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Post by chrysanthemum on May 7, 2023 16:04:11 GMT -6
I went out and grabbed a picture of the some of the beans. There are several plants that have nice clusters growing. They make me so happy to see them that I thought some of you all might like a peek.
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Post by macmex on May 7, 2023 16:27:29 GMT -6
So nice!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 9, 2023 20:43:33 GMT -6
Chrysanthemum, Those are beautiful!
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 12, 2023 11:01:21 GMT -6
I haven’t had a family-sized harvest of beans yet, but I’ve snacked on a couple and picked a handful this morning for my kids to have. The plants are really doing well and filling out the beds around my tomatoes.
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 19, 2023 17:28:54 GMT -6
We had a tiny side dish with our lunch of sautéed Woods Mountain Crazy Beans and shishito peppers at lunch. The beans were filled out and needed a bit of stringing but weren’t tough. Yum.
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 26, 2023 19:01:32 GMT -6
I decided that I’d better check my Woods Mountain Crazy Beans today as I knew there were a few that were getting big. I was surprised by how many I found—over a pound. They’re in the refrigerator right now, but I’m looking forward to cooking these up.
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Post by woodeye on May 26, 2023 22:45:25 GMT -6
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 29, 2023 15:01:54 GMT -6
My Woods Mountain Crazy Beans are growing well. I had my camera in the garden, so I took a couple of pictures. I ended up giving away my last harvest since we have some other vegetables that need eating. I figured I wouldn’t have to wait long to harvest more of these at the rate they’re producing.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 6, 2023 17:49:32 GMT -6
I put off harvest the WMCB until today, and boy was it a harvest. I had almost three pounds of beans. My little boy was holding a big basket for me, and we just kept adding beans. We then added two more pounds of red noodle beans, and he got tired of holding it. I don’t blame him.
We took the basket up the hill to the neighbors’ house and let them choose what they wanted since they’ve been enjoying the beans. We cooked up the rest of the WMCB for supper along with a nice leek harvest. My ten year old made some biscuits. It made for some mighty fine eating, I must say.
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Post by triffid on Jun 6, 2023 18:17:26 GMT -6
I'm about to sow and grow these for the first time (thanks George!) and I'm slightly cautious because of how productive everyone says they are! Are they any good frozen, and what about leather britches?
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Post by macmex on Jun 7, 2023 5:18:46 GMT -6
They should be wonderful for leather britches. Can't say that I've tried freezing them. They are good canned. That I know.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 7, 2023 5:44:06 GMT -6
I'm about to sow and grow these for the first time (thanks George!) and I'm slightly cautious because of how productive everyone says they are! Are they any good frozen, and what about leather britches? It’s good to see you, triffid. Last summer, I think, you were having trouble with excessive heat and drought. How is the weather this spring for you? Last summer/fall when I grew these beans at the end of a very hot dry summer, I had production, but nothing excessive. I have a similar number of plants this spring with more moderate temperatures and much more frequent rainfall, and it’s obvious that the plants far prefer those conditions. I’m afraid that I haven’t tried freezing or drying the beans, so I can’t speak to that particular question of yours. Excess production could be a good opportunity to save a lot of seed to introduce in your area. I do think that you’ll enjoy growing these plants. How many are you planning to put in?
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Post by triffid on Jun 7, 2023 18:55:36 GMT -6
Thanks chrysanthemum I've been quietly reading your updates, it's always lovely to see your garden in production for most of the year. We had a very wet period Mar/Apr followed by what looks to be now another drought on the horizon, at least in the southeast. We're stuck under this high pressure without a drop of rain for over a month. Hot during the day and very cold overnight due to the north winds, so I've delayed planting. Nights are just now warming up; a high of 30C forecast for the weekend so shall have to evacuate the polytunnel of all but the melons. You're right, producing a lot of seed is never a bad thing! I'm hoping to germinate enough for a 50ft row. I will be irrigating and trying my best with a deep mulch, hopefully that will keep them happy. How tall are these bushes, over a foot? Are they sturdy or will they need some string over the row to prevent them from blowing over?
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 11, 2023 11:53:08 GMT -6
triffid , I’m sorry to hear that you may be headed back to a drought. I’m thankful, though, that you had a rainy March and April so that the landscape had some time to gain strength before heading into another potentially hot summer. I don’t have much experience at all with bush beans. Last year I borrowed my neighbor’s tomato cages and put them around my WMCB, which may have had all @rdback ‘s forebears spinning in their graves. It kept the beans off the ground, though. This year I’m being a little more relaxed, and I’m just letting the beans flop around in between my tomatoes in two long beds. They don’t stand straight upright, and when I pick them, I just move the bushes all around with my hands. They’re definitely sturdy but not upright in my experience. I took a few pictures to give you an idea. Well, I took pictures, but the image hosting server is apparently down at the moment, so I’ll try a bit later to put them up for you. Sorry about that. Edited to add: Here are the pictures. The first is just the long bed I have with three trellised tomatoes in the back. The bed itself is about twelve feet long, and I have about ten bean plants in the front or middle of the bed, spaced around my ollas. With leaves, they are over a foot tall, but the main stalk itself is probably only about eight inches. Mine tend to flop over, and the leaves just grow up. The next two photos are just the plant on the end with a closer view. In the second of the two photos, I moved some leaves aside to give a view of the thick main stem. The last photo is a plant in the other tomato bed I have. It’s not as crowded with plants, so this gives a view of a more sparse area. This plant had been getting a lot of sun early in the day, and it was already past noon and over ninety degrees, so it may have been wilting down just a bit as things do in the afternoons here. As I said, I’m not expert on bush beans, so I can’t compare these to any others. Mine did fine caged last year, and they’re doing fine this year without much support. I don’t know that they require a string, but I can’t imagine one hurting either.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 28, 2023 17:37:48 GMT -6
I harvested some beans for seed yesterday morning before I did a thorough watering of the garden. Some of these are already pretty well dried, but they are all drying in the house right now. The plants outside still have leaves, but they’ve pretty much stopped putting on new blooms in the intense heat. I don’t blame them. Triple digits is too hot for man or beans.
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