Germination failed on the Jacob's Cattle I got in the swap, somebody must have sent in 10 yr old seed cos they were all completely non-viable, none survived the germination test.

So I planted Jacob's Cattle that I had from Heirloom seed, and Bosnian Pole, Jembo Polish, and Bolotto Lingua De Fuoco were all planted late, around July 1, and replanted July 15, and won't come up. The Bosnian Pole and Jembo Polish are from last year so I know it's good seed. Also had poor germination from Maria Amaziliteri (from swap) and Rita. Half and half germination from Super Marconi Cuneo.

I wonder if it is the heat or if some contaminant got on the soil somehow. I knew the topsoil was crusting in early July due to heat and drought. What I did to combat that was dig a series of little pits about 2 inches deep, drop the seed in, and water into the pits. But that also served to muddy up and pack the soil on top of the seed. I think in future I will make a little pit to water into then plant the seed in loose soil near it, or between the pits.

Those beans planted earlier are doing very well. Grandma's Yugoslavian is all over the trellis and in bloom. Blue Coco was one of the fastest to zoom up the trellis and is very pretty, tough purple stems and violet blooms. Dollof from Leigh is to the top of the trellis, Dollof from Dar is only half way up and struggling. This indicates that a fat, well filled seed will have more vigor in vining than a seed that is mature but smaller and shriveled. I thought that once they were sprouted they would have an equal chance at photosynthesis and growing, not so. The fullness of the seed does indicate how big a plant it can make. Also they both have some yellow blooms and some white blooms.

The only poor germination I had was with the first batch of Nagatomo but that seed was 10 years old, I was given some fresher seed, 100% germination.
After last year poor spring I started most of my beans in the greenhouse and replanted out after they had their true leaves with the excepting of Bird Egg#3 which I left a little longer. Only having a small garden I don't plant any great amounts of anything so this is very doable for me.
Everything is slower than usual with the exception of BE#3, Mr. Tung and Tennessee Cutshort. IWK's are flowering can hardly wait to pick the first beans). Others are just starting to flower and the later planted beans are just starting to climb, in this last lot are Barksdale (flowering), Tobacco Worm (climbing), Polish Freidank(flowering), Purple Marconi Stringless (climbing), Ma Williams(direct seeded, climbing) and Samos Greek Lima (direct seeded, climbing).

The beans I planted earlier in containers in the greenhouse, now outside have beans even the ones from Africa, one exception Nagatomo (planted late no flowers yet).
In containers, Woods Mountain Crazy Beans, Fort Portal Jade Bean, Gialet della Val Belluna (this one seems to be a vining bush or half runner) and Nagatomo White Bean. In the greenhouse the Chinese Red Noodle are starting to climb, can't grow this one outside, not enough heat most years.

All in all with the horrible weather we've had so far I've been very lucky.

Annette

So far, 'Bosnian Pole' has been my biggest failure/disappointment. My plants are not vigorous and, although they are now flowering, they are not setting many beans. The few pods that have formed have been extremely slow to develop. After reading so many good things about this variety, I really wanted to love it. Problem is, I don't think it wants to love me back, LOL! I am still keeping my fingers crossed that it will pull through and surprise me.

At first, I also thought 'Withner's White Cornfield' was a dud in my conditions, in spite of rapid, vigorous germination. It just sort of sat there and sulked for many weeks, not really growing much or doing anything. However, it is turning out to be quite a good little pole bean. Leaves are very large but the growth habit is only moderate at best and the plants do not seem to branch much at all (maybe better for growing on corn that way?). It is now starting to flower quite profusely and almost every flower is turning into a long, succulent, flat-but-narrow pod. There are often 8-10 pods per cluster, and they develop extremely rapidly. The best part? Carol Deppe describes this variety as performing well in heavy shade. I have mine growing in only 2-3 hours of direct sun and it is out-producing all my other snap beans which are growing with much more sun. I plan on a nice harvest this weekend to sample the flavor and texture.

'Tennessee Cutshort' has been vigorous from the beginning, but the foliage seems susceptible to disease here in Chicago. A lot of leaves become mottled yellow/brown/black and then fall off. It is flowering now and setting pods, although the pods seem a little shorter than I imagined them to be. I plan on letting these fill out completely and eating them as snap/shelly combos.

As for my two shellies 'Giant Red Tarka' and 'Soissons Vert', both have been extremely healthy and vigorous. Both are currently flowering heavily and setting a large number of pods. It is amazing how fast the 'Giant Red Tarka' pods develop. It seems like overnight they swell up to full size and then start bulging with beans inside. 'Soissons Vert' is slightly slower to develop but the first pods are also bulging with forming beans. I can't wait to try them!

Watered for 4 hours today. Noticed that almost all the blooms on Sunset runner have aborted without setting pods. D; Must be too hot for the pollen. Sunset is not heat tolerant. We have had an excessive heat weather warning for days that may break tomorrow, hope Sunset can set pods then. It is blooming early and well, just not making beans.

Blue Coco, Grandmas Yugoslavian, Dollof from Leigh, and other common beans have beans forming.

Flagrano - a filet bean failed. I planted it twice - seed was packed in 2010. Yin Yang was planted next to it at the same time, same conditions (first planting) and germinated very well. I had one Flagrano plant out of two different seedings (2x4 space in the raised bed).

Am waiting on Soleil, but heat may be keeping them from forming pods - it has lots of flowers, but I've only seen less than a handful of beans.

