I am looking for Fortex pole bean seeds. Have some Blue lake pole bean seeds to share. Also have some Brandywine, cheroke purple, fantastic tomato seeds.

No Gautam, I haven't noticed that. However, it was pretty common knowledge, wherever we lived in Mexico, that beans that were more recently harvested cooked more easily. They don't have to boil in order to soften. One way we've cooked beans, when not in any hurry is to bring them up to boiling, cover, turn off the heat, and let them set for about a hour. Then we'd turn the heat back on and cook. I can't remember just how much longer we'd cook them. But they cooked up as if they had been on the heat even for that hour, when in fact they weren't. Also, for anyone who doesn't know it. The best way I know, to tell if a bean is properly done, is to spoon it out of the pot hot, and blow on it. If the bean's skin splits, it's done to perfection! Some people in the USA have told me that they can't cook beans; that they've tried, but that they never get soft. More often than not it's not their fault. They got hold of old beans which may have sat on the shelf for a long time. Those beans sometimes won't soften properly, not matter how long one cooks them. I don't know how well it works. But some Mexican friends have told me that such old beans can be softened if you hang'em in a sack, under the drip line of your house's roof and let them absorb water a day or two before you try cooking them. George PS. Tlatlauqui is at 7500 feet altitude. The place receives about 11 feet of precipitation a year because it is on the Eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Oriente mountains, at just the right place to catch the warm moist air coming off the Veracruz coast. Everything is green and beautiful, especially when the sun comes out. But there were definitely challenges for gardening and for human health.

I live in Upsate Central New York State z5 and planted my Romano Italian Pole Beans (by transplant as I always do) on Memorial Day Weekend. I have the most fantastic looking vines any Gardner would envy, and "Jack" would die for. Problem as above "No Flowers", "No Beans". First time ever that's happened and we have had a pretty hot summer with many days in the 90's. I'm ready to start cutting down as the vines are so long, I would not be surprised in the 12' or more foot length that they are stressing out my pole and string system to the point getting ready to crash to the ground. As from this post it sounds like the heat may be the cause. It's to bad we love beans and tomatoes in oil. And of course for the second year we've got the blight on tomatoes. But at least we'll have tomatoes till September.

Sometimes the bush beans vine up a little. Are yours still growing tall? I emailed Park Seed and they offered to replace them. That doesn't help me now though. I only planted about a 4' row of these, since they produce so much vertically. A 4' row of bush beans doesn't make much. :( I just planted some left-over seed from 2 years ago (pole), taking the chance that they could still mature if the season is long. Park seed also sent me the wrong cucumber seed a couple years ago. That was also a bummer. I guess these things happen. ??