2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[heirloomgal]

Looks like you are going to do fine with the Passage to India. You have got a little over half of your return quota in your photo already. Plus you got another entire row growing well. Just make sure your beans are very well dried upon return. Last year I had a grower harvest a late for them variety and when the return came the beans had molded in their packet on the way here.

As I write this I'm also curious to see what time gets put on this post. Looks like flowerbug stayed up late when he made two of his most recent posts. Time right now is 6:24 am central daylight savings time.

When I'm drying my beans indoors, post harvest, I 'wick them' for a time, to speed and ensure dryness, by insulating the seeds with layers of paper products. I learnt that from my dad, who worked in the bush for many years, and often had wet boots in winter by days' end. All the men stuffed crumpled paper in their boots to pull the wet out through the night. They heated the cabins with fire, which I'm sure helped, but he said the boots were always dried by morning from the wicking action of the paper in them. But I've heard horror stories of people sealing up their seeds in jars and plastic containers, only to find mould on them thereafter. It's tricky, because sometimes a bean will look dry, but it really is not.

 

[heirloomgal]

FPJ -

Jacob Cattle Gold

Hopi - killed by vole, but I admit the not quite ready yet colour is pretty

First time growing Coco Rubico - scelrotina killed some parts of some plants but these I managed to pick off as they were dry enough. It's a simple looking bean, but I really like it.

The pods are very pretty too -

Here is network bean Saxa - liking very much the bumps, just a little ways to go from here.

 

[flowerbug]

When I'm drying my beans indoors, post harvest, I 'wick them' for a time, to speed and ensure dryness, by insulating the seeds with layers of paper products. I learnt that from my dad, who worked in the bush for many years, and often had wet boots in winter by days' end. All the men stuffed crumpled paper in their boots to pull the wet out through the night. They heated the cabins with fire, which I'm sure helped, but he said the boots were always dried by morning from the wicking action of the paper in them. But I've heard horror stories of people sealing up their seeds in jars and plastic containers, only to find mould on them thereafter. It's tricky, because sometimes a bean will look dry, but it really is not.

i dry everything down in the pods on the flats, which i'll stir/rotate the pods to get them fully dry before shelling. if i get tight on space i'll shell some out but i also leave those in flats to dry for quite a long time before i put the beans into the storage containers. i've never had any mold problems this way. i'm more likely to have mold problems during the first few days of them drying after i pick them and that is often just on the shells but doesn't get into the beans. it mostly depends upon how many i've picked and if i don't get a chance to separate the wetter pods from the drier ones. often if the weather is cooperative i'll leave flats out in the sun to get them really dry.

it is fun when the lima beans are drying as they can explosively shatter and fling beans around the room. i think it is also their effort to mix and mingle with the other beans. like being a social butterfly.

 

[flowerbug]

I've had my eye on Bomba for awhile, so pretty! I think that in your climate, beans planted in a way so that they will get shade for a part of the day might work. Gardening books etc. always say 'full sun' for nearly everything but in my experience it depends. Last summer I had large tomato rows, all full sun, and had 2 lesser value varieties on the end, in partial shade. Those 2 did better than ANY in the full exposure rows, I believe, because it was 30+ for a lot of the time. I think this can apply to certain beans too. My FPJ had some shade as it was in a patch of taller semi runners throwing shade on it.

i've had FPJs growing next to some pole beans that did provide some shade but they ended up being so overgrown that they didn't do much either. i don't really have much shade here in any of the vegetable gardens. i have some shade starting on the strawberry patch from the cedar trees but i'm more likely to remove or trim those trees than encourage them.

the pic you posted they look wonderful!

 

[Zeedman]

My apologies to @Bluejay77 , I know I play fast & loose with the definition of "bean".

Dry seed production is picking up - but not for beans. Thus far, no common beans have begun to dry. Ironically, it is cowpeas that are last to flower, but first to dry... they go from "snap" to dry very quickly. 4 out of the 6 cowpeas planted are already starting to dry - and the 5th should have, but is still stunted from flooding (2/3 of the plants died).