My "Scarencic" and "Dragon Tongue" bush beans have each set one bean from five plants, and recently were taken out to have room for my salad crops. I haven't gotten anything from "Barksdale", but I was warned prior to planting of its intolerance of heat. "Rose" and "Blue Lake have also been aborting blossoms. I also think the "Kentucky Wonder" beans I planted were a flop, because they are really not all that great. I regret planting them.

Thank God this season is in the past, I had a 95% loss of beans this season. For reasons stated above with vacation, weather, the loss of two tillers, and work promotion.

Onto the next year's planning!

Dean

Ahhhh next season, what to do, so many different beans to try, so little space. All I know is whatever I grow will be started in the greenhouse regardless of weather. That worked really well for me this year with the exception of Chinese Red Noodle, grown in the greenhouse not even one flower, the previous year we had two or three good feeds from them.

This year I grew most for seed, some I won't be growing again on my little patch so have passed them on to others to grow out and preserve. My main interest is in heirlooms, the little Comtesse de Chambord rice bean is now available commercially a couple of places here in Canada, this one just about fell through the cracks.

I only planted 5 or 6 of the Wood Mountain Crazy Beans mawmah sent me this year as I wasn't sure they would grow here. I planted them in a container in case I had to move them into the greenhouse, no problem they grew just fine. I left them for seed with the exception of one, got knocked off when I was moving the container so ate it raw, I was surprised how sweet it tasted. I will definitely be growing a row of these next year, eat some but most will be saved for seed, it's a real winner in my books.

Dean I see you grew Fagiolina de Transimeno, what did you think of it, I have a few seeds and was wondering if I should put it on my 2012 grow list.

Annette

Most of my beans were a complete failure. Three days of cool rainy weather shortly after planting did the trick. About six Uncle Steve came up, one grandma Roberts, one meraviglia di Venezia, one Maria Amaziletei out of 120 or so seeds planted. The only ones that did ok were the Hutterite bush beans, and a few uncle walts cranberry pole beans came up, so was able to save seed from those two.
Next year, I will start them in doors. That's U.P. weather for you.

Keith

I didn't "lose" anything, per se. For pretty much the same reasons as Dean (increased work hours & bad weather on my few Spring days off) the preservation garden never even got planted. The trials, breeding projects, and seed crops were all canceled for the year. The weather here turned out to be that one-year-in-ten with both sustained summer warmth & very late frost. Hot weather crops (such as limas & yardlongs) would have borne large amounts of seed... it was a lost opportunity. :-(

I did get a late garden in on the July 4th weekend, and planted a very long row of "Emerite", which did very well... froze enough snaps to last through the winter. Also, I gambled that the yardlong "Yancheng Bush" might have time to make a little seed, and thanks to the late frost, got a full seed crop! Good news, since I had sent a lot of seed out, and my stock was low. It has proven its worth as a clutch performer for short seasons.

As you can imagine, a very frustrating year for me, which is the reason I haven't been posting much this year. Hopefully next year will be better. I accepted a different position at work which might allow me to escape the 12 hour days that kept me out of the garden in May & June. This hopefully would allow me to get everything planted. Got a lot of catching up to do; after two really bad years, much of my seed stock is nearing the end of its useful life, and needs to be replenished.

Zeedman, sorry to hear that you are behind in your wonderful preservation work. If you need them, I can send you seeds from this year's crop of Soissons Vert, Giant Red Tarka and Bosnian Pole. All three of these produced a lot of seed for me. Bosnian Pole was a very poor producer throughout the summer but then ripened a large, rapidly-maturing crop once the weather cooled in late August/early September. Because of its heat intolerance, I do not plan on growing it out again, although it is a tender and delicious snap.

Aftermidnight said,

"Dean I see you grew Fagiolina de Transimeno, what did you think of it"

I wish I could help you, they were one of many I lost.

Dean

We had a terrible growing season and had many failures regarding vegetables but had surprisingly good success with beans. Planted late, around the third week of June, because cold wet weather delayed gardening. Had to water plants late summer - we went into a long dry spell starting August that has officially turned into drought conditions as of December. We have had around one inch of precipitation since August 04. Beans set late because of late planting. Then we had an early frost on September 14 and I had to cover all the beans to protect them to try to get seed. It worked - we didn't have another frost until late October. Got one of the best bean seed harvests I have ever had but I consider the success to be extremely lucky and it took a lot of work and worry.

I am already concerned about next season - this drought is supposed to carry over into spring. Last time I saw it this dry here was 1988 - a record drought year for my area. We'll see...

Three varieties of bean seed received in online trades completely failed. No worries as I do not rely on traded seeds. My philosophy is if they grow they grow, if they don't grow it's merely a disappointment. More concerning to me is getting misidentified varieties in trades - I find this to be a rather common occurrence and can be very frustrating. For example I received and grew out a bean variety I received in an online trade that was supposed to be a pole bean but turned out to be a bush bean - a nice bean but was kind of a waste of valuable trellis space. ;)

Zeedman, I received two varieties of cowpeas from you last winter - the "MN"s. I direct-seeded them and had wonderful success in spite of the poor season. I harvested around a pint of seed of each variety. They are by far the fastest growing cowpeas I have ever grown and I see no reason why they wouldn't grow successfully for any zone 4 gardener - maybe even zone 3 (would be worth a try anyways). I was amazed at how quickly they produced. Thanks again for the seed, I really appreciate it.

Happy Holidays to All,
-Tom