The search is over I found some. Annette

Most of the beans were shellies or at least were eaten when the pods were full of mature seeds so I will put the report here again. 5/20/12 started some beans in peat pots. 5/31 put beans on to soak and planted them all out on 6/2. After a nice May, June was unseasonably cold and wet. 7/5 seasonal daytime temperatures started. Nights were below normal most of the summer. Most of September had above average days but nights continued unusually cold with a 32F frost on 9/12! The first week of October there were several unusually cold nights at 29-30F but many of the beans continued to produce. Even the 27F frost on 10/22 did not totally end the bean season. Bush beans: Candy, shelly. They are very late and have runners. Very large and dense aggressive bushes. 10/10 some of these are maturing. Very nice large and plump shellies, red on cream maturing to red on pink. Some are just over an inch long. They are too late for here. Clem and Sarah's Big Bean, shelly. Most of them died in the cold wet June. 9/8 some pods are turning yellow. Clem's Purple, a single plant found in the Clem and Sarah's Big Bean patch in 2011. 9/8 some are turning yellow. 9/15 some drying out. Shellies are up to one inch long and are all purple, all white, purple speckles on white or white streaks on purple. Very attractive mix and they have good flavor and texture. The plants did far better than the white version in the cold wet June. Crow River Black, shelly. 9/8 some are turning yellow. 9/15 some drying out. Shellies have good flavor but firm texture. 9/30/12 finished the harvest. 2 gallons of dry pods plus shellies. Large plants with up to 44 pods on a plant. Duane Baptiste Potato Bean, shelly. 9/8 some pods are turning yellow. 9/15 Picking dry pods. Shellies are 1 inch long and have good flavor and texture. Family, shelly. 9/8 some are turning yellow. 9/15 some drying out. 9/22 plump shellies are dark red with cream splotches and are up to 7/8 inch long. Not a large crop. Giant Red Tarka (USDA PI 507984), shelly. Crop failure in cold wet June. The killer zombie slugs apparently got them. Golden Valley, shelly. 9/8 many are turning yellow. 9/15 Picking dry pods. Shellies are up to 3/4 inch long and they have good flavor and texture. Marveille de Piemonte, shelly. Sprouted seeds are small. 9/8 some are turning yellow. The plants were tiny. 9/29 the few pods are drying but the seeds do not look mature. Stockbridge Indian, shelly. 9/8 most pods are yellow. 9/15 Picked half a bucket of dry pods so far. The shellies have good flavor and texture. 9/29 picked the last of them, 2 gallons. Mostly dry. Plants are large and robust. Total of 2-1/2 gallons of dry pods and 1 gallon of shelly pods from 24 feet of row. This was the best bush shelly this year. Runner: Bianco di Spagna.* 9/15 a few are drying out. 10/6/12 picked 2 gallons of dry pods. 10/16 there are still lots of shellies. 10/21 Picking more dry pods. Pole Beans: Anellino Giallo black seed wax shrimp bean. 8/21 Several turned yellow and they have good flavor. 9/7 Crop is fairly heavy and even the most mature pods are stringless. 9/18 pods are swelling with maturing black seeds and they are still string free, tender and tasty. DW loves them. 9/30 a few pods are becoming flexible. 10/7 the hulls develop maroon streaks and splotches as seeds mature. They are very slow to dry but a few pods are starting to dry finally. 10/20 there are still lots of good plump snaps and I picked the drier ones for seed. 10/25 the drying pods are still fine snaps, fat with black seeds. This is a winner. Bingo*, shelly. 9/1 a few of the 8 inch pods are starting to soften. 9/8 first mess of mature shellies. 9/15 some drying out. 9/30/12 Picked a gallon of dry pods. 10/20 picked the rest of the shellies. This is a fine bean that makes good shellies over almost a two month period. Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco, shelly. 9/30 they are very slow to mature. None are soft yet. 10/14 Some look mature. 10/20 Picked almost 2 gallons of shellies from half a trellis (7 feet of row). Many of those I picked turned out to be not yet mature. Not suited for here. They did fine in Seattle but they have basically failed here twice. Borlotta Stregonta, shelly. Two 14 foot trellises. 9/30 - 5 gallons of dry pods from one trellis. Many shellies left. 10/6/12 another 8 gallons of dry pods from both trellises. Picked 5 gallons of shelly pods. Bosnian Pole, Romano type snap and shelly. 8/25 loaded with snaps. 10/8 most are at shelly stage or are drying, picked 4 gallons of shelly and dry pods. 10/20 picked most of the rest of the shellies. Brita's Footlong*, snap and shelly. 