Hi From Devon UK

[Poppa T]

Rob here.

We have a lovely little 2 1/2 acre small holding in our own little corner of beautiful Devon where we keep pigs, lambs, chickens, geese and, of course, we grow nearly all of own fruit and veggies. Obviously, with trying to be as self sufficient as possible, I have a wide interest in all (mostly edible) plants. But every gardener I know has that special place for his/her own favourites. Mine? Well I seem to have developed a real interest in tomatoes - hence 'Poppa T', developing a unique strain of runner bean - you over the pond, I believe call them pole beans - called Aeron Purple Star and blueberries. We have an apiary too (not to menton a veritable lake of home brew!).

We try to be as organic as possible in our methods but, of course, we have to be pragmatic too so any help and suggestion will be gratefull received. I strongly believe in combatting the greedy globals who are trying to do us out of heritage seeds so I actively encourage my gardening mates to 'seed swap'. I am into seed swapping and always interested in recommendations, especially of the heritage/new tomato discoveries.
That's it for now
Rob.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome from Arkansas, glad you joined.

 

[Nyboy]

Welcome from NY

 

[seedcorn]

Welcome. I'm sure you will bring a unique view as we all do. Join in the fun.

 

[catjac1975]

Rob here.

We have a lovely little 2 1/2 acre small holding in our own little corner of beautiful Devon where we keep pigs, lambs, chickens, geese and, of course, we grow nearly all of own fruit and veggies. Obviously, with trying to be as self sufficient as possible, I have a wide interest in all (mostly edible) plants. But every gardener I know has that special place for his/her own favourites. Mine? Well I seem to have developed a real interest in tomatoes - hence 'Poppa T', developing a unique strain of runner bean - you over the pond, I believe call them pole beans - called Aeron Purple Star and blueberries. We have an apiary too (not to menton a veritable lake of home brew!).

We try to be as organic as possible in our methods but, of course, we have to be pragmatic too so any help and suggestion will be gratefull received. I strongly believe in combatting the greedy globals who are trying to do us out of heritage seeds so I actively encourage my gardening mates to 'seed swap'. I am into seed swapping and always interested in recommendations, especially of the heritage/new tomato discoveries.
That's it for now
Rob.

Welcome. I love your story.

 

[thistlebloom]

Welcome Rob! Looking forward to hearing more, and also - we love pictures!

 

[ninnymary]

Welcome Rob, so glad you joined. Your place sounds so lovely. It sounds like the perfect size. Please show us pictures of your gardens. I would love to see those. I am only allowed 6 chickens so I'm not into raising animals here.

Mary

 

[aftermidnight]

Well what a nice surprise to see you here Rob, as I've told you before this is my home away from home. This is a very active forum and as you can see there's all kinds of topics to explore.

For the rest of you, I've known Rob for some time, this man is full of knowledge about self sufficiency. Rob has a unique tasting tiny tomato, Poppa T's Wild Cherry, not really one for someone who likes the sweet ones as it is like a tangy explosion in your mouth . We quite like it.

@catjac1975 this is the fella I was going to share a few of Larisa's Russian Beauty with. Rob and I have known each other for a few years now, and have sent seeds across the pond to each other without a problem.

Rob is growing the Aeron Purple Star runner beans in isolation so has managed to weed out all the greenies that occasionally popped up, now his produce all black purple pods, those runners are so darn promiscuous. Being my family immigrated from England this is the only fresh bean we ate while I was growing up but this is the best runner I've ever eaten. Since then as many of you know the bean addiction hit me and I grow many, many, many other varieties now.

It's amazing the amount of things this man and his wife have accomplished on their small holding, talk about self sufficiency, these guys have it down pat.

Sooooo, a great big welcome from me too.

Annette

 

[Ridgerunner]

Rob, have you tried dehydrating those Poppa T's? Sounds like they would be perfect for that.

Sending seeds to and from Canada/UK is probably a lot easier than to the US. I've had seeds confiscated before so now I don't try unless the sender has the proper licensing.

 

[Poppa T]

Well what a lovely lot of welcomes. Thank you all.

I agree with a couple of comments about showing pictures, it is true, a picture tells a thousand words.

First up is The Aeron Purple Star that Annette mentions above. Bred and developed by my good friend Gwilym ( Big Gee on the Gardeners Chat-shed Forum). I was introduced the APS as we call them about 3 years ago and as I live over a quarter of a mile from any other bean growers I have been able to select out the greenie interlopers and bring on the deeper purple ones. Now I'm trying to improve the length and slimness by breeding on only seeds from 8-seed pods. The picture above was taken a week or two ago so you can see the depth of colour we've been able too get.

I don't know if it's still true but I believe that the APS is the only purple runner ( pole ) bean in the world. The tenderness, stringlessness, crispness and sweetness are a revelation, not to mention the vigour, and I strongly recommend any/every bean lover to try some. They are available from Gwilym who only asks for a contribution towards postage via the following link where you can read more about them if you like.

http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/aeronpurplestar/

Ive probably put this thread n the wrong place but I dare say someone will guide me in as I get more used to the forum layout.