2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[heirloomgal]

I am excited to see good growth on some of the pole beans this year. Red Marbles is much stronger then it was last year. Louisiana is a good climber also. We can't seem to get Mugungi or Blue Gold Star to climb much - they're a heap of runners. Red Calico is alright.

Mugungi and Blue Gold Star are in the foreground below. Red Calico, Louisiana, and Red Marbles are at the end. My Christmas tree poles are holding up for their second season but I'm not sure they will make it for a third.

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Louisiana
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Two more that are doing well are Cherokee Trail of Tears and Lucie. I think that's Owl's Head growing in the next row over on a rebar pole. The rebar is working well, but it's not really tall enough.

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Cherokee Trail of Tears

Beautiful pic of Louisiana @BeanWonderin! Isn't that such a great bean variety? Last year it was one of my favourites. Gorgeous plants.

Just my 2 cents, but I thinks it's wise of you to think twice before using tree poles for a 3rd year. I use tree poles too, and a few trees I used last year that didn't seem quite 100% solid - though still good - wound up breaking on me 3/4 of the way into the season. At that point there was nothing I could do. I had one this year topple on me (that I used last year) but thankfully it's the top quarter not middle that broke.

 

[heirloomgal]

Man you weren't kidding about short windows. These plants are dried down and nearly leafless now and the first pod I tried to pick exploded! Maybe not quite a complete bean-flinging shatter like some plants do, but it definitely had ideas of doing that. Whoops! On the bright side, the beans are super cool.

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Smith's Vermont Cranberry Beans are also drying down their first pods at home.
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I think I'll pull my Gaia soybeans up then! Every day I check, they're more brown and say should I? This is good motivation to finally do it. Nice beans!

 

[heirloomgal]

There is a 'severe thunderstorm' warning in effect right now. No idea if it will come to pass but I went out hunting dry pods just in case. This is a tricky time of year for watering; on the one hand there are still young pods that need sufficient water but yet dry pods are forming too. I've been careful watering only with a can right at ground level in a small well around each pole. @bluejay when do you decide to shut the waterworks, how do you gauge when it's time to stop completely? And different plants can be at different stages as well?

Here are two of today's finds.

Fasold
This one is very sensitive to any weather that encourages mould. But the pods are nice and long, and the seeds are so long and smooth! They remind of skinny seals!

Mooreskonigin
I so appreciate black and white 'zebra' beans. These came out so much prettier than I expected, though granted I was up to my eyeballs in bean planting this spring & I didn't get to pay a lot of attention to each. I like that I can get pods from it this early. I almost missed picking them!

 

[jbosmith]

Mooreskonigin
I so appreciate black and white 'zebra' beans. These came out so much prettier than I expected, though granted I was up to my eyeballs in bean planting this spring & I didn't get to pay a lot of attention to each. I like that I can get pods from it this early. I almost missed picking them!
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Whoa, these look like black and white digital camo! I bet a big jar of them would look awesome. I like to grow Chester/Skunk every few years just because the black and white looks so cool when there's a lot of them.

 

[heirloomgal]

Whoa, these look like black and white digital camo! I bet a big jar of them would look awesome. I like to grow Chester/Skunk every few years just because the black and white looks so cool when there's a lot of them.

Chester is one of the most awesome black and white beans!

Eta: you're right, QR code beans! 😂

 

[jbosmith]

Chester is one of the most awesome black and white beans!

I'm partial to it because I lived a few miles from the town it's named for when I was a kid. For a bean with local history, it could be kind of marginal to ripen the entire plant to dry there. Definitely a beauty though! I also like the shape, which reminds me of Dolloff, another variety that has ties to this area that likely predate white folks.

 

[flowerbug]

Man you weren't kidding about short windows. These plants are dried down and nearly leafless now and the first pod I tried to pick exploded! Maybe not quite a complete bean-flinging shatter like some plants do, but it definitely had ideas of doing that. Whoops! On the bright side, the beans are super cool.

did you have any as edamame? i really enjoyed them like that. i got mine from @Zeedman too.

 

[jbosmith]

did you have any as edamame? i really enjoyed them like that. i got mine from @Zeedman too.

Unfortunately, no, I was working too much and didn't get around to it. My summer work schedule is one of the reasons I focus a lot on things that ripen to dry and then sit around patiently waiting for me to pick them.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Mooreskonigin
I so appreciate black and white 'zebra' beans. These came out so much prettier than I expected, though granted I was up to my eyeballs in bean planting this spring & I didn't get to pay a lot of attention to each. I like that I can get pods from it this early. I almost missed picking them!

This is a super looking bean and the outcross from Tramonto Di Trebua too. So Pretty. I think any very pretty looking bean in large quantiites makes an impressive view. The Tramonto Di Trebua outcross reminds me of my Black and White Goose with widely set speckles.

 

[jbosmith]

Some treasures from the community garden plot I use for trials. These plants have decent soil but otherwise everything is working against them - hot weather, all the bugs at either end of the season, crazy weeds, etc. It's a great spot to see what a variety can handle.

First, Jacob's Cattle pulled out of some tall grass - I think I may have missed the optimum harvest window. ;-)

Ukranian Pole was a new bean for me and came from SSE. It's shorter and earlier than their description lead me to expect, though that might just be where they're growing. The results in this year's trial makes me want to do a bigger, isolated grow out to measure productivity. The only drawback I've found is that it has wrinkled, bean hugging pods rather than the stiff, smooth, easy to shell ones that I like. They're lovely though!