Saturday, March 26, 2011

Beans, Beans they are good for your . . . Garden

I placed an order for seeds from the Seed Saver's Yearbook. Usually I buy one variety of something. At $4-$5 a pop I try to control myself. But this year is my trial year for beans. I want to find more dried pole beans and in regular seed catalogs there is such a limited supply of pole beans. But in the seed saving community there is an amazing collection. The Yearbooks has 15 rows of of different dried pole bean seeds. The first row had 14 selections; the second 18. I'm not counting the rest for you, but you can probably guess there are around 200+ different varieties to choose from. And this is only dried pole beans.

If you have never seen the Seed Saver's Yearbook, I'll describe it for you. It is a book over 500 pages long printed on cheap paper. There are no photos. Just variety after variety of seed that individual seed savers have grown out. This year there were 13,876 varieties. All of them are open pollinated so you can save seed. These are seeds that don't make the typical seed catalog. People save them because they want to keep our crops' genetic diversity. Or they save seed that is good for their area and have been growing them for years. These people tend not to be commercial operations (though there are a few with small seed businesses), but are people like you and me that want something interesting that the catalogs don't sell. The hard part about this catalog, is picking something. There are just so many choices and the descriptions range from a couple of sentences to just the name and where the seed came from. Sometimes you get the date to maturity, sometimes not.

I wanted to limit myself to just five varieties. Each bean selection would cost me $5 so $25 total. That is a lot of money for a few beans that I don't even know I would like. Picking just five proved very hard. I was looking for kidney like beans for chili and pinto beans for refried beans. I also was looking for any good tasting prolific beans that does well in cool summers. The beans couldn't be long season beans or they wouldn't mature in time.

For the kidney types I had picked out two. Apache Red and Montezuma Red. Montezuma Red had very little description, "delicious chile type, more flavorful than kidney, from Chiapas." It didn't say how long they would take to mature, but the seller was from Colorado. The sellers are listed by codes and the first two letters of the code are their state. I used to live in Colorado and they have a very short growing season. So I can be pretty sure they will mature fast enough. I don't know that they can handle the rain we get as Colorado is a dry state, but I was willing to take that chance. I looked up the seller in the front (which gives info and the address to send the money to), and found out he required that you buy a lot of seed from him to make a purchase. $15 minimum. Well that just won't do. The sellers don't have a listing of all they are selling. Yes he says he has 14 amaranth and 15 barley etc (over 400 in all), but finding them the catalog would take forever. Plus all I wanted were dried beans. Dang. I crossed that one off the list.

The next one was Apache Red. This was from a Massachusetts grower. My own home state. So of course it ought to grow. I just hope he has been growing it for more than one year as this last year was abnormally hot and dry. Part of the description, "high yield of red seed, similar to kidney beans, for soups or chili". The funny thing is that I mailed out the orders on Tuesday. On Friday I had a package in the mail. I wasn't expecting anything. They always take three days to get the order mailed in and three days to get back. So a week is usually the quickest they could get here and I've had them take a month. But since we all live in eastern Mass it was just a one day turn around and this seed saver was on the ball and fast. My first seeds are here. So exciting!

I didn't see any more kidney substitutes, but there were a few pintos on the list. I ordered Mexican Pinto (73-114 days) and Ga Ga Hut Pinto (95 days). I'm hoping the Mexican pinto can actually produce here, but I'm not too sure at 114 days. Probably not well. I'm guessing the 73 days is as a snap bean as many dried beans can substitute as snap beans. The Mexican bean is from Heritage Farm at the Seed Saver Exchange. They grow things out constantly too keep the seed fresh. Rotating what they grow each year. They hope that anyone getting the seeds from them will offer it up next year or at least share the seed around to keep it alive. I may not list in the catalog, but if I can get enough seed from it, you can bet it will be on my list of seed to give away this fall. I'll try to follow their request.

The other two beans are just fun beans. One is an old time Maine heirloom, Norridgewock. At 85-90 days it will produce here. Heck any bean from Maine will produce here. The description reads, "white seed with purple patch over hilum covering about half of the seedcoat, attractive, deserves preservation, collected from the late Elizabeth Miller of Norridgewock, ME, who said the variety went back to pre-Civil War times, deep roots in the area, indeed she believed it might have originated in the original Abnaki village of Norridgewock, which was destroyed by the English settlers in the 1700s." Another description said it was very productive in the wet summer of 2009 in Maine. Now this bean out to produce for me in any year.

The last bean is Tarbais Alaric 95 days. This is the traditional bean to use for cassoulet. I've never made cassoulet, but it is a nice thin skinned, creamy textured bean. Which seems like a good one to grow as it is very different from my other beans. I'll see how it does here.

At some point I'm going to have to count how many different varieties of bean I'm growing this year. I've received a lot from all of you earlier in the year and now with these five I have so many more. Many of the trials will be very small. Some beans I only have five seeds of which is quite enough to trial the bean. Then I need to pick the ones I will keep for future years. Its going to be a fun beany year. I just hope we have a dry late August and early September.

