|
Post by horsea on Jul 27, 2018 12:03:57 GMT -5
Hi, kids. In spite of the Evil Groundhog ripping out some of my beans, a few have survived, as follows:
POLE TYPES.
MBOMBO - bean with green seed. Fast growing, quite low, maybe 5 ft. The healthiest pole bean I have ever grown. I guess it is due to the fact that it's from Africa (seed is from Baker Creek) and we are having a hot, droughty summer. Nothing bothers these boys. Anyways, they are stringy & don't taste like much for a snap bean, so I'm letting them go to seed for soup. Green soup...
MARVEL of VENICE - long yellow flat pods, really tall, going crazy. Several feeds so far. Seed obtainable everywhere. Not rare.
MR. TUNG'S. - doing nicely, will be ready to pick soon. Pods are somewhere between rounded and flat. Quite tall.
BERTA TALASKA - not ready yet. Doing fine. Only 1 plant.
Wish I had more trellises for pole beans.
BUSH TYPES.
RICE BEAN. Only 2 plants. Doing nice. Been eating them for a week now. A green bean.
WOODS MTN CRAZY BEAN. I never fail to be amazed. Large, bushy plants with green pods you have to really hunt for, cuz there's so many leaves. I love these.
UNKNOWN. I am not good at labelling things, so there you go.
I'd like to hear from others who like growing beans.
|
|
|
Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 27, 2018 12:42:45 GMT -5
Love beans. My temps too hot too fast this year. Beans don't like 100+ weather. The only one that survived was Sierra Madre
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Jul 27, 2018 16:51:25 GMT -5
So, if you are into soup beans, try MBOMBO. I mean, Texas is hot every year, isn't it. I will look into Sierra Madre. There are people who grow nothing but beans. Or just about. Such as our very own Annette.
|
|
|
Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 27, 2018 21:08:12 GMT -5
horsea, I normally grow several varieties, but this year the heat wave hit hard and fast and wiped all mine out except a few. Sierra Madre comes from the Philippines. This year a grew Minnie Shatterly, Woods Mountain Crazy Bean, Tennessee Green Pod, Chestnut Flavored, Pienky Jas and Oaxacan Cream. They all bit the dust except Sierra Madre. Normally I'd try again now for fall, but I'm not able health wise.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jul 28, 2018 8:20:00 GMT -5
I only grow 2 varieties of green beans for fresh eating, Maxibel Haricots Vert and Roquencourt which is a yellow french filet bean. They are both excellent tasting. I also planted some Henderson's Baby Limas. I love growing beans for drying and this year I usually grow 4-5 different varieties of those. I just love the various colors as well as the flavors and textures. Here is what I grew last year. DSC02073 by Brownrexx, on Flickr Last Christmas I received a variety pack of 6 varieties of dry beans from Rancho Gordo and I decided to grow several of them this year. They sell beans for food so there are no growing instructions but I did some Googling and they seemed to all be bush type. I planted 4 out of 6 of the Rancho Gordo varieties and it is fun to see how they grow however I think that they may be what is called semi bush because they have been sending out runners a couple of feet long and I have had to support the plants unlike with the bush beans that I have grown previously. The plants are extremely bushy and Yellow Eye and Domingo Rojo are heavily loaded with pods now. Rio Zape and Pinquito have not flowered yet. Here is what I am growing this year: New Mexico Bolitas - pole type Un-named red/white from hairymooseknuckles , - pole type and from Rancho Gordo: Rio Zape - This is the bean that was supposedly unearthed at a prominent archiological site--a sealed cliff tomb of the Anasazi tribe in Durango, Mexico, where the beans, along with numerous other food offerings, left at the site were dated back to 600 AD Domingo Rojo - classic red bean used in red beans and rice and many Caribbean dishes. Pinquito - A small, pink, chili type bean from California Yellow Eye - I tried these in Senate Bean soup and liked them so I decided to grow them. They are very creamy. I expect to have plenty of beans in a month or two and am willing to share seeds with anyone who is interested.
