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

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal I think there are several varieties with the 'Atlas' name.
This one is commercial Polish wax bean, I don't think it has any connection to Burpee, perhaps @Artorius can comment on its commercial history.

Oh this is interesting @Triffid. Ya know, I was surprised when I google searched it and then google AI searched it because I got Atlas from @Artorius and has assumed it originated in Poland. So when the search results turned up the Burpee company I thought maybe I assumed wrong on that. And the English name had me confused too. I'm going to go and search again and see what I find. Thank you for catching that! I'm starting to write up descriptions and want to get my facts straight!

eta: OK, I can't find anything!

eta 2.0: I was able to find info on it here on the forum! Why didn't I think of that before!

 

[heirloomgal]

in looking again at Atlas this morning i'm thinking that if that bean had a few tiny eyes and a small nose above that mustach it would look like some guy singing. yeah, i'm strange, but it's morning...

It's a stretch but I admit I kinda see that too now that you said it.

 

[flowerbug]

It's a stretch but I admit I kinda see that too now that you said it.

it's a beautiful bean.

 

[heirloomgal]

The 2025 bean update for you @Blue-Jay! I went through everything tonight and got a handle on what's what.

This year's package will include the following beans (network beans from both this year and last year). I plan to ship these when you return from your trip, hopefully the Zonos App is working better by that time. 60 seeds each comin' right up.

• Tunny (2024)
• Lambada (2024)
• Barry Island (2025)
• Potomac (2025)
• Kruger's Speckled (2024)
• Carolina Red Stick (2025)
• Slavonski Zeleni (2024)
• Blaugraue (2024)
• Blue & White of Bernardo (2024)
• Olga's Yugoslavian (2024)
• Imbotyi Imbayitana (2025)

All of these beans I need to regrow in 2026 because I didn't harvest enough of them this year:

• Fagiola Ruviotta (2024)
• Botosani Cyclops (2024)
• Volga German Siberian (2024)
• Aunt Doll (2025)
• Ortner Speck (2025)
• Ora's Speckled (2025)
• Pink Tenders (2025)...I'm hoping the few seeds I got before the plants got killed will sprout)

I didn't collect enough from Fagiola Ruviotta, Botosani Cyclops and Volga German Siberian because they're all actually bush beans not poles, and I didn't plant enough of them. I thought maybe last year they didn't grow well just because it was a bad year, but no, they were nice healthy plants this year and are still bush beans. I had only 3 plants of each and that wasn't enough to collect what I needed, and they weren't high yielders for me. Aunt Doll, Ornter Speck and Ora's are pole beans, but they just didn't do well. I don't know why. They didn't seem to make much pods. It's possible the voles damaged them below ground without killing them, I'm not sure. So those I'll try again in 2026.

Network bean Pinktip Greasy was really really late, I don't think that will ever safely mature in my climate but I have 12 fresh seeds to send back to replace what you sent.

Sadly, these ones seem to have some kind of seed borne disease - Zambezi #1 & Blue Gold Star. Both this year and last year the plants did not grow into poles, but stayed as weird bush plants whose leaves got smaller as the season went on. They didn't look healthy after a month of growing. I don't know if it's mosaic or not but it's some kind of disease they have since they looked the same last year as this year and gave almost no pods. So I won't be able to return those 2.

Did the Dule I sent last year get to you? Or was that bean in the box that never got there?

And I have a few pictures of some of the different network beans...

Carolina Red Stick

Olga's Yugoslavian

Fagiola Ruviotta

Aunt Doll

Ortner Speck

Botosani Cyclops

Blaugraue

 

[ruralmamma]

I really messed up this year with photos of the beans.

I waited too long to get to it and now I'm struggling to take pictures in the low, poor quality sunshine of fall - when there actually is any sunshine! And in the cold too. So, lesson learned. Take the photos in summer when I can be outside comfortably. I did manage to take some today, not ideal ones, ones with all the limitations that come with photos at this time of year. I'll just have to live with it!

I've so wanted to get photos outside but it's either too cold and rainy or else sunny, cold and windy. Will be getting the beans ready for their journey today and hopefully I can manage some outside photos since it will be warm. Otherwise I'll be taking dull, poorly lighted ones indoors.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@heirloomgal ,

Your bean photos of your post #1044 are just gorgeous. This is the quality of seed I would always like to send out to Network growers. That's one of the ways the Network functions best. When growers return that quality of seed then I can send that kind of seed out to growers.

As far as the Dule bean is concerned. I will have to wait until I get back home to dig into my records to see if that bean came back with any of your shipments.

 

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal those are certainly gorgeous looking beans. i hardly ever get those sizes and quality out of most of my beans here. just not great soil or local climate for them.

i'm glad Blaugraue looks so nice i often have little bits of compacted grau and not much Blau... since it is a climber anyways i am not keen on growing it often anyways (i probably won't knowingly plant it again but the genes are now wandering around my other bean plants too so they may show up in various ways).

anyways, kudoes on growing some great looking beans.