2026 Little Easy Bean Network – Plant A Garden, Water Your Soul, Join Our Family

[Blue-Jay]

@Blue-Jay Are you able to grow Pink Tip Greasy all the way to maturity in your climate?

Yes I'm able to grow Pinktip Greasy all the way to maturity. Have you tried them at your place yet?

 

[heirloomgal]

Yes I'm able to grow Pinktip Greasy all the way to maturity. Have you tried them at your place yet?

I grew them as network beans last summer and failed terribly. I could not get it to mature, even with starting early in pots & picking the pods off before a frost in October and letting them dry indoors. The pods were just so immature for me even in October when I brought them in. I'm impressed that you did so well with it, I know you have a longer season that me but I didn't realize you had that much more time. I don't think it even flowered for me until September!

 

[Blue-Jay]

I know you have a longer season that me but I didn't realize you had that much more time. I don't think it even flowered for me until September!

My growing of Pinktip Greasy to maturity might have been a gift from nature too. We had an extended summer. Normal first frosts here are around the 5th of October. By the 15th of October we were still experiencing 80 F weather. I don't remember when we got a really good first frost but it was very late in October.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 45​

Princes Rose - Bush Dry. One of Robert Lobitz's original named beans. I didn't get a lot of good quality seed of this bean in 2025. This bean does I've noticed produce a bit better quality of seed than it's counter part Prince Purple.

Rabbits Foot 7. Bush Dry. There have been many segregations of this bean with various color shadings. Most of them have the same large shaped seed. Only one looks most like the original Rabbits foot. I had once ordered some Jacob's Cattle from Rancho Gordo in Caliornia. I had picked out three seeds that were definitely not Jacob's Cattle and grew them. Through the last 15 years various segregations resulted. I'm slowly narrowing it down to which bean will become the offical Rabbit's Foot and it's not this one.


Princes Rose...............................................................Rabbit's Foot 7

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 45​

Reade Krobbe - Bush Dry. This bean comes from Jannes Aalders of Groningen, The Netherlands in 2013. In The Netherlands the bean is know as a Friesian Heirloom. It comes from the Friesian forest region of the country. This was another of the beans that struggled with the soil or weather. It's always possible to pick out enough good seed for a halfway decent photo.


Red Calico - Pole Lima - The limas usually always put up with the heat very well and this one was no exception. All my limas are very well requested beans. The 2025 limas out produced most of the P. Vulgaris beans. Red Calico produced just under 1.5 pounds of seed with 4 plants (632 g).



Reade Krobbe.......................................................Red Calico

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 45​

Red Marbles - Pole Dry. From my bean friend in Liebenfels, Austrian 2013. This bean gave me enough seed for a photo. Some future year I will grow it again.

Red Valentine - Bush Snap. This bean has also been traded a lot in the early days of Seed Savers Exchange. This is a more oval shorter seeded version of the bean that SSE member Dorotha Shortridge of New Castle, Indiana grew. It did very well in my backyard plot. I have always gotten great beans from my backyard garden. Probably about a pre 1850's bean.


Red Marbles..............................................................Red Valentine

 

[ruralmamma]

I grew them as network beans last summer and failed terribly. I could not get it to mature, even with starting early in pots & picking the pods off before a frost in October and letting them dry indoors. The pods were just so immature for me even in October when I brought them in. I'm impressed that you did so well with it, I know you have a longer season that me but I didn't realize you had that much more time. I don't think it even flowered for me until September!

That's one reason I've acquired seeds of Coal Camp from a local source who lists them as having a shorter season than I experienced with the Network Coal Camp last year. Sometimes I think it has to do with a variety becoming locally adapted.

 

[Heliena]

I went to my local library's seed swap today and was surprised to see that a local school is growing and breeding beans! Some varieties I recognize from Jay's website. There were a couple others too, last year there weren't any fun beans. I got to listen to an old permaculture farmer talk about growing cranberry beans, what a treat!

This is the list of the ones I found, all saved from being grown locally which is a huge plus. If anyone here has grown them, I'd love to hear more!
Poletschka - pole
Shirazi Loobita Chiti - pole
King of the north - Bush - Can't find this one online, and came with a local name, so likely developed here?
Amethyst Nova Scotia - Bush
Khabarovsk - Pole
Skunk Bean - pole

 

[heirloomgal]

I went to my local library's seed swap today and was surprised to see that a local school is growing and breeding beans! Some varieties I recognize from Jay's website. There were a couple others too, last year there weren't any fun beans. I got to listen to an old permaculture farmer talk about growing cranberry beans, what a treat!

This is the list of the ones I found, all saved from being grown locally which is a huge plus. If anyone here has grown them, I'd love to hear more!
Poletschka - pole
Shirazi Loobita Chiti - pole
King of the north - Bush - Can't find this one online, and came with a local name, so likely developed here?
Amethyst Nova Scotia - Bush
Khabarovsk - Pole
Skunk Bean - pole

I've grown most of those @Heliena, except Shirazi & KOTN. I think King of the North is a lima bean. Skunk & Khabarovsk are really nice producers. Love those big ole beans! Amethyst I believe was probably logically named by someone who knew the origin of that bean, but its name is actually 'Fundy Amethyst'. It does come from Nova Scotia, but that isn't in the name. I actually grew Poletschka last season, I think it was a wax bean. You'll have fun with those!

 

[Heliena]

I've grown most of those @Heliena, except Shirazi & KOTN. I think King of the North is a lima bean. Skunk & Khabarovsk are really nice producers. Love those big ole beans! Amethyst I believe was probably logically named by someone who knew the origin of that bean, but its name is actually 'Fundy Amethyst'. It does come from Nova Scotia, but that isn't in the name. I actually grew Poletschka last season, I think it was a wax bean. You'll have fun with those!

This is the bean, they had it labeled as a bush bean. Theres also a woman's name here, but I haven't been able to come up with anything.

Excuse the lighting of my fish tank.