Another member from Canada

[aftermidnight]

I see you have another member from Canada so here goes....I'm a golden oldie living and gardening on Vancouver Island in B.C. who has gardened for most of her life, my grandparents were great gardeners and grew most of what they ate. It skipped a generation and then plunked down on me. In the earlier years I maintained large collections of Fuchsias, Begonias, Michaelmas daisies, Chrysanthemums and many more, all at separate times as I don't have a large garden.

I'm a life long member of our local Horticulture Society and also did a fair amount of judging but have given that up in recent years, backs and legs don't last forever it seems LOL. In recent years I have become addicted, yes I'm afraid addicted to  growing heirloom vegetables, I find the family histories behind these vegetables absolutely fascinating and albeit in a small way try to keep them going by growing and sharing seed with others. I'm especially interested in heirloom beans, but have a few tomato varieties as well and this year for the first time I'm growing Yacon and Oca, South American in origin, Sea Kale and Skirret mostly grown in the UK and also a funny little tuber that looks like a grub called Crosne (Chinese Artichoke I believe) how successful I'll be is yet to be determined.
 
Back to beans my main addiction, I also grow a few that might not be heirlooms but peaked my interest like a purple runner bean from Wales 'Aeron Purple Star' and another, NOT a runner but a pole bean also from Wales called 'Barry Island' utterly delicious, also from The UK a white seeded 'Cherokee Trail of Tears'. A member of Seeds of Diversity here in Canada was kind enough to share a few 'Lazy Wife' the original Lazy wife, the one with the round seeds with me, I grew these this year just for the seed.

I guess when I come down to it I'm just an old gal who still likes to play in the dirt LOL.

Annette

[macmex]

Annette,
    You are a very welcome addition here! We can always use more members, especially those who write and share! I think you and I have probably had correspondence over at least six or seven years. This year I'm growing Poleschka (would love to know how to pronounce that) pole beans and Berta Talaska Pole Bean, both of which, you shared with me. Berta Talaska barely made seed. But it may not have been the variety's fault. Poleschka has grown rampantly. Hopefully the harvest will get larger. So far it's produced, but not that much. We have a really bad rat problem. So it's possible the rats have been eating them.


George

[aftermidnight]

George, I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce Poletscka , I actually hunted this bean down for someone else, I kept just a few seeds back just in case they didn't make it through the mail, it was one of those fingers crossed mail outs. I only had about 30 seeds to start with and those were hard to get my hands on at the time so thought I'd grow what I had left (8) just for seed and pass a few around. I lucked out, I had a bumper crop from those 8 seeds. From what I've read they are an excellent shelly and dry bean, although dried they take a little longer soaking before cooking. I still have so many beans I haven't grown yet it will probably be a couple of years before I grow Poletschka again. Berta Talaska was a heavy bearer for me the year I grew it but I only cooked a few as green beans, kept the rest for seed, but we really enjoyed them steamed with a bit of butter. Poletschka and Berta Talaska might take a couple of years to take to your climate as Barksdale did for me. We had the worst summer ever for growing beans here, temperatures in the 90's for days on end. Most of the beans didn't start flowering until it cooled down but Barksdale outdid itself, kept on blooming and setting beans, Brita's Foot Long did the same, I had the best crop ever from these two. In the end I did get seed off every variety planted other than two varieties that just didn't germinate, I think the seed was just to old or hadn't been stored properly before I acquired it.
We don't have a problem importing bean seed from the U.S. or any other country whereas sending seed to the states from Canada can be iffy. BUT, if you apply for a small lots permit from your Dept. of Ag. I believe this is free, it works like a charm. I found a variety of bean seed someone in the states was looking for and couldn't find, he applied for this permit, sent it on to me with the appropriate mailing label and instructions. It worked like a charm he had the seed in just one week. We beanaholics have to stick together LOL

Right now my garden is sodden wet, it has been raining, raining and more rain to come, not complaining tho... our forest really need it, now praying for a good snow pack in the mountains, the watering restrictions this summer were the likes of never seen before and dragging hoses around in the allotted time allowed was not fun.

Annette

[macmex]

I had that permit for years, and might still have it, tucked away somewhere. But, I bet it would need renewing.

Well, I did try Poleschka as a snap. It was  alright; just not something to brag about. I planted it in a garden with afternoon shade, which is usually quite helpful for varieties which are not adapted to our climate. It was rampant in growth, but set pods quite late, which is probably on account of the heat. (We had a cooler, wetter, summer than usual). Yet I would have been quite hot by your standards. I will be able to share seed of this bean, and I will freeze some. It's not something I'm going to pursue too avidly, It has promise. But I am stretched thin. Berta Talaska seemed to be much better as a snap. But I didn't have enough to give it much of a taste test. Rodents nipped off many of my beans, several times, over the course of the spring and early summer. I only had one plant of Berta Talaska survive. I may plant a tripod in the coming year. The seed is gorgeous and it seems to be suited for snap and dry, if not also shelly.

[john]

Interesting to hear about the small lots permit. I wasn't aware of that. I know that I have had good success shipping out seeds to other countries, but I know it is usually much harder to get them into the US through our customs department. If the US customs sees seeds listed on the disclosure form, they will just chuck that package in the trash.