I don't have the space like so many here but I have come up with a plan I think will work.

2010 List
My Italians (main)
Barksdale
Insuk's Wang Kong
Oregon Giant
Zelma Zesta
Uncle Steve's
Little White Rice (in Containers)
Tennessee Cutshorts
Rattlesnake
Signora della Campagna
Purple Peacock

Pretzel (in greenhouse)
Chinese Red Noodle (in greenhouse)

Maybe a couple more if I can find space for single poles/with trellis wheels. I'm calling it my Bean Boutique, just a taste to wet the appetite. Cherokee Trail of Tears and Mr. Tung's the other two beans I usually grow will be put on hold this year so I have room for all the others I want to try. I don't have a lot of seed for most of these beans so will bag some for seed as they will be grown close to each other. I have a few more varieties to try, these will be squirrelled away untill next year.

Annette

So many things to grow and so little space! It was tough reducing my legumes to these few, but it had to be done.

Inuk's Wang Kong - for flowers and snaps
Red Noodle - for yard long snaps and visual appeal
Tiger Eye - for unusual attractive dry beans for frioles refritos
Calico Crowder - for shellys
Steele's Whipoorwill - for a different shelly and preservation of an heirloom

There are many more I would dearly love to be growing this year. They will have to wait. Maybe next year I will make legumes the theme of my entire garden. That would be fun.

Jim

I haven't looked at the beans yet, but here is my list of peas for 2010:

Langedijker Bleekbloei, Eat All, Golden Sweet, Court Estate Gold, Harold Idle, Rheinische Zucker, Sugarbon, Magnum Bonum, Laxton's Exquisite, Schweizer Riesen and a small planting each of new-to-me peas Ne Plus Ultra, Alderman, Douce Provence and Lancashire Lad.

Rheinische Zucker is on last notice. If they are still not doing well, I won't continue with this variety. All others are consistently producing well here.

I have been promised a few more varieties in a swap, but they are apparently in very small quantities. We will see what arrives.

Dean i see you have flor de junio and flor de mayo. Do you mind talking about how these beans did for you?

My list is very short:
= Hyacinth pole beans
= Cow peas
= Sugar snap peas
= some version of kentucky(somthing??)
= Yellow wax
= and some with round, full green pods
Only sugar snap peas are planted and they are poking already.

cyrus

I don't have my plans finalized yet. We are still cleaning up from a devastating storm that hit last Thursday. It felt like it was centered on our community. Winds were clocked at 85mph. I'm mourning five huge hardwood trees that were at least 100 years old and were uprooted or snapped in half.
Anyway, I will definitely grow Tarbais and Berta Talaska, two of my favorites. I was also lucky enough to get hold of some mongetes del ganxet this winter. These are the legendary beans from the Catalonia area of Spain that are an obsession there. I have two pounds of dried beans that I have tested for germination. If anyone wants to try them email me and I'll send you some. I'm also going to try growing limas. I never thought they would be worth the trouble in my area, but last year I met a farmer from coastal New Hampshire at the farmers market in Portsmouth who was there for several weeks with a bumper crop of Christmas limas. I'm still looking at varieties. All in all, I have seeds for almost forty varieties of beans - bush, pole, snap, dry, shellies, runner, etc., that I want to grow but only room for 10 or 12. I'm trying to convince gardners I know to lend me space for a teeppee or two in their gardens.I'm hoping the farmer at the organic farm in the next town over where we belong to the csa will finally give in and let me use a piece of an acre. Best wishes to all. Lou

Last year was my first year growing green beans, Empress Bush and
a little bit of Rattlesnake. This year it's expanding to left over Empress
Bush, Rattlesnake, another Italian bean(trade), Roma II Bush, Zelma Zesta,
Turkery Craw, Red Noodle, Pencil Pod Black Wax and Kentucky. I also
purchased without researching, Painted Lady runner and Sunset Runner.
I mainly wanted the runners for the flowers anyway. So as long as I get
flowers on them I will be happy.