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Jul 28, 2018 13:16:26 GMT -5
brownrexx. Interesting reading and thanks for your input! Those plastic containers of beans - I'm not clear on this - is that your crop or what you bought for eating? Re Yellow Eye. I grew one, exactly 1, plant last year. It was a low pole type and I was aghast at both how early and how prolific it was. I'd like to do a bean trade or purchase with you for a couple of your varieties. My favourite soup/baking bean of all time is maybe True Cranberry. When they are ripe, they look like...cranberries.
|
|
|
Post by paquebot on Jul 28, 2018 19:43:08 GMT -5
Have yet to have a single snap bean. Planted Velour twice and rabbits got all of the first and most of the second. Three pole snap beans are loaded with blossoms but no pods yet. Surprise is the runner, Insuk's Wang Kong which has been a haven for hummingbirds and butterflies. There are a number of mature pods but almost all with just one bean.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Jul 29, 2018 10:08:29 GMT -5
paquebot. Sorry about the rabbits and your Velour! A few yr. ago the rabbits, usually not to be seen in our area, suddenly swarmed onto our property and of course made short work of the garden. My solution was to rabbit proof the bottom 18" of the fence with appropriate kind of wire - too much work. I now know there are various kinds of anti predator devices operated by a motion sensor. Insuk's Wang Kong - sorry yours have only 1 bean. I guess you are having heat & drought there in Wisconsin, too? Anyway, I looked it up, it is beautiful. Now I want to grow some, too.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jul 29, 2018 10:08:32 GMT -5
Those plastic containers of beans - I'm not clear on this - is that your crop or what you bought for eating? That is my harvest from last year. I grew all different varieties this year except for the New Mexico Bolitas. The Bolitas are an excellent beans and I grow them every year. I would be happy to share with you. Just let me know which varieties you would like to try.
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Jul 29, 2018 10:11:03 GMT -5
brownrexx. Many thanks. Will let you know. - Horsea.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jul 30, 2018 18:33:58 GMT -5
I took some pics today to show what "semi bush" beans look like. They are a lot bushier than I expected and I had to give them some support with strings to keep them from falling over and breaking. They are not as well behaved as a typical bush bean like Jacob's Cattle Bean but they are going to produce probably two or three times as many beans.
Here is Domingo Rojo which is absolutely loaded with pods and flowers. Under all of that foliage, the plants are in just 2 parallel rows.
20180730_152001 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
This is the Yellow Eye from Rancho Gordo. It is also just 2 rows and growing all over the place and loaded with pods and flowers.
20180730_151943 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
Also from Rancho Gordo are the Pinquitos and they have gotten really big but have no flowers yet. I had a piece of fencing about 3' tall that I ran down the middle of the 2 rows and let them grab onto it.
20180730_151924 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
Last but not least I took a pic for hairymooseknuckles , These are the red and white beans that you sent me 4 seeds of. This is what they look like now and if you look near the top, you can see pods forming. If the size of the plants is any indication, we should have plenty of beans.
20180730_145929 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by octave1 on Jul 30, 2018 21:28:48 GMT -5
Beautiful beans, brownrexx . Mine have leaves that, thanks to a million Japanese beetles, now look like lace. BTW I have never seen as many Japanese beetles like I did this year. In my whole life.
|
|
|
Post by spike on Jul 30, 2018 22:15:40 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 30, 2018 23:37:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by paquebot on Jul 31, 2018 0:34:06 GMT -5
horsea, Insuk's Wang Kong is indeed a pretty bean. It's subject to weather conditions as it usually comes on strong at the end of summer. I've grown a lot of different runners and none have more blossoms than Insuk's. It's one of those which might be grown just as an ornamental. Mine is in the front garden less than 10' from the public sidewalk. Everyone who passes by can admire the many red flower clusters. If you want some seeds, contact me with an address at the end of the growing season. Will be happy to share. Martin The truth is more important than the facts.
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Jul 31, 2018 2:06:47 GMT -5
paquebot/Martin. Many thanks for your kind offer!