Asparagus Bean yardlong (left), Thailand Pole "yardlong" (right)


MN 13 cowpea (left), 21 Peas cowpea (a.k.a. Red Ripper, right). MN 13 dry harvest is almost done.


This is the unknown (cowpea? yardlong?) given to me by @Bluejay77 . I had questioned whether it was truly a yardlong, based upon the appearance of the seed. It certainly climbs like a yardlong - it has densely filled the 6.5' trellis, reached for & entangled the adjacent row of pole limas, and is reaching for the sky!!! It was the latest of all cowpeas & yardlongs to flower (and is not yet in full bloom) so should end up with a rather long DTM - 80 days just for snaps! The immature pods (to the left in the photo, compared to Thailand Pole) are somewhat flattened, and definitely NOT purple. They are smooth & firm though, and may be good as snaps... I will be cooking a few tonight to test their culinary qualities.

 

[Blue-Jay]

My apologies to @Bluejay77 , I know I play fast & loose with the definition of "bean"

You can put cowpeas in here too. I'm sure there are plenty of growers that grow cowpeas and would enjoy reading the information about them. Some of the cowpea varieties have very pretty seeds too. All very similar growth. Seeds in a pod.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I save seeds in a zip-loc type bag. This year I got some new sandwich sized ones that I cannot write on. It's the "flexnseal" type bags from Glad. If your system involves zip-loc type bags and writing on the bags you might want to stay with the old-fashioned slick-sided bags.

I also have identification and notes inside the bag but it's a lot easier and faster to find what I'm looking for if it is written on the bag itself.

 

[flowerbug]

I save seeds in a zip-loc type bag. This year I got some new sandwich sized ones that I cannot write on. It's the "flexnseal" type bags from Glad. If your system involves zip-loc type bags and writing on the bags you might want to stay with the old-fashioned slick-sided bags.

I also have identification and notes inside the bag but it's a lot easier and faster to find what I'm looking for if it is written on the bag itself.

a sharpie black marker won't work?

i put bits of paper with the name and year grown in the various flats and containers.

i have been able to harvest some of the dry beans this week. i haven't shelled them out yet to see what condition they are in, but i'll be optimistic about it as usual.

the earliest Purple Dove beans i planted are completely done by now. others that i stagger planted almost a month later are just now flowering up a storm and look so lovely with all the purple flowers, plus they are more upright than almost all the other bush beans i grow so they do tend to stand out.

 

[Blue-Jay]

a sharpie black marker won't work?

i put bits of paper with the name and year grown in the various flats and containers.

i have been able to harvest some of the dry beans this week. i haven't shelled them out yet to see what condition they are in, but i'll be optimistic about it as usual.

I print labels that will fit inside a ziploc baggie that I buy in 2 sizes. 2 x 3 and 3 x 4 inch. I have text frames sized for these sizes of ziplocs that will print out the borders so I know where to trim the labels when printed out. I keep pages of these text frames saved so I can access them and change text if I choose. Inside the text frame I can enter any kind of text I want. I'm sure some of you have experienced by label system already. I use an old version of microsoft word that came with Office 97. I have a used computer that I purchased on Ebay that has Windows XP on it. I don't like having to buy new software all the time. If my computer with Win XP on it dies then I already have another backup computer sitting in my closet that I have tested. It's already loaded with all the old software I like to use. My internet computer is a gaming computer with a SSD drive. I use it also to update my website.

I use Epson printers for my old computer and when my printer model died about 2 years ago I couldn't find any Epson printers in stores or online that would work with Windows XP. However I did find some new printers of the same model I had used on Ebay. So bought 4 of them. I probably got a lifetime supply of printers now. LOL 🤣 Just hope they continue to sell the ink cartridges for this model.

 

[Ridgerunner]

a sharpie black marker won't work?

Try writing a clear message on the bubble wrap plastic with pretty small bubbles. You can do it but it is not real clear, not what you want when you are trying to sort through things. It's crumpled up so it can expand.