
OC = outcross

Aeron Purple Star (P)
Australische stokbonen (P) Don’t know the real name, found these in the shed at the garden, left by a previous gardener. This name was written on the wooden sigar box they were in, it means Australian polebeans.
Blaue Meerbarbe (P)
Bumble Bee (B)
Canellino Rosso (B)
Coco Noir / Coco Black (B)
Coffee Diamonds (P) several outcrosses of King of the Blue, year 2 of growing them, about 9 different seed coats
Conserva / Conserva z.dr. / Konserva o.f. (B)
Couvent Vogel (P)
Couvent Vogel OC (P) Had a bright red pod last year
Edogave (B)
Fasold (P)
Gila River (P)
Golden teepee (B)
Great Lakes Special (B)
Helda (P)
Hofflants Mole (B) OC from Lourdes
King of the Blue (P)
King of the Blue OC (P)
Leuvense snijboon / Haricot de Louvain (P)
Merveille de Piedmonte OC F1 (P?)
Mungbeans (B?)
Neckarkönigin (P)
Naaldboon OC’s (B) several outcrosses year 2 of growing them, about 10 different seed coats
Prelude (B)
Pronkboon (P)
Purple Queen OC (P) Found this one last year and wanted to climb and still had purple pods but black seeds
Rio Zape (P)
Rio Zape OC F1 (P)
Rose Bean (B)
Saxa (B)
Sarah’s old Fashioned Black (P)
Stephanosch (B) half pole
Tennessee Wonder (P)

 

[digitS']

Hi Everyone,

Come on over to the Random Rambling subforum.

Aftermidnight Annette's husband has posted about how his wife (of 64 years ) is doing.

Jim may be back soon. Send Annette a message if you'd like. You can do that on the "How Ya Doin?" thread on Random Ramblings.

Steve