Missing from the lineup this season are Yard Long, Sequoia, Lima and yellow varieties, having succumbed to weather or slugs. Unfortunately for them, that was the last of the seed stock (this was going to be a seed-saving year). I sowed more
Trionfo Violetto and
Kentucky Wonder as replacements and got a glut of those.
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| Black Russian broad bean sizing up, mid July |
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| Kentucky Wonder, mid July |
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| Trionfo Violetto, mid August |
The beans started cropping in mid July. By mid August, I had Trionfos coming out my ears. Shifting this neglected overgrown lot wasn't easy (snork). Subsequent production was left on the vine to dry.
Dragon Tongue, Southern Cowpeas and Alabama Black Eyed Butterbeans were wiped out as well but two of my Cranberries survived.
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| 'Borlotti' bean, a Cranberry member |
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True Red Cranberry bean,
a Québec/New England heirloom, acquired last season |
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Dried beans, a modest harvest
L to R: Borlotti & Runner, True Red Cranberry,
dried Trionfo Violetto & other 'green' beans |
Such pretty beans. I think one of the joys of growing dried beans is so that you can have them in glass jars and look at them. I have a row of jars in my dining room.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly deserve to be displayed. I love the feel of them, too.
DeleteBummer about the Dragon Tongue, they are my favorite! I didn't have a good bean year asides from Tiger's Eye. My blue lake poles never grew, even after 3 plantings and all the dry pole beans didn't amount to much. On a side note though, one of the half dead blue lake's put out a couple pods with fine purple stripes. I'm saving the seed to see what they amount to next year. It would be interesting if they have purple stripes and still have the white blue lake seeds.
ReplyDeleteCool. You might have a new strain on your hands. Something similar happened to me with a Matucana sweet pea, this season. One vine's flowers came out striated. Can't wait to see if the variation sticks.
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