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

[Blue-Jay]

One outcross in the 4 Tuvagliedda plants. I thought the reversal was different. @Bluejay77 if you want any of the outcrosses from this year, there’s two (Hemelvaartboontje), let me know. I’ll paper wrap it for you with the others. I’m sending back beans from my ‘bonus’ bean varieties that way.

I'll take a pass on these particular outcrosses. Thank you for thinking of me !

 

[Zeedman]

I know this is stretching the definition of "bean" (guilty as charged )
but Yippee!!!!

Peanut "Argentinian White", from @Eleanor

These were an experiment. Started early from 2-year-old seeds, in size 32 peat pots. They grew surprisingly well indoors under LED lights, then were transplanted when the soil warmed in June. Only a few plants, and they were straddling the as-yet poorly fertile garden extension, so I didn't expect much. And I could see many dead-end flower "pegs" - the elongated stems which push the fertilized flowers into the ground - so there were few visible indications that peanuts were forming. Apparently those first flowers close to the stem set quickly, because when I dug them up, the transplanted peat pots were stuffed with peanuts.

The plants were spaced at both 18" apart & 24" apart; I observed that the plants could be spaced more closely, (perhaps 15" apart in staggered rows) and the yield per plant was much higher on the more fertile end of the row. Plenty of seed to save, share, and to munch on a few. Now that I know peanut transplants work, I will probably trial other peanut varieties; but "Argentinian White" is for sure a keeper in my climate, and in the future I'll try to tuck plants into any open spaces.

 

[flowerbug]

bean shelling coming along. not finding anything too different so far from what i've seen but having more seeds of certain ones will give me more chances for working with them in the future if they turn out to be edible or interesting enough.

had a lot of discards from the bag i mostly finished up today so it will be nice to be done with those and get back to pods that are in better shape. plus the nicer shaped pods are giving me larger beans than i normally have been seeing so something about this past season was good for some of the plants and pods.

already looking forwards to the next bean growing season. i'm hoping for more space because i don't think growing squash inside the fenced gardens really went well this year and so much of that space that was used didn't produce much and so putting it back into beans will be a better thing to do once we figure out how many tomato plants we want to grow.

 

[flowerbug]

I know this is stretching the definition of "bean" (guilty as charged )
but Yippee!!!!

haha! yay for sure!

 

[Zeedman]

had a lot of discards from the bag i mostly finished up today so it will be nice to be done with those and get back to pods that are in better shape.

A LOT more bean culls than I'm used to this year, even for varieties like "Tetovac" that I've previously noted as almost cull free. Limas too*. But cowpeas, yardlong beans, peanuts, and hyacinth beans all did well. The heat & dryness was probably a factor, as was the intense weed pressure in the rural garden.

*The limas in the rural garden received little irrigation, and were weeded & mulched late. The limas at home did well, although culls were still higher than normal.

 

[ZoeV]

This time of every year, i am coming to check what's bean addicts are growing
And tell myself I wish we had this kind of network in here - far away from rest of the world...

Amazing efforts guys!

 

[Blue-Jay]

Oh Welcome @ZoeV ! So glad you come to visit and hope you stay. You don't have to wish for a bean network where you live. You can be a part of this. We have bean lovers from places scattered around the world. We connect the world through beans. This belongs to you too.

 

[heirloomgal]

@ZoeV Yes! Please share with us what you’re growing!

 

[heirloomgal]

I’m not sure what to do with my dried soybeans, they’re brown and dry but I still have to manually crack the stiff pods to open them. Nothing is shattering when I do that? Should I give them more time before I shell them? Maybe that’s a sign they aren’t dry enough.

 

[Zeedman]

I’m not sure what to do with my dried soybeans, they’re brown and dry but I still have to manually crack the stiff pods to open them. Nothing is shattering when I do that? Should I give them more time before I shell them? Maybe that’s a sign they aren’t dry enough.

In most cases, if the soybeans were dried on the plants, you should be able to just thrash the plants & pods against the side of a very tall container (such as a trash can or deep tub). The pods should shatter, releasing the seeds. Expect a few to be expelled violently. You could also wrap the plants (or loose pods) in a sheet or pillow case, and either step on them, or beat them lightly against the floor. Unless you go full Rambo crazy beating them, the seeds should be undamaged. Threshing is best done in an open area, unless you like playing hide & seek with energetic escapees.

Most of my surviving soybeans were harvested by cutting the plants off at the ground. They are drying in tubs on my screened patio, until all stems & pods have dried. Before shelling them, I bring the tub indoors & place the soybeans under a ceiling fan for a day or two to dry down further. Depending upon my mood, I then either shell the pods by hand, or thresh them by beating the whole plant against the side of the tub. More often than not, I choose to hand shell.

The toughest soybean pods (or for that matter, almost any tough bean pod) can usually be opened more easily if given a slight twist. I've got a couple varieties that are very hard to shell; those I'll probably walk on to either break the beans free, or loosen them for hand shelling. When hand shelling, it is usually easier to squeeze the stem end on the seams while putting pressure on the blossom end. Practice makes perfect.