Snag wrote:

A couple of years ago you sent me some seed beans , today I planted
the black beans you sent . Do these need to be trellised or are they a
bush bean ? I have materials on hand to build a trellis for them if
needed ...

it is unlikely they are pole beans. back then i didn't
have too many beans other than the bush beans and some
that would sprawl a bit (semi-runner or half-runner they
are sometimes called). so they might climb just a bit but
i rarely bother staking or fencing those.

if the beans are a matte finish they may be turtle beans
but i'm thinking they are more likely a more shiny bean.

if they are shiny and rounded they are a bean related
to or even may be Old Coco. if they are more shaped like
a small red kidney bean (some flat to them) then they can
be a cross between Old Coco and Red Ryder which i was
working on at that time. if they are they will finish
earlier than Old Coco.

i'd have to see a good closeup pic of them to be able
to tell and perhaps even then it might be a mystery. i
don't have any record of what i sent to you.

this past spring i rehomed all the "southern adapted"
beans and cowpeas that people had sent me that would not
do well here. someone came in towards the end of the
seed swap who wanted anything i had that was pole beans
or cowpeas as they had a lot of space to work with. i
gave them a large box top full of about 50 varieties
to start with. it will be interesting to see if they
did much with them this year.

i'm still planting here, i have 18 varieties planted
with three gardens yet to get done this next week inside
the fence and outside the fence i have two more gardens
to plant besides. kinda crazy weather here lately...

this season i am trying to rebuild stocks of some
dry beans so not as many new varieties or cross-breeds
going in that i'd like to keep working on. we planted
a lot of tomatoes so i lost a few extra gardens i could
normally work with on those.


songbird