2024 Little Easy Bean Network - Growing Heirloom Beans Of Today And Tomorrow

We have been harvesting lots of bush beans for the past two weeks, and really enjoying eating them and sharing them with friends. I couldn't resist starting a second round of Masai and Mascotte bush snap beans, in the hopes that they might mature before the autumn frosts take them out. There will be space opening up in the garden over the next couple of weeks, so if nothing else it will be nice to have seedlings ready to fill the void.
 
We're experiencing one of the worst droughts our state has experienced in years. I'm watering beans deeply every 3-4 days. Also temperatures have been above normal for the past two months.

I did however get a bit excited when harvesting dry beans off of a variety growing in my compost pile. Beans were black with speckles on a variety called ground squirrel. At first thought there must have been a stray bean in there but I'd never grown anything like that. Then I harvested two pods that contained the normal striped bean and the speckled variation. Shot a message to the local seller where I'd originally obtained the seed and found out it happens occasionally and that he'd grown it out a couple of years trying to stabilize it but was about to give up on it.

I find it fascinating that in over 1/4 pound of seed saved from last year and not one seed showed that variation. It also appears to be just one plant throwing off the black seeds but nearly impossible to tell with the tangled jumble of plants. Ironically these seeds were deemed not viable by me this past winter and tossed in the compost pile. I will attempt to grow them next year just to see what happens.
 
ruralmamma said:
... I will attempt to grow them next year just to see what happens.
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:) that's the spirit!!! :) :) :)

i'd say that it common to get new crosses that are unstable. it may take several attempts at growing them to get them to settle down (this is why there is a recommendation of growing a new cross for several years before considering it stable enough) or you might even need to get them to cross again with another bean that has a similar pattern of recessive genes.
 
i sampled a green bean the other day and i think it was from Tinker's Fire and it was ok as a green bean, which now i need to go back and check my records as to how far back i planted those where i was sampling and then i'll double check and sample again soon to be sure, but that would be nice if it turns out to be true as they are a hardy semi-running bean with a nice seed coat pattern. where i planted them was very compacted mostly clay soil and i didn't disturb it much so if they can survive there they're doing ok.

i checked my records, yes, nothing else planted there should be edible as a green bean. so now i just have to sample a few other plants in that area to verify this isn't a one-off plant.
 
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Summer Bean Show 2024 Vol. #13

The lima on the left looks like Christmas in pink. Maybe this bean isn't totally dry yet either. It looks to me like the same persons hand holding these beans as the last post I did.

Brazilian Bean #23.jpgBrazilian Bean #24.jpg
Bean #23..............................................Bean #24
 
Well @Blue-Jay, we're finally getting some actually warm nights here and the pole beans are starting to really move. Better late than never I guess. I went snooping around the plants and a great many of the network pole beans have actually put on a pod set despite not climbing much. Unfortunately the pods are very close to the ground, so -at risk for mould - but nonetheless this is good news. It means I will not be out of seeds as if I fail to collect 60 beauties of each. I usually leave some seeds back anyway, but double insurance is better than one . Such a strange year, a perfect storm of bad circumstances for growing.

Not many good pictures to share this year, but I got a few today.

Zimbabwe Stones flowers
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Insuk's Kang Wong (or whatever that name was!!) runner beans - which have barely budged since planted. At least it's flowering at ground level. If it can make even 3 pods I can recoup what I planted. Flowers are pretty, a flesh color. I don't really know what happened, but I suspect herbicide drift of some kind. They're trying to recover but it's a bit late I think.
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I gave Galopka some food, and it greened right up; the last photo I posted they looked a bit limey. Even though it's in a large window box planter, the pod set is looking good.
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I posted a photo in my thread like this, but with bad lighting. This one I took in sunshine, a better picture of my front yard bean & kale landscape with some oddballs thrown in. Can't believe that trellis never did get covered in vines!! Oh well, I'll try again in 2025. I went out and bought some wee little solar string lights in their place and strung them up and down and across the frame of the trellis instead.
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Everybody was surviving until today! One fatality in the front, probably mould. I'm guessing the stem of the plant was probably affected. The humidity level is crazy high right now, and we had no sun today, just pure heat. Another one bites the dust. But at least it'll clear out some room for the others to have more air flow. All in all though I'm not complaining. I'm happy to finally get some heat that actually lasts into the night.
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heirloomgal said:
Everybody was surviving until today! One fatality in the front, probably mould.
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To me that plant that is wilting doesn't look mouldy. Do you have voles where you live. I had a vole attack about 5 or 6 years ago. They went up one single row of beans and ate the roots out and killed all the plants in the row. I haven't been bothered by them since.
 
Blue-Jay said:
To me that plant that is wilting doesn't look mouldy. Do you have voles where you live. I had a vole attack about 5 or 6 years ago. They went up one single row of beans and ate the roots out and killed all the plants in the row. I haven't been bothered by them since.
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I took a closer look today, you're right. I couldn't find a spot of mould anywhere from stem to leaf. I don't see any holes anywhere in the ground though, and the plant is almost centre on that bed - you'd think he'd start from an edge & work his way in? The soil all around seemed undisturbed. I've had voles take out plants too in the past, and it does look like this when they eat the roots. Strange.
 
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