Post by macmex on Aug 5, 2024 10:41:46 GMT -6
One challenge faced by my wife and I is that we struggle to find time to harvest. I was away last week and no one had time to harvest anything. I hadn't had time before leaving, so yesterday, when Jerreth asked me to pick some beans for our Sunday lunch, I didn't know what I'd find. She had watered faithfully while I was away. This is what I found.
Looks horrible, doesn't it? Yet I know better than to worry about it. If this was almost any other variety, I'd think we were done, but Woods Mountain Crazy Bean is different. We're in the summer doldrums here, when temperatures reach CRAZY levels. I bet it goes up to nearly 120 F at ground level, on a really hot day. The plants cannot withstand this without showing some effect. WMCB, however, gives in, drops leaves, appears to die and then, in around a month, when we start to have cooler temps and rain, the plants will sprout anew and produce again.
They're not putting on more beans right now yet there is a huge harvest out there. I harvested a colander of pods from about 5 plants. I quit picking because my wife and daughter were waiting for beans to fix with lunch.
Another great thing about this variety is that there is virtually no waste. Even though some pods matured to the point of being crispy dry, I picked everything except the tiniest pods. We can either eat them or save seed. I save seed from almost every plant I grow, unless it manifests characteristics which I consider to be outside the parameters for this bean. That happens every now and then. I don't have to leave a certain number of plants to produce seed as almost every plant will sneak at least a pod or two past me, to the point of having mature seed. When I harvest pods I get snaps, shell and dry; and I save the dry beans for seed.
I have planted a few Cherokee Striped Cornhill, in hopes of having a fall crop of this bean, but the decision to plant a lot of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean was a good one.
Looks horrible, doesn't it? Yet I know better than to worry about it. If this was almost any other variety, I'd think we were done, but Woods Mountain Crazy Bean is different. We're in the summer doldrums here, when temperatures reach CRAZY levels. I bet it goes up to nearly 120 F at ground level, on a really hot day. The plants cannot withstand this without showing some effect. WMCB, however, gives in, drops leaves, appears to die and then, in around a month, when we start to have cooler temps and rain, the plants will sprout anew and produce again.
They're not putting on more beans right now yet there is a huge harvest out there. I harvested a colander of pods from about 5 plants. I quit picking because my wife and daughter were waiting for beans to fix with lunch.
Another great thing about this variety is that there is virtually no waste. Even though some pods matured to the point of being crispy dry, I picked everything except the tiniest pods. We can either eat them or save seed. I save seed from almost every plant I grow, unless it manifests characteristics which I consider to be outside the parameters for this bean. That happens every now and then. I don't have to leave a certain number of plants to produce seed as almost every plant will sneak at least a pod or two past me, to the point of having mature seed. When I harvest pods I get snaps, shell and dry; and I save the dry beans for seed.
I have planted a few Cherokee Striped Cornhill, in hopes of having a fall crop of this bean, but the decision to plant a lot of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean was a good one.