2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[Blue-Jay]

It's a miracle - we had some sunshine today! It wasn't for long, but I ran out there for 30 minutes this afternoon to catch up with photos for the year's beans. It's amazing how quickly the quality of light fades at this time of year. The illumination is warm and orange-ish the later in the day it gets, awful really. I think for the next couple weeks every time the sun peeks out I'll have my work cut out for me.

I agree with @Decoy1 about the sun VS the shade photos. Maybe it's also the time of year with the sun's light angle being so much lower. The sunlight photos have too much shadowing wiping too much of the seeds detail. I like your shade photos better.

 

[ruralmamma]

My plans to mail the beans out yesterday got majorly sidetracked by some health issues with my husband. Some medication changes and all seems to be well at the moment. Upon looking at some of the bean photos I took, it's probably a good thing as some aren't very good. So tentatively speaking it will likely be next week before they start their journey.

@heirloomgal I prefer the pictures in shade too. One thing I really noticed about natural light this year is that variations show up that aren't visible inside. Unfortunately I took the plastic off my make-shift greenhouse months ago as it was the perfect place for bean photos.

 

[heirloomgal]

Interesting. Where you have taken comparative photos in sun and also in shade the apparent difference in colour is considerable. The sun photos are very appealing but I’m thinking that the shade photos probably give more of a faithful impression of the true colour and also show detail more clearly.

It probably does rather depend on the colouring of the bean itself. With Goose for example, the shade photo gives a much whiter impression and I’m guessing that the sun photos gives a truer impression of the background colour. On the other hand, with black seeds, nearly all the detail is lost.

Yes, that's what I've concluded as well at this point. The colors are definitely more realistically represented in the full sun shots, but the details tend to get more lost and then there is battling the shadows in full sun which is nearly impossible at this time of year. Thanks very much for the input @Decoy1 I appreciate it. I have found when it comes to taking bean photos I tend to be blinded by my own perceptions, its my DD that alerted me to the fact that I'm not making the right calls on what photos best represent certain beans. In a lot of instances there is a real tension between photos that represent the beans prettily and photos that represent them more realistically in detail. I'm very partial to bright color too. One of my goals in 2026 is to improve my skills in taking photos so this feedback helps.

 

[heirloomgal]

I agree with @Decoy1 about the sun VS the shade photos. Maybe it's also the time of year with the sun's light angle being so much lower. The sunlight photos have too much shadowing wiping too much of the seeds detail. I like your shade photos better.

Thank you @Blue-Jay I appreciate getting your perspective. Looking back, I agree the details are getting wiped out by some degree of exposure and the shadows. I'm so glad I posed the question because this feedback will help me become less biased in what qualities I select for in pictures. Funny, I have only ever battled shadows while taking pictures in fall/late fall. so it is definitely something seasonal. All the more reason to never hold off on taking pictures early in future years.

 

[heirloomgal]

My plans to mail the beans out yesterday got majorly sidetracked by some health issues with my husband. Some medication changes and all seems to be well at the moment. Upon looking at some of the bean photos I took, it's probably a good thing as some aren't very good. So tentatively speaking it will likely be next week before they start their journey.

@heirloomgal I prefer the pictures in shade too. One thing I really noticed about natural light this year is that variations show up that aren't visible inside. Unfortunately I took the plastic off my make-shift greenhouse months ago as it was the perfect place for bean photos.

Thank you @ruralmamma, I appreciate it. It's not the responses I would have expected from everybody, so all the more reason I'm glad I asked.

 

[heirloomgal]

Today's pics...

Tunny
A network bean. I am so pleased with my turnout of seeds this year, as last year was a bust. Such a delightful bean, and very easy to dry down on the vine.

Dikpenske
I grew a lone plant in 2023 and meant to grow them again in 2024 but somehow they escaped my attention and got left behind. This year I made sure to get to them - these beans were hard won! I succeeded with only a single bush plant in '23 and guarded every pod with my life, lol. It was nice to have a little row of them this year, instead of biting my nails worrying about a single plant! All that said - isn't this such a unique looking seed? I think of weird things when I look at them, like coconuts. They almost don't look like regular beans to me!

The lovely 'Mbombo'.

Slavonski Zeleni
A network bean. Finally got a nice crop of these on my second try and the bushes looked nice and healthy too. I really liked this one, wonderfully productive and the seeds are all nicely formed. I cannot believe that I somehow overlooked a CRACKED bean seed coat in this picture. Oh well, it was the last photo of my rushed session today with frozen fingers.

Potomac
A network bean that the voles put their attentions to later in the season. Luckily many pods had matured by the time they got involved so I harvested enough to send back and also try again. Made nice seed though despite the early demise.