My list is very short:

Peas
-Tall Telephone/Alderman
-Blue Podded Capucijner
-Sugar Snap

Beans
-Maxibel
-King of the Early (dry)
-Hutterite (dry)
-Scarlet Runner

Deanriowa: Do you do anything special to get your cowpeas & peanuts to grow?

mauirose asked: i see you have flor de junio and flor de mayo. Do you mind talking about how these beans did for you?

Like all beans for me last season they did poorly, because it rained and rained and rained all season and they were planted in the wetest part of my garden with poor drainage. However they are a good cooking bean and make a wonderfully superior refried bean and a decent soup bean and pretty too. Other than appearance I did and do not see any difference between them both.

vtguitargirl asked: Do you do anything special to get your cowpeas & peanuts to grow?

No I planted the cowpeas the same as my beans and last year was my first year growing cowpeas and they surprising did ok for being grown in very, very wet soil. I am hoping for a three fold increase in production this season, since they are going to be planted where it is high and dry.

Peanuts, I have never grown, but I purchase seeds for Sand Hill Preservation, which is located here in Iowa and I am sending a request for seeds from another grower in Iowa, who has been listing them in the SSE yearbook for many years, so hopefully they grow well for me.

OK, I am sick, here are two more beans I have decided to grow, not sure where they are going to be grown yet.

• Bean - Bush - Dr Wyches Russian(dry)
• Bean - Bush - Schwefel(dry)

Dean

Here's my list
Bush Beans:
Beurre De Roquencourt
Dragon Tongue
Derby
Bountiful
Purple Queen
Kinghorn Wax
Nickel
Red Peanut
Waldbeantsjes

Pole Beans
Fortex
Rattlesnake
Cherokee Trail of Tears
Green Annelio
Asparagus
Case Knife
Maria Amaziliteis
Supermacaroni

Peas
Mammoth Melting

The legumes are not just a plan here, but an on going reality, that keep getting adjusted, again and again, so it is hard to make plans! I now have planting times and other recommendations for my zone.

Starting with what is on the ground:

Favas (windsor). They are looking so much better than last year's! Differences are that I planted in October (rather than December), and I used our own saved seed. They are gracing us with their white/black flowers and silver green foliage. Some are inter planted with artichokes.

Peas and more peas. I got snow peas of various types (bush and pole). One name I recall is melting mammoth and it is GOOD! Oregon pole giant too. I got some sugar snaps that might have crossed on me, and I have shelling pole peas too this year (oregon trail sweet peas). Recommendations would be to keep the sugar snaps separated, and plant peas in succession (weekly or bi-weekly) from October to late January. The only cultivar I did not like was the snow pod grey dwarf. Beautiful purple flowers but the peas got stringy very small.

Runner beans: Red scarlet runners (IWK) and white runners. The IWK I planted last year and 5 of them seem to have survived (root and stump plus I planted a few more to fill that trellis. One white runner sprouted, i am hoping for more, those were good!

Common beans (P vulgaris). I already planted the soisson verts and the fortex, oh, and also some Emerite.

I will continue this post later with the real 'plans', for seeds I have not put on the ground yet.

Lou, your mongetes del ganxet sounds very interesting. Any idea what the days to dry seed is?

I grew Tarbais last summer and they did ok here in the PNW. It is best to start them in peat pots to get mature seed though.

I hope the weather behaves for you!

Dick

Dick, I'm not sure. This will be my first year growing them. I suspect they won't be much different than the Tarbais that I've had good luck with. I'm a big fan of shellies and usually use a lot of my harvest at that stage. If you'd like to try some, email me where to send them. I have plenty. Lou

Cabrita
I have a hundred or so of the IWK white bean,if you want them PM me your address again.I never plant them but annually I get about 1% of thewhite beans/flowers from my IWK crop.
Jim

Hi Lou, Thank you for the kind offer. My shelly varieties are my most valued vegetables and I trial a few new ones each year.

I found Berta Talaska listed in the 2010 SSE Yearbook but the person offering it says it is a productive snap bean but does not mention anything about using it a shelly. How big are the shellies?

This year I plan to try some greasy beans and use them as shellies in the pod.

