2019
Hidatsu red--resurrected. Apparently two beans matured and I wasn't aware. They came up this spring and were my largest producer.
Rattlesnake--great grower, not a good producer. I'll include it on a limited basis with the climbing bean landrace
Tepary--great grower in the dry garden but just starting to produce end of September. If I get any beans they'll be my first generation, but at this point it doesn't look likely. Try again next year.
Scarlett Runner--growing OK but just started blooming beginning of September. No beans before the first deep freeze. Only two of the 12 plants even germinated.
2018
I've been trying to work with dry beans for a couple years now. Unfortunately, real life information isn't available for many of the varieties I have, so here goes.
The failures first, taking into consideration that I plant sporadically, sometimes early and sometimes late, in different areas. But I don't eliminate a bean entirely until it's been grown on my property for at least two years in different circumstances.
Calypso--eliminated. A black and white bean, probably bred for appearance rather than production. In my garden only one or two beans per pod, many of them empty, and while there were a lot of pods on the plant, that makes harvest a serious problem. Not too productive in terms of real numbers.
Hidatsu Red--eliminated. Planted by the corn last year and failed to produce. Planted by the bean towers this year and also failed to produce. Right now, in mid September, the first beans are just starting to come on. Chances are good that nothing will ripen before the first frost. NO seeds last year, NO seeds this year, end of experiment.
Hidatsu Shield--Ditto.
Whipple--First year planting these. One plant survived. Supposed to be 70 days, but just starting to produce after over 100 days. I'm guessing they need a little stress in order to ripen. I removed the water and got my first ripe beans a week later.
Monos Negros--First year planting these. One plant survived, a good crop.
Oland Brown--First year planting these. One plant survived, a good crop.
Kidney--Fabulous. Planted these last year with 100% mortality. This year one plant survived, and got more off that one plant than from any of the others so far. It ripened quickly, fully finished by mid-August.
Pinto--Good producer. It did OK last year as a climbing bean but produced little. This year I used last year's seeds and it did well for those plants that survived. From the three plants I already have more than I harvested last year total.
Tepary--Two varieties. Neither has produced this year. The blossoms are just starting to come on. They're supposed to be highly drought tolerant so I don't know whether they're getting too much water, too little, wrong soil, not enough sun, etc. I can't find any information on how these are supposed to grow.
Blue Lake--First year with these. A green bean, seeds out of a box. Good production, good seed production.
Rattlesnake--first year with these. They ran rampant over the corn and strangled it. Good production, but they'll be on the bean towers next year rather than by the corn. This is also supposed to be drought tolerant.
Tendergreen--first year with these, and they produced well. Good seed production as well. Low germination, but that's normal for my yard with seeds I didn't grow.
Black Turtle--3rd year. First two years they produced OK, so this year I thought I would do them as a main crop. Chose the wrong area, with only half a day of sun, lots of bugs, and bad soil. Will try again.
Idaho Pink--Established. This was supposed to be the second half of my main crop. See Black Turtle notes.
Great Northern White--Established, didn't grow it this year. An OK producer, half-runner. Many of the plants had just a few beans in each pod, so I took my seeds from the full pods.
Scarlet Runner--I was just given seeds this year so I have nothing yet. These will be planted the first time next spring
Tiny mystery bean--Foraged from the same area as the Scarlet Runner. I have no idea what these are. The beans are tiny and brown, the pods probably 8 inches long. These will be tested next spring.
Showing posts with label kidney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidney. Show all posts
Friday, September 21, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Garden Update
This year is a little different than last because I have the greenhouse. It seems to have moderated my planting addiction to a certain extent.
About mid-April I was thinking about planting watermelon at the beginning of May and went back to my records to see if that was too soon, only to discover that last year I planted them in March. MARCH!? There's snow on the ground in March! Good grief. So no, May is not too soon.
Greens are going full bore. They are naturalized in my garden and come up every year, although I'm not sure how that's going to work with the mulching schedule. Every 7 years each area of the garden will get a thick layer of leaves. So we'll see. Lots of salad! Radishes are also naturalized in the same area, and interestingly enough where those things are growing there are no weeds.
Beans are up. Hidatsu Red and Hidatsu Shield by the bean towers, two varieties of tepary beans by the fence. The tepary beans are a trial this year, a drought tolerant type of bean from the Southwest US. I planted the green beans two days ago and the dry beans yesterday. Kidney beans will also go by the fence, as they're supposedly a climber. 60% germination on that one so far, for beans purchased from the grocery store four years ago.
Watermelons were planted out last week.
Two Joseph Lofthouse winter squash in front beside the almond, along with a mystery squash that was a gift. One cantaloupe, also a gift, seems to be doing well. I planted more cantaloupe in the same area. Three zucchini are up under the walnut. The Black Beauty Zucchini don't seem to be germinating well. I planted more zucchini and yellow squash as a border around the new garden area.
On the east of the house is an area that has been designated as the "dry" garden for this year. The plan is to water it at most once a month during the summer. It's the start of developing drought tolerant varieties and learning about dry farming. Eleven seedlings up and starting to get secondary leaves.
About mid-April I was thinking about planting watermelon at the beginning of May and went back to my records to see if that was too soon, only to discover that last year I planted them in March. MARCH!? There's snow on the ground in March! Good grief. So no, May is not too soon.
Greens are going full bore. They are naturalized in my garden and come up every year, although I'm not sure how that's going to work with the mulching schedule. Every 7 years each area of the garden will get a thick layer of leaves. So we'll see. Lots of salad! Radishes are also naturalized in the same area, and interestingly enough where those things are growing there are no weeds.
Beans are up. Hidatsu Red and Hidatsu Shield by the bean towers, two varieties of tepary beans by the fence. The tepary beans are a trial this year, a drought tolerant type of bean from the Southwest US. I planted the green beans two days ago and the dry beans yesterday. Kidney beans will also go by the fence, as they're supposedly a climber. 60% germination on that one so far, for beans purchased from the grocery store four years ago.
Watermelons were planted out last week.
Two Joseph Lofthouse winter squash in front beside the almond, along with a mystery squash that was a gift. One cantaloupe, also a gift, seems to be doing well. I planted more cantaloupe in the same area. Three zucchini are up under the walnut. The Black Beauty Zucchini don't seem to be germinating well. I planted more zucchini and yellow squash as a border around the new garden area.
On the east of the house is an area that has been designated as the "dry" garden for this year. The plan is to water it at most once a month during the summer. It's the start of developing drought tolerant varieties and learning about dry farming. Eleven seedlings up and starting to get secondary leaves.
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