Badda Nera
Such a late bean! Terrible variety for my area, sadly. I suppose if I started a full month ahead in large pots I might swing it and get a bigger crop of nice seeds, but with so many other nice beans that are no so difficult to grow I don't think it's one I'll stick with. The few that I got from Pink Tip Greasy were poorly formed too, and not from lack of water, they just didn't have enough time to grow, and same with many of the Badda Nera seeds. Lots were not well formed from having to be pulled up before the pods were mature enough. This handful were the best of the lot.

 

[Artorius]

On the subject of Polish commercial varieties I’d very much like to understand the naming of a bean I’ve recently received. It is held by Bohnenatlas but was threatened with extinction. A friend managed to germinate some old seed and has given me some seeds to grow on. I’d like to bulk it up and help to make sure it has a future. Its name is Polen PHA 361. Perhaps @Artorius can shed some light on this Polish variety too. Polen is Poland. Is the rest of the name likely to indicate a variety still under trial and not yet given a final name by the company breeding it? Presumably it was circulated but hasn’t been continued. Any other possibilities or thoughts?

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It may be from a collection of beans. As just the name Polen aka Poland is not a good description somebody has added their personal database catalog number to distinguish it from other nameless polish beans Just my theory though.

@P Suckling, your theory is true. PHA 361 is the catalogue number of the IPK Gatersleben gene bank and this is probably the original source of the seeds of this bean. According to the description, a seed sample was obtained at an agricultural market in Krakow in 1941. Poland was under German occupation at that time, so I don't even want to imagine what collecting samples was like. The IPK Gtersleben collection contains more beans collected at the Krakow market at that time and I intend to order all the ones available.

Poles don't attach importance to giving beans specific names. Most often they are simply called yellow snap or green snap. Dry beans are called by color: white, black or red. Only commercial varieties introduced by horticultural companies have specific names. Similarly regional beans deeply rooted in tradition such as Piękny Jaś, Sidun, Piechota, Bomba or Malinka.
The beans whose seeds I obtained from the Polish gene bank were mostly unnamed. I gave them the names of the towns where the seeds were collected to distinguish them during various exchanges.

 

[Decoy1]

@P Suckling, your theory is true. PHA 361 is the catalogue number of the IPK Gatersleben gene bank and this is probably the original source of the seeds of this bean. According to the description, a seed sample was obtained at an agricultural market in Krakow in 1941. Poland was under German occupation at that time, so I don't even want to imagine what collecting samples was like. The IPK Gtersleben collection contains more beans collected at the Krakow market at that time and I intend to order all the ones available.

Poles don't attach importance to giving beans specific names. Most often they are simply called yellow snap or green snap. Dry beans are called by color: white, black or red. Only commercial varieties introduced by horticultural companies have specific names. Similarly regional beans deeply rooted in tradition such as Piękny Jaś, Sidun, Piechota, Bomba or Malinka.
The beans whose seeds I obtained from the Polish gene bank were mostly unnamed. I gave them the names of the towns where the seeds were collected to distinguish them during various exchanges.

That is fascinating,@Artorius. Thank you very much for this great information. As you suggest it’s amazing that samples were collected in such circumstances. The urge to continue scientific research and preservation is clearly strong in the most difficult situations. I’m guessing the samples would have been from seed sold for eating rather than for growing but it’s perhaps pointless to separate the two, especially at that time.

I shall grow the PHA 361 next season and you would be very welcome to seed then if you haven’t obtained it already. Your project to grow all the available Krakow market varieties will be a great undertaking. I imagine a previous enthusiast must have ordered seed from Gatersleben and eventually donated it to Bohnen atlas.

 

[P Suckling]

Thank you for great research artorius. I appreciate this information very much.

 

[Decoy1]

Some bean harvests that I have specially enjoyed.

Amish Gnuddle. I like the frosted patterning and understated colouring. The plants weren't vigorous for me, perhaps only 4ft tall. Not a huge crop but I enjoyed what was produced. I believe there are many variant spellings for this variety. Some low sun in this photo.

Anellino di Trento - a dwarf variety which produces curly beans as indicated by the name. Early and productive. More low sun. The other photos were taken indoors.

Armenian Sriped Brown - this is a climbing variety held by the Heritage Seed Library in UK. It is vigorous and very productive. A good all round bean. I was growing it for seed to send back to the Library so can't vouch for its eating qualities.

Cesnjevec - it seems that this is more of a landrace than a single variety, originating in Slovenia. This particular form seems resilient and productive. It carries a few different spellings too. I received it from Bohnen atlas as Cresjevac. Russ has it as Cresnjevec and connects it with a village of that name which could very likely be the origin of its name.