My favorite thread is on shelly beans. Zeedman and I have posted our shelly results there in recent years but I noticed that all the 2009 posts have vanished. I did save copies for anyone who might be interested. - Dick

Here is a link that might be useful: Shelly Beans

DrLoyd, by shellies in the pod, do you mean leather britches? Has anyone here made leather britches? Do you reconstitute and boil the whole dried pod when cooking?

I have threaded bean pods to dry out before shelling, but have not saved them on strings to cook the whole pod. Might have to get some tender varieties from Bill Best before trying that.

Though I have read that the Tennessee Cutshort can be used as a leather britches. George, have you used it that way?

Hi Happyday, Tennessee Cutshort is a good example of what I mean by a shelly in the pod. The beans are allowed to grow until the seeds are fat and sometimes even until the pods are turning yellow. You can then string the pods and serve them with the shelly beans still in the tender pods. Tennessee Cutshort is at its best at that stage. Some greasy beans are also eaten this way.

I have not made leather britches yet. - Dick

Dick - if you go to www.hawthornfarm.ca you can see a picture of the Berta Talaska dried beans. I like them so much as snaps I can't really comment on them as shellies. I first got seeds from Ken Allen in Canada and I vaguely recall that he said they make good shellies and dried beans. I know I was suprised when I grew them out what terrific snaps they are.

Lou

Lou, Berta Talaska has an attractive seed and some sites list it as a good shelly too. Some of my favorites are good snaps all the way to shelly stage. Perhaps Berta Talaska would be like that. It does appear to be a favorite snap been of many.

Today is Pea Planting Day!! Planting Canoe, Oregon Sugar II, Oregon Giant, Serge and Cascadia- Dick

I have 4 types of peas blooming and making pods right now. Alaska, midget, snow peas and I can't remember the other.
I have scarlet runner beans that are about 4-6 feet high. No other plans for now as I think it will be too warm if I plant now. Anybody else with Arizona legume experience?
I'd like to plant some kind of snap and shellies but I'm thinking I've missed my opportunity, so on to the tomatoes, okra, eggplant and peppers.

Jim, thanks so much for the offer. I bought the Purcell Farms white runner beans (ate some) so even with low germination rate, I have lots of them. I will plant more heavily on my next attempt, and if this fails, I will ask you for next year (or the end of this one). We could do a trade if I have something you want to try.

Soisson verts germinated, so did the few Fortex I planted. Two Garafal Oros volunteered/self-seeded so I will let them. My most productive green bean plant last year was self seeded kentucky wonder.

I noticed two more white runner beans germinated, and it seems critters like those, so I lose some to the local wild life. Have lots of seed. Plan to inter-plant some with chayote squash.

When the peas run their course and space becomes available I will try Louisiana purple pod pole beans, grow Kentucky wonder poles again, gold of bacau again (plant that one soon).

Bush beans would be cow peas, purple hulls. I also have a few seeds for the yard long type, (a reluctant pole) I really liked it. These go in at the end of the summer.

I would like to try Tennessee peanuts, first time trying peanuts, we might build a raised bed for them. When to plant? No idea.

I would like to try pole cannelinis too, Christmas limas, black valentine bush snaps, a couple varieties of soy beans, the Hungarian bush beans, on and on....not possible to grow all in my space. I can still try though.

Drloyd, thanks for the heads up about the Shelly bean thread; I'll try to get the missing posts back. I saved a copy of my 2009 post too, in print form... so I was able to do a text search. There is an archive of the complete thread online.

Oh, and thanks for the beans, Drloyd... yours are in the mail. :-)

Still working on my legume list for this year. Probably not as many new varieties, since I'll need to replenish some of my older stock... especially for soybeans. This will be the last year for my shelly trials, unless I find new prospects.

Zeedman, I have a copy of yours and my 2009 results in MS Word format for anyone who needs them.

Last year for shelly trials? What a depressing thought! - Dick

Last year? Say it isn't so, Zeedman! :D

C'mon, guys, you're cracking me up! ;-)

Trust me, I'm not falling off the bean wagon anytime soon. But I need to begin focusing on preserving the large number of shelly varieties I've already collected. Some are 4-5 years old now, and need to be regrown before they lose their viability. This will limit the space I can devote to trials. Always room for one more, though.