19 comments:

  1. Fun! I'm looking forward to seeing how your trials go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, this is all new information to me. I'm astounded that the year book has so many varieties and all because people are actually putting in the effort to grow and save so many varieties of seeds! It'll be interesting to see how your seeds do at the end of the season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have got to quite being so darn cheap and sign up for that Seed Saver's yearbook...it sounds so wonderful. Enjoy your new bean varieties, I look forward to seeing them grow.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I find doing my own seed trials exciting! I look forward to seeing how your beans do. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So hard to choose. I hope you enjoy your varieties. I'm wondering, how do you keep your beans from crossing if they're op? I've seen some nice setups before, but I'm wondering how you do it since you save the seed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I never heard of the yearbook before, I'll have to check it out. Do you suppose Massachusetts genes make us interested in beans? (my folks were from there...Dad lives in Gardner now). I'm growing 5 dry beans this year (Anasazi, Trail of Tears, Vermont Cranberry, Yin Yang, and Soldier Bush)...we'll have to compare notes at the end of the season...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beans, beans...my favorite! Years ago I got turned on to Rancho Gordo Heirloom beans, based in Napa, CA. This year they have started a Google Group on growing beans...hosted by owner and grower, Steve Sando. You might like to check it out. He is also asking for those who would like to participate in some trial seeding. His beans are unique and wonderful. Go to Google Groups and search for Rancho Gordo Bean Buddies.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ha, great post. I don't have the room, nor the dry late Summer to grow beans, so I don't. Good luck with your selections. Kid in a candy store comes to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great post. There's a wealth of genetic information in those old varieties. And they were developed bottom up by dedicated growers, not top down by persons with a last name of Inc. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Daphne, I can't wait to watch and read about your bean trials. Thanks to you and a few others from Monday Harvest I am trying several new varieties this year. Trail of Tears, Scarlett Runner, Painted Lady, and Christmas beans. Granny is also sending me some Cranberry beans.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow I will be excited to see all of your new pole beans! I planted 8 Tarbais from seeds on 1/22 and the beans are getting very close to being ready to harvest at the shell bean stage. So they took 2 months and still need another week or 10 days. They seemed to be even more prolific than the Soissons - I'll let you know after I harvest and weigh them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds like great fun. I can't wait to see the results. Only someone organized could do this!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I know almost nothing about growing dried beans. I will be watching your trials very closely. The Norridgewock has peaked my interest since it is from Maine and has such a history.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Megan, Me too.

    RandomGardener, There are quite a few people interested in preserving the genetic diversity of the crops. And the yearbook is great resource. Of course you can't get it unless you are a Seed Savers Exchange member. So in a way it costs a lot more. I do it to support the cause more than anything.

    Mr H, Being a member does cost. I consider it charity to a good cause.

    Lynda, I always get excited over them too. I always find a couple really good ones that I like. Who knows which ones they will be this year.

    Tessa, Well beans don't cross readily in most areas (certain insects can cross them so if they live in your area they can easily cross). I don't separate them like I'm supposed to. I just grow them and use the best truest looking seed as the next generation parent. I always say this when I hand out seed in the fall/winter. I've used screened cages for peppers in the past, but might switch to muslin bags. But for beans, lettuce, peas, and tomatoes, I just make the assumption that they won't cross. If I do get off types I don't save the seed from them the next year (unless of course I love the off type).

    Deb Fitz, Well I don't really have Mass beans. I grew up in Colorado and historically my family was from Ohio. I do have Native American on both sides of my family (way way back on both sides). Yes I'd love to see how your beans grow. I love the look of the Yin Yang beans. They are so pretty. I've never grown them though.

    Patricia, I've heard of their beans. We have a little bean farm in eastern Mass - Baer's Best Beans. It's very small though and can only be found at very few places (Wilson Farm and Russo). But they grow fun varieties too along with the normal ones. I'll have to check out the group.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sinfonian, We often don't have a dry late summer either. But I always cross my fingers.

    gardenvariety-hoosier, yes I worry about the death of the little seed company. More and more keep getting bought out and the varieties from them disappear as the large companies only want seed that does well in a wide variety of conditions. The heirloom movement is great though. It really helps keep a lot more varieties alive.

    Debbie, Granny sent me some cranberry beans too. The funny thing is that I sent them to her first and when I accidentally ate my seed this year (whoops!), she sent them back to me.

    A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui, I'll have to figure out which ones I like best. So many beans.

    Stefaneener, I can't wait either.

    GrafixMuse, I'll let you know how it goes. And if I get enough seed, I'll pass some out in the fall.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sounds like quite a collection of beans are available! Your selections sound good.

    I should try this Seed Savers Yearbook next year. I am so over loaded with seeds from last year I barely needed anything this year.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Growing dried beans in my climate is a real challenge. Pole varieties work best as they have the greatest liklihood of maturing and drying down despite our cool and damp climate. I am looking forward to giving the Trail of Tears beans a whirl and see if they will work in our growing climate.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Amazing blog! I got a good bean education! So glad I stumbled upon your blog. Im following!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I was afraid to look at the SSE bean page. Or the tomatoes. I know I will want to grow them all, and I don't have the room! I did request one okra and a couple of garlics that sound interesting.

    ReplyDelete