2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[flowerbug]

My picture taking is very lacking in volume this year. I harvested nearly a full quart basket yesterday of Network bean Idaho Marrow. I've been trying to cross the bean with Mona Lisa in hopes of getting the Monsa Lisa pattern on the Idaho Marrow bean and maybe better seed germiantion and improved productivity. I have shelled but a couple of the bean pods and nothing new yet. I grew them together last year also. Hoping to find a new seed in them this year. Mona Lisa is still weeks away from producing any dry pods.
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wow those are nice looking pods! very little of what i pick looks like that after so many recent rains.

... Between the bean rows is Purslane which I keep weeding and it's almost impossible to kill. All it has to do is get a couple of molecules of water and it will reroot itself laying on top to the soil in the hot sun.

at this time all the purslane is flowering so if i am weeding it i remove it and put it on the weed pile. i took six buckets of weeds out of one garden between yesterday and today. this is against my normal policy of burying everything i can from a garden in that garden, but there are way too many grass plants and purslane going to seed and i sure don't want those back. also some spurge. the grasses were blown in from the neighboring south field as tumble weeds. what a mess, but it should improve next year and be gone the year after. at least that is what i tell myself.

i have a short period of time to get the remaining purslane out of one last garden and i hope i can get some of that done tonight and also tomorrow morning, even if it rains i may decide to go out and do it if it isn't too cold and miserable. we'll see how it goes... almost done with this round of weeding and then start the next while harvesting.

groundhog is eating some of my squash and took a bite out of the first melon plant but did not go further in so we are eating that melon tonight. tomatoes are great.

beans also doing ok. pretty much now a normal season where i'm trying to get everything done all at once and only have so many hours i can work.

lovely flowers! we grow some zinnias here each year. easy once we get them going.

 

[heirloomgal]

I can tell you about the packets of these seeds you got from me now that you have had success with them so you won't be nervous about them. You had the last packet of each of these beans. We were down to the bottomm of the barrel. Down to the very last chance.

 

[heirloomgal]

Gorgeous zinnias @Bluejay77 ! 🥰 I think I’m going to grow some of that kind next year. I’m so glad I tried zinnias, they are lovely. Even prettier than what the seed packets indicate. The foliage is really nice too; sometimes flowers have gorgeous blooms but scraggly bottoms. Not so with zinnias! Good looking top to bottom.

So, a little dream came true today. My very own bean drying\seed drying room was completed this evening!



It was quite the project. Considering this room used to be DH’s tool shed/work space and VERY full of man clutter I like how it turned out. He even bought me a new foldable work table at Costco this afternoon to put in there when needed. I had also mentioned how nice it would be to have a new electrical outlet and cover - for modernities sake - and he provided, lol. Most of this space was put together 40 years ago, even the door which we spray painted. We couldn’t replace it because it would need a custom built one $$$ as the house was originally built by a couple who were in wheelchairs. Lots of quirks with the house for that reason.
I can place multiple wooden dowels across room on the 2x4’s above the windows and hang bushes. They’re all equal height. Last year I made clotheslines from string side to side, didn’t work super great. Too saggy and all the bean plants bunched together.

New plug for some fans. Woot!

Daytime pics

 

[Blue-Jay]

It was quite the project. Considering this room used to be DH’s tool shed/work space.

Wow ! What a beautiful room. Lots of window space for the sun to shine in and warm the room for drying affectiveness.

 

[flowerbug]

Daytime pics
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wow! what a nice place to have to hang out.

 

[heirloomgal]

wow! what a nice place to have to hang out.

It might become humans vs. seeds for the championship!

 

[Blue-Jay]

I picked some Logan Giant snap pods today about 9.5 ounces with 6 inch pods (15cm). Had them with my mid-day meal. They cooked up stringless and tender and some of the seeds that were starting to get a little larger cooked tender too. I mean delicous ! Probably could have picked these 3 or 4 days ago but yumy good, can't complain. A West Virginia heirloom of many years. I planted them last year and wound up cutting the vines about 10 days before our frost. I would not say they are an early bean but I can direct seed them here and get dry seed. Transplanting them would definitely speed things up. They will go on my top all time farvorites along with Mr. Tung which I tried this year also. Yum ! Both varieties are quite productive. These pods were so clean I didn't even have to wash them. I've also tried Tennesee Wonder this summer another good one and Theresa Marchese about 5 inch somewhat flattened pods not bad either.

Steam cooked and ready for the butter

 

[heirloomgal]

I picked some Logan Giant snap pods today about 9.5 ounces with 6 inch pods (15cm). Had them with my mid-day meal. They cooked up stringless and tender and some of the seeds that were starting to get a little larger cooked tender too. I mean delicous ! Probably could have picked these 3 or 4 days ago but yumy good, can't complain. A West Virginia heirloom of many years. I planted them last year and wound up cutting the vines about 10 days before our frost. I would not say they are an early bean but I can direct seed them here and get dry seed. Transplanting them would definitely speed things up. They will go on my top all time farvorites along with Mr. Tung which I tried this year also. Yum ! Both varieties are quite productive. These pods were so clean I didn't even have to wash them. I've also tried Tennesee Wonder this summer another good one and Theresa Marchese about 5 inch somewhat flattened pods not bad either.

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Steam cooked and ready for the butter
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A tender green bean is the top of my list for favorite summer vegetables. I know lots of people like tomatoes and corn on the cob, and I like those too, but fresh beans are 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. I even eat them steamed with butter for breakfast.

 

[flowerbug]

A tender green bean is the top of my list for favorite summer vegetables. I know lots of people like tomatoes and corn on the cob, and I like those too, but fresh beans are 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. I even eat them steamed with butter for breakfast.

same here for sure! if you stagger your plantings you can usually have them available all summer for picking. standing in the garden eating them right there is good.

i also like them when they are frozen as a snack on a hot day, but i will also eat them cold right out of the fridge if they are there. i'm not always into hot food, cold or room temperature is quite ok with me.

 

[Blue-Jay]

A tender green bean is the top of my list for favorite summer vegetables. I know lots of people like tomatoes and corn on the cob, and I like those too, but fresh beans are 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. I even eat them steamed with butter for breakfast.

Same here tender green beans steamed cooked with butter are my top favorite veggie. I recently did a Upick green beans at three local vegetable farms to blanch and put them away in the freezer. Two of the farms I picked a half bushel. The beans were edible but a bit too seedy for me. I will not go back and pick there again. The first farm the beans were Dragon Tongue and I picked 5 pounds. They were tender when steamed but for flavor I still like my snap beans green. Just gonna have to grow more of my own. Then I can be sure to pick them at near perfection.