Pushed aside by a heavy schedule of shelly trials were some good prospects I've collected for pole dry beans. Plus, I'll be continuing my search for good pole wax beans. So many beans, so little time. That's why I need a good cold storage facility... so I can use a 10-year rotation, and grow & maintain more bean varieties.

Yeah, when it comes to "bean fever", I've really got it bad. Can't count on much help from this "support group" either... tried that, got sent more beans. ;-)

Zeedman
So your going to stick with your Oldies but Goodies varieties in the near term. I was preparing to send you some,possibly unidentified seeds. A Chinese lady that we've been sharing some of our Squash and Black/Blue Potatoes with is bringing me large Beans that she purchased at an estate sale severaal years ago. She tells me that they are larger than my IWK beans. Since they were older I wanted to give them to someone with experience in growing older varieties. I'm hopeful but doubtful that I'll get any documentation with them.

Jim

zeedman

you wrote

But I need to begin focusing on preserving the large number of shelly varieties I've already collected. Some are 4-5 years old now, and need to be regrown before they lose their viability
-----------

What if the task of regular grow-outs (and opportunity for passing on fresh seeds to others) could be shared between you and those who have shared seeds with you and those who received seeds from you? In theory your original source, you and the recipient of a particular cultivar could combine efforts, one saves the seeds and shares, so three would benefit. It would work even better with 4 or 5 people in the group. With more frequent grow-outs a complete failure (which can happen to anybody) could be accommodated without loosing the variety as known others hold seed reserves. One person growing out 20 ageing bean varieties has a huge task, whilst a sharing seed group could do the work easily.

A Wanigans Association to your John Withee perhaps?

Here is a link that might be useful: bean collectors society

Well I am always ready to take one for the team and try to grow out a few more varieties.

I just need a better way to store and organize my collection.

"I was preparing to send you some,possibly unidentified seeds. A Chinese lady that we've been sharing some of our Squash and Black/Blue Potatoes with is bringing me large Beans that she purchased at an estate sale severaal years ago. She tells me that they are larger than my IWK beans." (Jwr 6404)

Jim, you have my undivided attention. I hope I never reach the point where I turn down a new bean.

"What if the task of regular grow-outs (and opportunity for passing on fresh seeds to others) could be shared between you and those who have shared seeds with you and those who received seeds from you?" (Galina)

That was the original theory behind listing them in the SSE Yearbook. I've sent out a lot of samples in recent years, and am presently sending out more. Unfortunately, while I send out a lot of seed, there are too few who are truly interested in preservation. SSE itself is too disorganized a system to work as you describe.

I've occasionally thought about trying to form a local heirloom preservation organization. Maybe offer access to the seed bank 2-for-1, 2 free for each 1 saved. Don't know if I could find enough interest... or for that matter, if I have the time to coordinate such an effort. Thus far, the most effective means of preservation & dissemination has been through some of the members of this Forum. When a seed swap results in a successful crop of a rare bean, I send some back to the source, so that they can distribute it more widely.

"One person growing out 20 ageing bean varieties has a huge task"

I'm afraid it's much worse than that. ;-) Yes, a cooperative effort would be helpful, if I can arrange one.

Happy, if that cabinet had bigger drawers & were refrigerated, I'd be sold!

Zeedman says, "I've occasionally thought about trying to form a local heirloom preservation organization."

If you decide to organize something non local, I would definitely would have some interest, so if you need help let me know. I am sure others here would have some interest.

Interesting enough this year I have decide to join the The Kenosha Potato Project, which has been organized with the thought of backing up some potatoes currently grown for SSE by Will Bonsall. Not prefect, but a interesting template possibility.

Side Note: I was looking though the SSE yearbook and I have identified a couple more beans I would like to try, now where am I going to put them?? ;)

Dean

I agree. How about a wall to wall rack of these

in a walk-in freezer

Jim and Dean, speaking of potatoes, I'd like to find a red or blue "opportunistic" potato that might overwinter here (up to 20 below) that is red or blue inside (high in anthocyanins) and more waxy than starchy as I use in stews more than baking.

