My family has grown "Peanut Beans" for as long as I can remember. Coming from Tennessee, I found when I moved to GA, nobody had ever heard of them. Last summer I found them grown at Osage Farms in Rabun County, GA, I canned last summer and now waiting for this years crop. I have heard them called Pink Half Runners and TN Red Peanut Beans, whatever they are called, they are by far the best green bean you will ever eat! No other bean has the flavor these do. I read another post that someone said these beans are pole beans, but I have never seen true Peanut Beans grown as pole beans, they tend to bush and have some runners as well. Whatever, if you have the chance, grow some and can them for the winter. You will be glad you did. I use to have seeds sent to me from TN, but now have no garden so I will travel almost two hours to get them!!

I just have to say that we have now enjoyed several good meals of mature, meaty pods from 'Tennessee Cutshort' and what can I say other than they are one of the most delicious and satisfying beans I have ever grown or tasted. They will be my main (and possibly only) snap crop next season since they were such a big hit in my household. Compared to the other pole snaps I grew this season (Bosnian Pole and Withner's White Cornfield), the Tennessee Cutshort beans are the requested snaps of choice that everyone wants to eat. They seemed to produce nicely during our intense July heat wave, but now that temperatures have been 80-85 for several weeks the plants are bearing more heavily than ever and the pods are longer, thicker and fuller than they were a few weeks ago. The pods mature very quickly and I imagine they could easily produce dry seed even in shorter season climates. I love unzipping the mature pods, especially since the pods and seeds that remain after the strings are removed are amazingly tender, flavorful and almost delicate yet robust. Truly a gourmet bean. I also love the fact that I do not need to rush to harvest the pods. I can just leave them on the vines as long as I want or need to and they will still be tender as long as the strings are (easily) removed. They are a great "resilience gardening" bean since you could probably leave them for days or weeks at a time and still get a good, delicious harvest. I have enough seed saved for my garden for next year and I hope that after next year's grow-out I will have enough to list through SSE. In the meantime, my vines continue to flower and produce and we plan on eating them all!

Well, the harvest of dry seed has begun. For peas, both Sugar Magnolia and Limestone had an exceptional year. PM never made its appearance, and the two varieties produced about a pound of dry seed each. Mesa was almost completely washed out by heavy rains, but a few plants survived, and I have enough seed for another attempt next year. Cera Sierra has a great stand, is loaded with pods, and beginning to dry down. Nadja was flooded out after planting, and was a complete failure... so like Mesa, it goes to the top of the list for next year. The cowpea CES-18-6 (Paayap) has a very heavy pod set, about 1/2 of which have dried & been harvested. MN-13 also has a very heavy stand, and I picked the first dry pods today. It seems cowpeas were the only direct-seeded beans which appreciated the drenching rainfall which followed their planting. There were two plantings of the black-seeded yardlong that I grow (one for seed only), and both are loaded with pods. Chinese Red Noodle is just beginning to set pods, and Thailand pole (which is incredibly vigorous this year) has begun flowering. All should have time to produce dry seed. For runner beans, I picked the first dry pods from Gigandes today. Considering that most of the seed I harvested last year came in late September, this could (finally) be a good seed harvest. Tucomares Chocolate surprised me by setting large numbers of pods even during 80 degree heat, so it too should have a great year. German Butterbean lima has only a fair pod set, but there are a lot of plants, so the harvest should still be good. Some of the pods have begun to change color now. The news is not so good for my other lima, tentatively named "Pan-Pacific Black & White" (a Filipino heirloom from a member of this forum). While the vines are vigorous, they have yet to begin flowering. It may be daylength sensitive, and my hopes for getting dry seed are diminishing. The Takara Early adzuki has begun drying down pods, I picked the first few today. Yellow Mungo has quite a few pods set, but I've lost a few plants to the wilt which has decimated them in years past; those plants were pulled & destroyed at the first sign of infection. The mungo is spread out in two widely-separated plantings & surrounded by flowering plants, so hopefully those measures will impede the spread of the wilt, should it reappear. The bush rice bean, which I had such high hopes for, has yet to flower. The plants are incredibly healthy & Vignas mature seed quickly, so I haven't given up hope yet. Beans have just begun to mature. I've already harvested quite a bit of seed from both Solwezi and Sargas... making up for the total loss of Sargas last year. Pods on Jembo Polish & Giant Red Tarka have just begun to enter shelly stage. All other beans are filling out, and beginning to change color. Barring any interference by weather (a major hail storm missed my garden by 10 miles), it looks like it will be a good year. It is also on track to be my best tomato & pepper harvest ever (yes, I do grow things other than beans) ;-)

Then you're area is warmer than ours in the winter. I guess I'm still not sure about using the cloth as opposed to a heaver mil clear plastic to keep warmth in. I do know pre-watering helps with freezing. I'm up early enough to remove anything if needed. RE: hardening. A friend told me to use a leaf blower on the lowest setting, at a distance if necessary, to harden off - I thought that was rather unusual, but perhaps it helps, LOL! I didn't have time this year to start anything early (we're remodeling and trying desperately to finish up in the next few months - it's already been over a year of living in a mess). Why are you thinking of changing to some spray heads? Curious if I need to alter my plans. I'd thought the spray heads hit the lower branches and sometimes promoted rot, disease, and pests... am I wrong? So new to this, and any advice appreciated. Your dripworks setup is similar to ours. I just ordered the small kit to start, as I wasn't sure how much of what I wanted and needed only very little mainline. We've got pvc buried underground from the spigot at the house to the interior of the larger fully enclosed garden... The chicken wire 'wall' that separates the two areas is where it comes out and where the filter and restrictor are located. I'll run the mainline all the way around the 1 x 12 that separates those 2 areas, drilling holes in the 1 x 12 as needed to run the mainline. The driplines will come off the main tubing. I've left the drip line off for now as hand watering this winter is easy, and I want to blow out the water in the buried PVC to winterize. ETA: Aw, here's a pic: I've never heard of straw bale gardening, but then I'd not heard of winter sowing before either, and that was a monumental success for all the new flowers this year. I think I'll plant a single dwarf tomato plant in a planter on our patio... I know it'll need extra watering, but it'll be a good test to see if the birds peck at it. Past tomatoes were decimated if not covered. Lost every gooseberry and blueberry this past summer as I'd not covered them adequately with netting... I'd picked off most buds anyway to promote root growth (first year). I'll be better prepared next summer. The rock stacked around the perimeter won't be mortared - I want to be able to access teh 1 x 12 around the garden to remove it when it rots away. It acts like a raised bed, but isn't. Everything is screwed, not nailed. Alright, I've another question - and by the way, thank you Jamie for guiding this vegetable newbie! I've room to plant 6 tomatoes plants this spring without overcrowding. It's just the 2 of us. Will I have enough to freeze or can? I'm guessing the answer depends on how much I harvest, right? Heirlooms of 3 varieties, but not sure which. Also, for what it's worth, I've been burying all my veg scraps and every so often coffee grounds (no citrus, no meat) in the garden area I've not planted. Hoping to have it compost naturally. Sound ok?At some point, I will quite bombarding you with questions!