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

[flowerbug]

So do you think they were crossed this year or are they a cross that happened last year? If they crossed this year it wouldn't affect the pods or even the seed. The seed mother will still produce seed and pods this year that will still look like the variety that the seed mother normally produces. It will be next year when things change if the cross happened this year.

i select seeds for replanting as i shell them out - i had those seed selections set aside from 2021's harvest and perhaps also used some from 2020.

i know they did not come from a cross that happened this year as i've not replanted any seeds yet (and probably won't) from my earliest Purple Dove planting. the earliest seeds i planted were not very carefully selected so i do not usually do anything with those seeds other than eat them.

i've planted Purple Dove every season so far since 2018 and along with them i've planted Painted Pony three times (2020, 2021 and 2023). i may have hit the jackpot with only having those two seasons and to give me an edible bean too is great, also bush form. we'll see how this goes, but it's such fun to see.

direct seed planted June 8th.

 

[heirloomgal]

Little boost today; I have been waiting for network bean Zugdidi Flat Cake to flower all summer long. And that variety went in as transplants too! There are a few pole beans I have out there right now with dried pods on them for contrast! Well finally, yesterday I saw my first few blossoms on the plants!! Yellow and white flowers. So, it started blooming when it reached 90 days of maturity. I think it was about May 10th I put seeds in the pots. Everything was totally ideal for the plants this summer so whether I have success or not will all boil down to the length of time for maturity with this variety. I'd be curious to know what the last grower of this bean experienced! I wonder if there might be some kind of day length situation going on here as well? That said, some of my direct seeded pole beans are still making flowers too, though they started blooming quite awhile ago and also have pods on the plants.

On a separate note one of the beans I'm trying this year for the first time, Broughton Astely Polish has really surprised me. It was the last bean I planted (direct seeded) when an unexpected spot came up for another plant. I think it may have been June 8th or so, which is more than a week late for me. That can be the difference between success or not if it takes a long time to germinate. It sprouted in good time and it's put on a pod set that is remarkable for how late it went in. There really is notable differences in maturity with these all these beans.

 

[phaseolista]

Spent the afternoon shelling beans, a very strange feeling to be doing this in the middle of August. Here in the Netherlands we've had bad bean weather -- the past 4-5 weeks we've had (a lot) of rain every day and no sun. So a week ago I removed all the bush beans from their beds (planted mid May) as they were just rotting in place from all the rain.

I shelled them today, some varieties were badly affected by the rain and started sprouting in the pods, which had never happened to me before:

But I have some decent quality seed from all the bush beans. Luckily 95% of my beans are pole beans.
Cyrus gray (left), most of the pods and seeds had underdeveloped seeds but were dried out. Marico (right) did really well and most pods have fully matured beans.


Wieringerboon (left) and Dapple grey (right):


And then I also shelled 1 pole bean variety, Juanita Smith. Around mid July all plants suddenly died. I've lost so many plants (not only beans, but at least 20 tomato and 30+ cabbage plants too) this year to the voles that I thought this was a vole attack, but then I realised it was only this variety.

Still not sure what happened (the plants looked healthy before their sudden death) but it had quite a bit of mature pods on it already, so I got a decent amount of beans still. You can see not all of them are high-quality seed but it is good enough!

 

[heirloomgal]

Spent the afternoon shelling beans, a very strange feeling to be doing this in the middle of August. Here in the Netherlands we've had bad bean weather -- the past 4-5 weeks we've had (a lot) of rain every day and no sun. So a week ago I removed all the bush beans from their beds (planted mid May) as they were just rotting in place from all the rain.

I shelled them today, some varieties were badly affected by the rain and started sprouting in the pods, which had never happened to me before:
View attachment 59489

But I have some decent quality seed from all the bush beans. Luckily 95% of my beans are pole beans.
Cyrus gray (left), most of the pods and seeds had underdeveloped seeds but were dried out. Marico (right) did really well and most pods have fully matured beans.
View attachment 59490View attachment 59493

Wieringerboon (left) and Dapple grey (right):
View attachment 59494View attachment 59491

And then I also shelled 1 pole bean variety, Juanita Smith. Around mid July all plants suddenly died. I've lost so many plants (not only beans, but at least 20 tomato and 30+ cabbage plants too) this year to the voles that I thought this was a vole attack, but then I realised it was only this variety.

Still not sure what happened (the plants looked healthy before their sudden death) but it had quite a bit of mature pods on it already, so I got a decent amount of beans still. You can see not all of them are high-quality seed but it is good enough!
View attachment 59492

Gorgeous beans @phaseolista! 🥰

We had major rain here today. I’m glad that every row in the garden is on a raised bed with packed trenches/pathways between where the water can flow out. Most others are built up in wooden raised beds so they drain well too. But it’s the humidity that is beginning to do damage. We haven’t had lots of rain, but regular short spells lately. Spots of fungal damage are showing up here and there on the plants.