Last year I tried the potato box method with some of my neighbors excess seed potatoes, a white and a red, both commercial varieties for the region. They only set one level of tubers. Dean, the KPP recommends Blue Goose as opportunistic but it is not blue inside. I like the sound of the Russian Blue but it looks small. Any recommendations? Jim, does your Blue/Black potato set several levels of tubers and is it cold hardy? Does it set seed?

Seed pods are a good idea for potatoes, I think, in case the tubers don't make it through the winter. Mine have 2 foot long sprouts in the cupboard and it's at least 1.5 to 2.5 months before I can plant them out.

Potatoes should be stored at 35 to 45 degrees to maintain them in dormancy.

I don't know of any potato that is opportunistic enough to survive in your climate.

The best blue potato I have yet grown is Azul Toro which I got from Tom Wagner. It produces potatoes as well as most commercial varieties. It is a very dark blue black inside and out.

I thought we were talking about legumes???

DarJones

p.s. that last photo of the storage shelves, I'll take one, please deliver her to my place tomorrow. Hope she is not too expensive to maintain.

happyday,

I wish I could help you. I have over the years grown some seed potatoes from the local stores , but this will be my first year trying some rarer heirloom types and colors. I have never overwintered a potato before either, but will be trying this next winter. I wish I had access to my grandparents root cellar.

Let us know, how it goes.

Dean

For peas, I have Tall Telephone growing up my back fence right now. The fall-planted ones didn't do so well. Half of them have died, and the other half, while indeed Tall, aren't even blooming. I think my hunch about fall being a bad time to plant peas was right.

The spring planted ones are still little two inch guys.

I had wanted to plant out the Dwarf Grey Sugar I got in a trade, but I think I might be out of time (peas need to be planted early here). I guess they can wait until next year.

For beans... oh gosh! I still don't know. Thanks to some generous traders in some group swaps from this past winter, I have little 20 seed packets of all kinds of stuff I never even heard of. This is my first full year of gardening in a long time, and I already had bought some rattlesnake pole beans, a couple of teparies from Native Seeds/SEARCH, and Calypso and October from SSE, and now I have all this other stuff.

Hmm, whoever sent me all this beans is probably reading this forum too. This is all YOUR fault!

Oh, and I already had some leftover King of the Garden limas and Black Valentine bush snaps from back years ago when I had a garden before. Don't know if they're still alive, but I'll give them a chance.

Finally, I have a couple of cowpeas from Native Seeds, one a traditional "blackeyed pea" type and one that's one of those smaller, reddish brown cowpeas. Cowpeas rock because they're one of the few things alive in Texas in August.

Potatoes - got Purple Viking, Red La Soda, and Rio Grande growing right now. My problem will be keeping them through the summer after harvest until the next planting season, if I want to preserve the varities myself, that is. Dunno where I'll store them since my only options would be the fridge, room temperature cupboard, or a garage that gets in the 90's in the summer.

One more to add to my list if I can find space...
Blue Jay (another bean that almost vanished) - it's an out-cross of 'Cometesse de Chambord'.

Annette

neohippie, what did you think of the black valentine bush beans? We have never grown them but we are thinking about interplanting a few with the strawberries, you know, strawberries, valentines, seems to fit? Seriously bush beans presumably make good companion plants for strawberries, so why not?

Cowpeas rock big time! they do great here during Indian summer, 107F? no problem! They taste so good too! purple hull shellies and yard long snaps for us. Don't know where to put the purple hulls yet.

Neo, is the Purple Viking as colorful as the photo at Roningers? Looks like it came off a black light poster. Does it taste good?

Dean, wish you luck, you can make a small root cellar, Roningers catalog has directions on storage options. I just put mine in the cupboard at room temperature, would have been better to pack in sand in a cold room or keep in the crisper drawer.

DarJones, she looks handy around the house and could probably help maintain you. :)

Cabrita, the strawberry patches I've seen end up out competing all other plants, but if you can get it to work, best of luck to you!

Great thread!

Made me ask the hard question 'How many beans can i really grow in a year?' Not as many as i'd like to!

