We have not had a frost yet. I have been harvesting my bean seeds. I grew 9 varieties this year. I hope I have two frost-free weeks for the last two varieties, black valentine and dragon tongue to mature. Top row: Royal Burgundy bush and red kidney bush Middle row: Anasazi bush, Cherokee Trail of Tears pole, and Hutterite soup bean bush. Bottom: Kentucky Wonder pole, Blue Lake pole, and Succotash pole. Last spring my sister asked me if I had some extra green bean seeds. I asked her if she wanted bush or pole. She said they always planted bush. I gave her what I thought were Kentucky Wonder bush beans. They were Kentucky Wonder pole beans. My brother in law said from now on we plant pole beans. We are retired and sometimes our "bender" doesn't worked as well as it did when we were younger. The beans produced so well for them that they left some of them dry on the vine so they had seeds to plant next year. We pulled the vines on Friday. After hulling the dry beans, I had 2 quarts of seeds. lol.
I'm trying the Cranberry climbers just for seed this year. Next year, they will hopefully be for seed and eating. I also plant bush beans. Our's were prolific this year, furnishing plenty for freezing. Donm, your variety is amazing.
That's a nice display, mate. Fingers crossed for you to get the last of the bean seeds saved before the rains come.
Sjoerd, Will rain harm the seed if the pods aren't dry? I hope not because they're not quite full and need more growing days.
Just leave bean plants in the ground till frost. Then pull the vine and hang till dry if you have room in a garage ect. Or pick and let dry.
Thanks Mart. I picked several full bean pods yesterday. Then I read that I should leave them on the vine to dry. There are plenty left, so no harm , no foul.
I also grew cranberry beans this year and they were a first for me. They were a bush bean. Actually I grew them for a friend as they do not have garden space. We shared them as he supplied the bean seed and I the space. I had an explosion of green and yellow bush beans. I am drying them for seed for next year's planting. We were having a forecast of lots of rain so I pulled them and besides DH wanted to prepare the soil for next year while he could still get the tractor in the garden without getting mired to the axles. Beans are now drying in my green house. :-D Green beans drying and a few small onions ( photo / image / picture from Chrisle's Garden )
Chris, my daughter tells me that my bush beans are the Cranberry beans, but they look much like the climbers. Both are sort of striped, crimson. If I had a greenhouse, mine would be hanging, but alas, my greenhouse is only a future dream at present.