8/10 some 9" snaps but I did not try them. 9/15 some drying out. 9/29 many are dry, picked 2 gallons of dry pods. 10/16 there are still lots of shellies. 10/20 most are too dry to use as shellies. 10/25 a few shellies left. Chabarosk, shelly. Hulls look very similar to New Hampshire, dark green and purple. 10/5/12 a few are drying. 10/20 shellies look identical to New Hampshire except they are slightly smaller. Few are 7/8 inch and they are later. Many are not mature yet. Dolloff*, shelly. 9/1 a few pods are turning yellow. 9/5 a couple pods are drying. Good shellies and great as a dry bean. 9/29 Picked 5 gallons of dry pods from 3 trellises. 10/6 another 5 gallons of dry pods. 10/16 there are still lots of shellies. 10/20 the rest are too dry to use as shellies. Emerite, snap. 8/8 first Emerite. 10/6 picked a gallon of dry pods. Fortex*, snap 8/7 first mess of Fortex. 9/29 Late (planted July 7) Fortex are still good but we are running out. 10/10 there are still some usable late Fortex. I was able to save seed. Goose, shelly 9/29 Some are drying. Kew Blue, snap. 8/12 there are a few snaps. 8/21 we cooked a mess and they have ok flavor. 8/25 loaded with snaps. 9/29 many are drying. Kwintus, snap and shelly. 8/10 7" flat greasy looking snaps. 9/29 many are dry. Picked 2 gallons of dry pods from 5 feet of row. 10/16 there are still lots of shellies.10/25 there are a few shellies still usable. Neon Goose*, shelly. 9/1/12 a few are bright pink and softening. What a mix of types! 10/6 picked them all, 2-1/2 gallons of dry and shelly pods from half a trellis (7 foot row). New Hampshire, shelly. 9/29 about 1/3 are dry. Hulls are dark green and purple. 10/16 there are still lots of shellies. The tasty 7/8 inch shellies are very plump and cream with purple streaks. They continue drying in the rain. 10/20 most are dry. North Carolina Speckled Long Greasy Cutshort.*, snap 9/7 starting to plump up. 9/30 only one turning yellow. 10/13 A few are drying out. 10/20 there are still loads of snaps and a few that are dry. This is now the main source of snaps and DW likes them. 10/25 still loads of snaps. Tennessee Cutshort*, snap. 8/18 Many are plump. 9/8 A few turning yellow. 9/30 half are dry. 10/6 all are dry. Tobacco Worm*, snap. 9/8 a few are yellow and drying. 9/15 some drying out. They are very fine eating even when the pods are completely yellow. 10/20 there are still a lot of snaps but most are dry. 10/25 all are drying. Volga German Siberian, shelly. 3-4 foot half-runner vines. 9/1 pink pods are softening. 9/8 first mess of tasty � inch shellies. 9/15 some are drying out. 9/29 all are dry. White Simpson Greasy, snap. 9/29 Many are softening. DW likes the younger green ones as snaps. 9/30 several are dry. 10/4 they are very good quality even when all yellow. 10/10/12 On this trellis, there is one vine with black seeded striped hull greasy beans with fine flavor and texture. They do have strings. Some of these are drying. No!!! (Sound of one hand slapping the other hand.) Do not eat any more of these!! Save the rest for seed!! 10/25 there are still some usable snaps on the whites seeded plants but most are drying. *Some of these were started on peat pots. - Dick

The cleaning & sorting are finally done, so these are the results. This will cover everything except cowpeas, yardlongs, and soybeans, so my apologies for the length. After germinating normally, all beans, and most cowpeas, went through an extended period of stunting for most of June & part of July. The degree of stunting, and its duration, varied substantially between varieties; many were over a month behind. Because of this, I considered DTMs this year to be aberrations from the norm, and did not record them. Common beans: * Bird Egg #3 - pole shelly. Initial planting with 2007 seed had poor germination. I culled the sub-standard 2010 seed (over 75% was discarded) and replanted the gaps, with good results. Plant spacing was 2 @ 12" this year, to judge the effect on yield & seed size. Seed size was notably smaller. The plants recovered from stunting & really took off in late Summer. The crop was much later than normal, and much was harvested after the first light frost; but I froze 20 pints of shellies, and harvested 5 pounds of dry seed. * Champagne - pole green snap. White seed. This was one of the first beans to recover from the stunting. When I first grew it, I observed that it had no trouble setting pods in our (admittedly moderate) heat, and that was verified in spades this year. Flat, green, Romano-type pods grew to 7-8" long, had great flavor, and the yield was heavy. However, this variety has a weakness: it is hard to get good seed from it. As in my original trial, about 75-80% of the dry seed was deformed, and had to be discarded; not