i really enjoyed growing these the past three years. the first
year i only had a small sample to work with and to get the seed
supply built up. the second year i verified they did well in
most garden soils we have here and that they were good eating as
fresh beans and some also dried and cooked up were good. this
year i planted a large number of plants of these (a thousand
plants is probably close) and we've been busy picking and shelling
when the weather cooperates and i've gotten to learn more about
them and their resistance to rot and if they are good as shelly
beans.

yesterday was a nice day where i was out picking the beans that
were ready and pulling up plants since they're pretty much done.
the pods that were still plump we took the pods off and i shelled
those out this morning to be cooked up as shelly beans. they're
a rather mild pinto bean flavor but the texture is more creamy
and yes, they're good eating. we had them as a late brunch in
our burritos.

i timed how long it took me to shell out a full bucket and
that was about 2hrs.

http://www.anthive.com/img/beans/thm...ellies_thm.jpg

i'm curious about the parents of PD. perhaps this picture has
a few clues (the markings/lines) and is similar to a bean picture
from a gardening forum where someone was talking about an out-
cross to Rio Zape.

the bean with the large splotch on it (in the middle) is the
only bean out of many thousands of Purple Dove that i've shelled
so far that has any kind of different or odd marking as compared
to the rest.

http://www.anthive.com/img/beans/thm...e_Dove_thm.jpg

so for the most part this bean is doing pretty well including
showing good resistant to rot troubles if the pods get wet. some
of my other beans don't do as well.

and did i mention purple flowers, red stems and veins in the
leaves, an upright but bush growing habit and good root
nodulation?

it's a pretty productive bean too even if the seeds are on the
small side they're still productive enough to be worth growing.

the deer didn't seem to target them heavily even though they
were grown outside the fenced gardens.

Japanese beetles love 'em though. i go through the gardens
each morning and hand pick off the beetles.

to recap, good bean, eat fresh for a few pickings and then
after that you can eat them as shellies or wait for them to
dry and eat them as cooked dry beans.

these are not a plump/thick bean, they steam up pretty quick
so they're probably not going to work well as a canning bean
which is what we don't do with beans here (we'd rather eat
them fresh or frozen). so i have not yet tried them frozen
yet and probably won't but if i do i'm sure i'll mention it.
after about a week to two weeks on the plant the pod will get
a fiberous and bitter taste to them. the pods are purple and
when cooked they'll turn green.

the water taken from cooked beans before it really gets
boiled is purple/blue/pink depending upon the pH of your water
and can be used as a pH indicator solution (similar to how red
cabbage juice). i already know our water here is a bit hard
as it does have calcium in it so when i tested it out with some
apple cider vinegar it turned pink.


songbird