Neo-i've read the Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas are not very tasty as peas but are much better (preferred) as pea shoots. Maybe it's not too late.

going with all pole beans again this year.

new for me this year are
maria amazilitei
mennonite purple stripe
tobacco worm
mr tungs
annettes italian or auntie vi
north carolina speckled long greasy cutshort
tennessee greasy

back again are

grandmas black
grandmas brown
grandma ginas
meraviglia di venezia
neckargold
blue marbutt
a red eye greasy bean from a tennessee lady
uncle steve italian
uncle steve red

i may have to get creative to grow everything on this years list.

peas

sugar snap
oregon sugar pod
aldermans

the uncle steve red is a variety i thought i lost for good after several years of failure in the U.P. it got resurrected from some old old seeds that i planted to see what would happen. i got about 5 or 6 seeds from a plant that grew. i finally had a successful grow out last year here in the bean belt of michigan in the thumb area. it is ok as a snap bean if picked early. it may be a good shelly or dry bean. i have never had enough seed to try them that way. i have tried a few raw out of the pod, and they tasted pretty good.

keith

Keith, your Uncle Steve Red is it flat, light green with reddish streaks, the seed slightly bigger than your Uncle Steve Italian? I'm wondering if it's the same or similar to the other Italian bean I had years ago but lost.

Annette

annette
yes its flat, light green with reddish streaks. light red or pinkish when young that turn a darker red as the seed matures. the bean is about the same length as the ones you will be growing, but more slender. no strings. the seed is pretty much the same size as my other uncle steve bean, seed color is light tan background with darker brown speckles. a variant has light purple speckles. i'm not sure if those are a cross or not. bean pod is the same. flowers are yellow. they are a later season bean than uncle steve italian.

keith

Keith sounds very much like the one I had but unfortunately lost it. From what I can remember the seed looked a little more like your Uncle Steve's only a smidge bigger, freshly shelled the seed was ivory/beige with rose markings which turned a tan color as they aged. I can't remember what color the flowers were. Perhaps another long lost relative to yours :).

Annette

OK. Now that we all have figured it out what we are going to plant,
lets get to work. But it is too early in a lot of places , except maybe in parts of
Florida and California. But here in Georgia
our last expected frost date is around April 8. But it does not mean that it is
going to be cold up till then and we cannot plant
our beans. So, to get a head start, yesterday I ssowed few of all my beans
in the cold frame. I figure if it gets warm enough those beans will
sprout faster in the cold frame than out in the garden. Then if they do,
I can transplant them around 15th of April.
This is much better than waiting till June . I still have more seeds
of each to direct sow in June anyway.
OFF WE GO.

Here the snow cover has JUST melted off, except for the big piles. Green grass and clover is 1/8th inch long. Is is too early for me to plant peas?

Thanks mauirose for the tip on Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas. I also got some in a trade and I love pea shoots! As a new veg gardener the variety of seeds amazes me. I have several types of sugar peas received in offers. And Alaska, Early Alaska and Burpeeana for English? peas.
My bush beans for this year are
Improved Golden Wax
Early Contender Green
Pinto
Red Calypso

Pole types
Northeaster
Rattlesnake
Trionfo Violetto
French Gold Pole Filet
Supermarconi
Blue Lake

I guess it's not reasonable to plant them all but maybe I can do most. Every year more of the backyard goes to gardening. (I think a tiller would make it easier.) I also plan to find some chickpeas to try--either from the health food bins or on our trip east next month. I tested germination on some flageolets that I got a couple of years ago for cooking. It was 70% so I may try them as well. I'm thinking in my zone, a legume obsession might be better than a tomato obsession ;-)

"I'm thinking in my zone, a legume obsession might be better than a tomato obsession ;-)"

Given what late blight did to tomatoes all across the Northern Tier last year - and how great my beans did in the same weather - that could apply to many of us. But after all, this IS the Bean Forum... so I might be more than a little biased. ;-)

"I'm thinking in my zone, a legume obsession might be better than a tomato obsession ;-)"

And then there is me in the PNW with an avocado obsession! -Dick