sure if it is something in my soil or climate, but this is the only bean I've grown with this level of deformity, and it was repeated in different years. This might be the reason it was dropped commercially. * Clem & Sarah's Big Bean - bush dry/shelly. Somewhat rangy bushes, recovered fairly late from stunting, but still produced a fair crop. The white seeds are long & nearly cylindrical, about 3X as long as wide, many with blunt ends. The shape is so distinctive that I could probably mix them with Great Northern, and still separate them fairly easily. Since this was a seed increase, I only ate a few shellies; but those were sweet, and of good quality. * Czechoslovakian - pole purple snap. This was the least affected by the stunting, and growth was exceptionally vigorous in the heat. Flowering & pod set were heavy, and the pods showed no stunting whatsoever. I had previously grown this one in pots, and like Bosnian Pole before it, the increase in vigor when grown in fertile ground was striking. So was the seed increase; with over 5 pounds, it tied BE#3 for highest yield... but in only 16 feet of row, as compared to 72 for BE#3. I only ate one meal, wish I had tried freezing them. * Dolloff - pole shelly/dry. This was quick to recover from stunting, had a heavy pod set, and was the first pole bean to produce dry seed. I would estimate its DTM at about 90 days. While the seed quality was very good, the pods had poor seed count, probably due to the heat. This means the yield potential is most likely higher than what I observed... which would make it quite high. The seed is pink as a shelly, drying down orange -> tan w/brown spots. 12 feet of row yielded 4# 3 oz. * Fortex - pole green snap. This was severely impacted by the stunting; it was over a month late. I was picking yardlongs for several weeks before these even started (!!!) which is a reversal of what would happen in a normal year. They came on strong in September, so I was able to freeze a lot... still, the performance this year was disappointing. The row dedicated for dry seed produced 2 pounds, but more than half of the pods were still unripe when cut down by frost. * Isla - pole shelly/dry. In habit, pod, and seed, this resembles a slightly smaller, more purplish version of True Red Cranberry... I suspect they are closely related. It has a very late DTM, and being forced to recover from a severe hail storm this year certainly didn't help. There were no dry pods before the freeze, so I picked all of the pods that day & dried the ripest ones indoors. The seed appears to be mostly OK, about a pound or so. The flavor is really good, I wish this had a shorter DTM. * Light Brown Zebra - bush dry. This never really recovered from the stunting, and was far less vigorous than it was when I last grew it. The small seeds are beige with black stripes, held in pods which shrink down tightly around the seed as they dry & offer outstanding protection against rain. Collected a pound of seed, it should have been at least twice that. * Poletschka - pole, uncertain use. Started as transplants. I only grew a few plants in pots, and since I was trying for maximum seed increase, I only snacked on one pod raw. Can't remember my impressions of the taste, and apparently didn't write them down. :-( Green pods that shrink down tightly as they dry, with oblong, glossy, purple-black seeds that look almost metallic. The DTM was fairly late. With 3 ounces of seed, I hope to do a larger growout next year for seed increase & evaluation. * Portugal - pole shelly. Failed. This is a shelly similar to BE#3. The vines appeared to be diseased, so no seed was saved, and the plants were destroyed. * Schwarze Witwe - pole wax. I'm told that the name translates as "the veil of old widows", which is a reference to the seed coloration. This was stunted in June, then severely damaged by hail in early July just as it was beginning to climb. However, the plants sprouted new runners & made an impressive recovery. Small 4-5" yellow pods, curved, completely stringless in all stages. The seed is small, very glossy, with fine buff spotting over a deep purple/black background... almost the same purple/black color as Poletschka. Nearly all seed dried before frost, so under less difficult conditions, this should do well here. * Soissons Vert - pole shelly/dry. Finally got a large planting to mature!!! Seeds are lime green as shellies, pea green when dry. These were inexplicably trying to vine on the ground (one other pole bean did this), only beginning to climb in late July with considerable assistance on my part... after which they grew normally. They just made it before frost, but produced a heavy crop. Froze a lot of shellies (somewhere around 20 