I went out with a umbrella and cut some of the more advanced vines at ground level so they won’t drink up all this water. I harvested the Parkers Half Runner plants that were nearly mature just in case they sprouted from all the water intake/exposure. Got a fan blowing on them now.

The rain made it go right over. Need to go out and support it when things dry up.

 

[flowerbug]

just an FYI for those posting pictures that if you are posting more than one at a time and using terms like Left and Right that some of us won't see them as left and right. we see them as one on top of the other... (and other people with even wider screens may see something even different but i can't say what since i don't have one of those )...

 

[flowerbug]

We had major rain here today. I’m glad that every row in the garden is on a raised bed with packed trenches/pathways between where the water can flow out. Most others are built up in wooden raised beds so they drain well too. But it’s the humidity that is beginning to do damage. We haven’t had lots of rain, but regular short spells lately. Spots of fungal damage are showing up here and there on the plants.

that is fairly normal for here this time of the season as the beans progress i have to keep an eye out for some of them that may be getting white rot on the stems if they are overlapping with any faster drying beans that have already finished faster. i've not done as much of that this season so it should be a bit easier on me.

the rains mostly went north and south of us but we did get plenty. it's a bit of a muddy mess in some gardens.

 

[heirloomgal]

Couple network bean updates.

Botosani Splash
First dried pods! This variety has excellent resistance to high humidity.

Crevette Kidney
I though the pods were pretty on these, not quite as flashy as Jiminez, but nice. This one can really climb!

Turkey #1
It took a bit longer to make pods than some others, but once it got going it really went to town. Vines are huge and bushy!

Ocio Della Madonna
This one took a little while to make pods as well, but has a nice set of pods now.

Echte Kipfler
I love kipfler beans! This is the second pole kipfler bean I've grown (I grew Fissole Rassacher Kipfler last year) and both last year and this year the weight of the beans have collapsed the pole.

Trebulino do Domenico
I hope all those flowers have time to make pods!

Angel Eye
This bush bean is top notch. It is really healthy, remains totally upright and has high resistance to humidity. The pods set is good too. I think the seeds of this one are so pretty.

Old Time Golden Stick
I decided to pull out the pole for this one since most of the pods had formed and some fungal issues were beginning. This is the earliest maturing variety I grew this year, of both pole and bush. I've already shelled a few dried pods.

Starlite
I'm thinking of pulling all these plants out tomorrow because it is going to rain on Thursday. I'm worried the pods might sprout or break open since they are so close to being done. It's also a low growing semi-runner whose pods set very close to the ground, and that proximity to the ground might make it even more at risk for fungal problems. I'd prefer it dry here, but I'd rather not gamble with it.

 

[heirloomgal]

Some other random beans.

This must be the strangest bean pod I’ve ever grown, it’s width is nearly half of my hand! Youdou #1, from China. This is a bean that can make a meal, lol!

On the other side of the size spectrum is Valdor Filet at about 8 inches tall, but it makes respectable pod clusters.

Borlotti del Vardano is the biggest bush bean I’ve ever seen, its over 3 feet for sure and it’s really bushy. The plants can’t stand up anymore. If I had known how much bigger these monster bushes would be than the other bush beans I would have planted them elsewhere!

Bai Bu Lao, another oddity from China. Very pale color and long puffy pods. I think it's for eating green so I should try a couple.

Purple Kingsessing has interestingly coloured pods. Sort of green with purple speckles/freckles concentrated at the tips.

Broughton Astley Polish, the last bean I planted, and very late too. It’s also in some shade. Can’t believe how many pods it has despite the odds.

Mongeta du Cornudella, very nice pod set, huge plants.

 

[jbosmith]

Hi all,

I know i haven't posted in a while, but there just isn't much to post about. This is easily my worst garden year ever.

My trial garden is somewhere in here (taken from a canoe, the day before peak flooding)

:

A photo of it was even featured on NPR though not for the reasons I'd like (from a drone, the day after peak):

My bigger gardens that didn't flood are so saturated from constant rain that you can hardly walk on the soil, all the brassicas are rotting, and almost everything else is stunted to the point that I'll be lucky to get seed crops. They're so wet that the soil smell rotten. These cowpeas should be 3' tall and dark green. The soil they are growing in is mostly sand, it just never stops raining.

One thing that is actually doing well is soy beans. There's some japanese beetle damage, but not a lot. I'm not sure Panther is going to make it, but barring an early frost, Bei 77-6177 and Gaia should both ripen to dry.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a better year.

 

[flowerbug]

Hi all,

I know i haven't posted in a while, but there just isn't much to post about. This is easily my worst garden year ever.

oh wow, what a mess and so sad to see. will you be able to replant ok next year?