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jul 31, 2018 11:27:39 GMT -5
Mine have leaves that, thanks to a million Japanese beetles, now look like lace. octave1 I also have some Japanese beetle holes in my leaves but not too bad. It's interesting but they seem to prefer one variety over another. For the last 2 years I have grown a no name variety of black bean from Puerto Rico and the beetles LOVED those but they left the Black Turtle beans alone and they were growing only about 20 feet away. This year they seem to like the Domingo Rojo better than the others and my Bolitas hardly ever have a beetle on them. I have a plastic cup that I take to the garden with me and I put some water (no soap) in the bottom. I knock the beetles into it and then when I am done I dump it into the chicken's water bowl. They consider Japanese Beetles to be a big treat. The beetles seem to also really like my asparagus fronds. It does not really impact the asparagus that badly but it's a good place for me to take a lot of beetles out of circulation and I don't even have to bend over. I do a beetle collection almost every day.
|
|
|
Post by paquebot on Jul 31, 2018 18:25:26 GMT -5
Japanese beetles here, too. Not touching anything except the Fortez beans. I spray Spinosad now and then to slow them a bit. Supposed to be effective and probably is. Problem is that more keep coming in to replace those which are killed. When they first showed up in the community gardens in 2006, I put about a gallon of water in a 5-gallon pail. Then caught a few live and tossed them into the pail. Didn't take long before the entire surface was covered with drowning beetles.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
|
|
|
Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 31, 2018 19:06:35 GMT -5
Y'all need a catfish pond, they eat everyone chunked to them:-)
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Aug 1, 2018 13:55:52 GMT -5
I knock the beetles into it and then when I am done I dump it into the chicken's water bowl. LOL. I have to smirk when I buy the eggs in the health food store (and some in the supermarket, too) where the label proudly declares, "OUR HENS ARE FED A VEGETARIAN DIET!" I think they do this because some years ago there was a problem with animals being fed corpses of other animals who were infected with mad cow disease or something else. Trust me, people - Chickens are NOT vegetarians. They will chow down on earthworms, baby mice, giant beetles, anything moving, really. Probably small snakes, too. If I had baby kittens, I'd make sure they were nowhere near fowl. Evil evil fowl...
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Aug 1, 2018 18:06:16 GMT -5
I think that you are right horsea, people think that a "vegetarian" diet must be wholesome but it would definitely NOT be to the chicken's liking. As soon as I let mine out to free range for the evening they start digging for bugs and worms. People also think that free range is a healthy thing which it actually is but then they are not being vegetarian are they? I also wonder how these vegetarian fed hens get their protein. Hens require protein for egg laying so that they can produce the shell. I wonder how they get protein from vegetables?
|
|
|
Post by Laura_in_FL on Aug 1, 2018 18:28:27 GMT -5
I've always wondered that, too. Soy would be my guess.
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Aug 2, 2018 0:48:34 GMT -5
I also wonder how these vegetarian fed hens get their protein. Hens require protein for egg laying so that they can produce the shell. I wonder how they get protein from vegetables? Commercially raised "free range" hens are fed a ready-made food that includes soybean meal + other things + a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals (laying supplement). Everything in one bag. Just give them water and oyster shells or other grit and that's it. When I had a bunch of chickens, I fed them, during the winter when they were locked up: wheat & barley & sunflower seeds laying supplement (comes in a bag from the feed store) oyster shells (source of calcium + grit) leftovers from our own meals It's the Calcium that makes the shell. In better weather, they got the same diet + whatever they could gather & hunt, which includes hapless insect life. My hens were healthy as all-get-out and laying well. They never moulted (loss of feathers). I believe that moulting is actually pathological - a sign of imperfect nutrition. I've hardly any chickens left. My oldest is 7 years of age. I do not kill my chickens. Some died younger, though. So, yes, chickens can be vegetarian and still lay plenty of eggs so long as they are fed a vitamin & mineral supplement. But there is no actual need for such a restricted diet. More than you asked for or wanted to know!
|
|