pints, I lost count) and collected over 4 pounds of dry seed. * Uzice - semi-bush shelly/dry. As discussed on a previous thread, I had to rename this. It was originally sent to me with no name, so I called it Serbian pole, after its place of origin... only to find out that name was already being used in Canada & the U.K. for a different bean (which I hope to grow in the future). Another seed saver in Canada had obtained the same seed from my source & named it Uzice, so I have followed suit. This cultivar was severely stunted, and while it never fully recovered, it still produced an OK crop. Allegedly this is a bush variety, but grown without support, I found the 4-5 foot runners to be unruly; I will probably grow it again on a trellis. The seeds are large, and resemble a slightly smaller version of Porcelain in coloration, mostly white seeds with a patch of tan with maroon specks around the hilum. That resemblance to Porcelain does not extend to the flavor; the shellies are sweet, firm, and of excellent quality. This was a fairly large planting (39 feet of row) but because of the severe yield reduction due to stunting, I didn't freeze any. Collected 3 pounds of dry seed, though, and had a couple meals of shellies just before frost. * Uzice Speckled Wax - pole wax. From the same GW source as Uzice above. These were started early as transplants. Like Soissons Vert, the plants were severely stunted early, and reverted to almost a bush habit until mid-July... at which time they sent out numerous creeping runners. Once trained to the trellis, these began climbing normally, and I would judge the vines as having fully recovered. Flat, curling, yellow, 6" Romano-type snaps of fine flavor. Good shellies, but had enough of other varieties that I didn't eat any. Was able to save 2.5 pounds of seed. * Woods Mountain Crazy Bean - bush snap. Glad I tried this in a hot year! Seeds were started as transplants. While they were stunted in early June, the plants were very quick to recover, and IMO were only minimally affected. Incredibly lush foliage, forming a dense canopy over the beans; planted on 12" centers, the canopies overlapped to completely obscure the ground. The branching was very heavy, like what I would expect of a pole bean or bush lima. The root system was the most extensive I have seen from a bush bean, which probably accounts for its heat tolerance. I was actually late finding the beans, since they were not visible until I tipped a plant over to examine it! The snaps are round, creaseback, 6" long, and borne in large numbers. The flavor was exceptional (comparing favorably with Fortex) with a moderately firm texture. My only complaint would be WMCB's late DTM, which made it a challenge to get dry seed... but then, I suspect this is a bean well adapted to the South, and poorly adapted here. The heavy canopy protected most of the pods from the first few frosts, so I was able to get 8 ounces of dry seed... but over half of the pods were lost to the hard freeze. While WMCB is too late for it to be practical here as snaps, it is a great bean for those in hot climates, and I will continue to grow it for preservation. Limas * Cave Dweller, Black Seed Coat - bush. A black-seeded variety from SSE's collection. Started from 2007 seed as transplants (peat strips with starter mix) and had poor germination. The seeds had been planted vertically (eye down) and seemed to have trouble breaking free. Replanted in pots filled to within 3/4" from the top with packed starter mix, laid seed on its side, and covered with screened play sand. This method resulted in about 90% germination, so it will be my default method for starting limas in the future. (Makes sense when you think about it, since flat seeds in nature would naturally fall on their sides.) These were transplanted into two locations; one of poor fertility, and one of better fertility. The best location was nearly flattened by hail, but the plants resprouted vigorously, and still surpassed those in the less fertile soil that had escaped the hail! Heavily branched bushes, densely covered by flowers. The flower spikes were longer than many pole limas I've grown, flowered over a very long period, and attracted large numbers of bees & skipper butterflies. This was followed by a heavy pod set. The seeds are deep purplish black, and slightly wider & flatter than Sieva, although their seed weight was comparable (at around 60/ounce). As shellies, they had stronger flavor than Sieva, though not as strong as some (such as the Hopi limas). Nearly all ripened (even with the setback due to hail) and there was almost no shattering. From 35 plants, had several meals of butterbeans, and harvested 3.5 pounds of dry seed. * Sieva, Mottled - pole. Started as transplants by same methods, and with same results, as above. Vigorous, heavily-branched vines; I experimented with both 24" and 30" spacing, and 24" seemed to be optimal. Fusion had suggested that I grow 75 feet of white Sieva two years ago, which failed due to weather... but I tried the same length of row this year with Mottled Sieva. With all of the extra heat, and with frequent deep irrigation, the vines were healthy & produced a good crop. While the mottling on the dry seeds was similar, there appeared to be two races; one with black mottling, and one with light maroon or lavender. The seeds are a little smaller than the white-seeded Sieva, (at 69/oz. vs. 60/oz.), and the yield did not appear to be as heavy; but about 80-90% of the pods had ripened before the killing frost. We ate a few meals, gave a lot of shellies away, and harvested just under 22 pounds of dry seed. You have no idea how much seed that is, shelled entirely by hand; by my math, I would estimate around 10,000 pods. (:-o My hats off to DW, who was absolutely tireless in that endeavor... a legumaniac after my own heart. Runner Beans * Bianco de Spagna - white seeded. Failed. Severe stunting, mostly fatal; they never really recovered. The few plants that just barely hung on (I didn't have the heart to pull them out) didn't even flower until very late August / September. The pods harvested just before the killing freeze were usable as shellies, but there was nothing mature enough to save for seed. The curse continues, this seems to be the only runner I can't get seed from. * Gigandes - white seeded. These were slow to start, but were less affected by the the stunting, and were the first beans in that plot to begin climbing. Unfortunately, the vines were stripped by hail in early July. The plants responded by sending out new runners, and made a remarkably rapid recovery... but they were set back by at least several weeks. Dry seed only began ripening about 10 days before the killing freeze. Was able to harvest a lot of shellies, and 11 ounces of dry seed... which will be used for a larger seed increase next year, hopefully under better conditions. Over all, despite a few setbacks, it turned out to be a really good year for seed saving. Of 106 seed crops I planted for preservation, 94 were successful. 59 of those were legumes, including 80 pounds of various beans, and 40 pounds of soybeans. Much of my older stock has been replenished (such as BE#3 & Soissons Vert), and I found a few new varieties that proved to be keepers. I will continue with the results for peas & miscellaneous legumes later in this thread; my final observations for cowpeas & soybeans will follow on other threads.

Diane, I grew potatoes because I have a desire to learn to grow edible crops. I don't know that I will ever have the need to live on only what I can grow, but I have a desire to be able to do that. I hope to interest my children and grandchildren in being able to do the same thing. I have read and listened to a lot of people talk about growing potatoes and wondered what book they read it out of, because it didn't always seem like they had real knowledge and experience. All over the net there are people growing in containers and grow boxes that they build themselves and claiming that the plant will form potatoes as much as 16 inches up the plant. I would like to know what variety they have found that does this, because I am not seeing that happen. In some cases, I got as many, or more, potatoes from one plant than I used to plant the entire bed, but they didn't come very far up the stalk. My stalks were well mulched, so there was room for them to come up the stem, but they didn't. My plants were way over 3 feet high, so the problem was not in growth. The plants are pretty up until the time they bloom, but after that they start a slow decline. After a while, you have a pile of straw or dirt with ugly, yellowed plants. Then the leaves fall off, eventually everything dries up so you can dig them up. I am only telling you this so you understand why I am changing my method of planting. I am going to kill out the grass in a new un-used area of my property (not the fenced garden). This is going to be my new compost pile for a few months. Next spring it is going to be my potato garden. The taste thing -- good, but IMO desn't come close to the difference in a cardboard tomato and a homegrown one. Given use of the same amount of space, I can think of a lot of things I would rather grow in the space, still I think they are worth growing. I don't plan to use my valuable fenced in garden for this crop in the future. Now, if when I dig the last little patch, I find 200 pounds, I might change my mind. LOL