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

[heirloomgal]

The first 'Pragerhof' aka 'Blue Slovenian' pod got opened today. The seeds were so much bigger than I expected, but I checked a few sites and both the seed pods and beans' colour are correct, so I guess they're just big seeds! Seems like the ones I planted were smaller though. Gonna be great bean fun when all the pods dry up and can be shelled, it's a beauteous shade of slate blue. Love it!

My rogue volunteer bean plant! I figure these will at least be cookable even if I can't harvest seeds!

 

[flowerbug]

a full paper bag out of one garden so that's a nice harvest for the 2nd picking. tomorrow i get to move on to other gardens. today is tomato day and garden club so no bean picking, but it is already hot and humid out and i'm done anyways.

 

[flowerbug]

The first 'Pragerhof' aka 'Blue Slovenian' pod got opened today. The seeds were so much bigger than I expected, but I checked a few sites and both the seed pods and beans' colour are correct, so I guess they're just big seeds! Seems like the ones I planted were smaller though. Gonna be great bean fun when all the pods dry up and can be shelled, it's a beauteous shade of slate blue. Love it!

wow! yes, there's a smaller variety with those colors that i like but since it is a pole bean i've not grown it again. Bleaugrau or something like that...

 

[heirloomgal]

wow! yes, there's a smaller variety with those colors that i like but since it is a pole bean i've not grown it again. Bleaugrau or something like that...

I'm growing Blaugraue too this year! Small addiction to blue beans.....

 

[Blue-Jay]

Summer Bean Show 2024 Vol. #26

Love these Bean Wheels. Somebody gots lots of patience to do this kind of stuff. I like that Ping Zebra Bean #103, Lots of white on the seed. Nice contrast between the red and the white.


Bean Wheel #3.................................................Bean Wheel #4



Bean #102........................................................Bean #103


Bean #104.........................................................Bean #105

 

[heirloomgal]

'Pink Quartz' semi runner bean. I thought this might be like the other pink beans I've grown, like Bolita, if not the same bean under a different name, but no. The pods on these were stiffer and not as easily shelled as other ones I've grown. Great producer!

All my dry rack bean poles are done, stripped all the crackle dry pods today. Accidentally popped open a few 'Anakin Kuvali Giant' pods and WOW they're gorgeous. Big purple flecked kidney shaped orbs of beauty. The 'Schwarze Valder' network beans are a wonderful shade of muted yellow beige too. They're finally drying up! 'Syrian Fire', a stunner too. The network 'Goose' beans are really big! I grew a bean variety called 'Braune Tereza' and they look just like 'Herrenbohnli' beans! Exciting times!

 

[flowerbug]

i managed to finish going through the bean gardens inside the fence today. i wasn't really expecting to be done until Saturday but there wasn't too much to pick left that i didn't get last time. three more boxes.

as i was finishing up a ground nesting bee was buzzing around me and i was trying to ignore it to get those last few pods picked. and then it became even more aggressive so i just covered up my face and walked away and it followed me all the ways to the garden gate (which i left open as i didn't want to stop to close it). came inside and took a few minutes break and took off my shirt and hat and put on a different shirt and wrapped my head in a towel (leaving just a bit so i could see) and went back out to pick up my boxes of beans and the weed bucket. the bee met me at the gate, but did not pursue at all so i walked back and picked up the boxes and weed bucket and got back out of there. bee did not come after me but i also did not hang around the gate for longer than to just get it shut. later this evening i'll go out and get it properly shut further (we wrap a fabric strip around the top to hold it shut tighter).

so what is left is Purple Dove outside the fence and those may not give me dry pods of any quality at all. i'll look at those tomorrow morning and see if there's anything worth picking yet. mebbeeee, mebbeeeee not...

the change in the forecast now puts us down for some chances of rains tomorrow afternoon. everything could use a good drink so i'm fine with rains now that i have the majority of the dry beans i know about picked...

i'm going to have some fun and shell out some beans for a while and maybe finish up at least one box tonight as it will have quite a mix of beans in there as i combined picking from three different gardens. most of the beans are unique enough that i'll be able to tell what they are. i was admiring some red beans that are likely the results of some outcross plantings i did so it will be fun to see how many of those i have and what they look like when i have a bit more time to oogle them. on the hoof just doesn't do them justice...

 

[Zeedman]

I always find these contrasts striking. Brita's Footlong on the left, Fesol Afartapobreson the right! So different! Both started at the same time (I stripped all the Brita pods that were dry, which was most of them). Oh, and a question about Brita's --- if the pods are not super long, is it still Brita's? These pods were not that long really??? Anyone grow it?

The pods on mine were mostly 9-12" long, with 8-9 seeds. I grew Kentucky Wonder White last year, which is virtually identical in appearance; but not the flavor of the dry beans. Since KY 191 is widely available commercially under several aliases, I won't grow it again, and try to maintain Brita's. To my knowledge, it was Salt Spring Seeds which first disseminated it.

Much to my astonishment, I'm actually getting a little dry seed, since I changed the plan to bush varieties only. So I may yet poke my nose in a few times.

 

[heirloomgal]

I spent a little bit of time today poking around the bean plants and seeing where things were at. I was out collecting pods a few days ago, but I can see I need to get out there again. I am very bewitched by this Purple Dove bean; the plant whose pods I had stripped have grown back in profusion, and in a slightly different shade of purple too. A slightly more muted purple this time. I'm not sure if this is because it's the 2nd set the plant is producing, or because it has more nearby competition and is getting less sun. I also noticed how utterly purple even the dry pods are!

New pods. Compared to the first set these look rather different.

The pods in the middle, under heavy leafy cover actually have almost no pigmentation - that isn't overexposure on the pods from the sun. They really do look a bit albino-ish. So shocking that this plant produced so many beans again. I think this is more than what was set the first time, and there is a whole nother layer of pods hidden behind the foliage.

First photo I took of the PD bean pods for contrast.

These pods are crispy dry, they're from a different PD plant. It's seldom I've seen purple podded beans retain this level of purple into the dry stage.

A new bean I'm crazy about, 'Poroto Huancamba' (or something like that, can't recall how to spell it right now) It looks like it split it's skin, but that is just the coloring each seed has! A little white stripe from the eye to the top of the seed, such a unique seedcoat quirk!

Just a pretty picture of the 'Saxon' bean as it matures. Gosh I love pods that finish with a colour flourish.

 

[flowerbug]

Purple Dove pods can vary quite a bit even on the same plant as to how much pigmentation is there. soil quality also plays a role in how much pigmentation is on the pods and the beans.