So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today. They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

Steve Peek wrote:

So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today. They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

[you do know that mentioning the word "bean"
around here is dangerous right? ]

are these the same beetles that used to be
sold as mexican jumping beans to kids in the
back pages of comic books (along with sea
monkeys )?

as for the seasons, things are evening out
here. had a nice rain yesterday afternoon,
forgot to check the forecast in the morning and
previously it had said no rain this week so i
watered as i needed to be sure all the beans
planted had enough moisture to continue
sprouting, 2hrs later it rains, go figure...
i needed the break anyways as i'd just finished
turning and planting.

today and tomorrow, finally planting the north
bean patch, beautiful days to be out.

cooked up a batch of dried cranberry beans
yesterday to make sure i wanted to plant more.
good thing, taste good, but i prefer other beans
for eating/burritoes/etc. still planted plenty
of them elsewhere for shelling.

have you ever grown adzuki beans?


songbird

In article ,
songbird wrote:

have you ever grown adzuki beans?

I haven't grown them, but when I bought some bulk it was an
illusion-crushing experience to find that all they are is a small red
kidney bean that tastes pretty much the same as a large red kidney bean,
and the sweetness of the red pean paste associated with them has nothing
to do with the red bean used and everything to do with a lot of sugar...

Or at least that was my impression upon cooking a batch up.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

In article ,
songbird wrote:


have you ever grown adzuki beans?


songbird

Not ever grown them just eat them often. No Gas issues.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Adzuki%20(Aduki)%20Bean%20Hummus%20

--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden

http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/

"songbird" wrote in message
...
Steve Peek wrote:

So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today.
They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

[you do know that mentioning the word "bean"
around here is dangerous right? ]

?


are these the same beetles that used to be
sold as mexican jumping beans to kids in the
back pages of comic books (along with sea
monkeys )?

I don't know. These are just a little bigger than lady bugs and metallic
bronze in color with black spots. They can turn bean leaves to lace quite
quickly.


as for the seasons, things are evening out
here. had a nice rain yesterday afternoon,
forgot to check the forecast in the morning and
previously it had said no rain this week so i
watered as i needed to be sure all the beans
planted had enough moisture to continue
sprouting, 2hrs later it rains, go figure...
i needed the break anyways as i'd just finished
turning and planting.

today and tomorrow, finally planting the north
bean patch, beautiful days to be out.

cooked up a batch of dried cranberry beans
yesterday to make sure i wanted to plant more.
good thing, taste good, but i prefer other beans
for eating/burritoes/etc. still planted plenty
of them elsewhere for shelling.

The bean I'm growing this year is an heirloom pole bean locally called
"greasy beans". The strain has been in my family and one other for well over
100 years. I usually grow it every other year for canning and leather
britches. I wouldn't dream of planting another bean at the same time for
fear of crossing them although I do grow soybeans the same year.

I plan to try to grow "yellow eyed beans" from supermarket seed. They are my
favorite soup bean. Hopefully they are a bush type bean, this trellising is
a big job. It took a dozen posts for three rows.


have you ever grown adzuki beans?

I'm not familar with them.



songbird

On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 09:03:43 -0400, songbird
wrote:

Steve Peek wrote:

So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today. They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

[you do know that mentioning the word "bean"
around here is dangerous right? ]

I'd be interested in hearing why.

I've got 60 feet of row in the garden (2 sides of a 30 foot trellis)
planted with beans this year. I expect to give away quite a lot from
it. When I got done stringing the sisal twine, I did some math, and
realized I'd strung a quarter mile of twine.

are these the same beetles that used to be
sold as mexican jumping beans to kids in the
back pages of comic books (along with sea
monkeys )?

Hmm. Magic crystals (salts), electric shocker (wind up thingy), x-ray
vision glasses (cardboard thingies with a wavy pattern printed on
'em). I wonder how many more dissappointments I could recall. Its
depressing to realize just how much all of those companies preyed on
the comic-book reading youth. Where was the consumer protection
agency? "Provide evidence that your 'Sea Monkeys' hold tridents and
build castles or cease adveritising them forthwith."

today and tomorrow, finally planting the north
bean patch, beautiful days to be out.

How many plants are in your 'patch' and how large is it (sq feet, or
for the benefit of the people reading this usenet group via that
infernal gardenbanter site, in sq metres)?

My beans, being pole varieties, are all planted along the north side
of my garden this year. Next year, I'll probably put them along the
west side (as part of rotation).

Rancho Gordo isn't too far from where I'm at, and the Seed Bank store
has started carrying some of their packaged beans (though I'm sure
they're intended more as a food product and not seed stock - I sure
don't need a POUND of seed beans of any one variety.

Ecnerwal wrote:
songbird wrote:

have you ever grown adzuki beans?

I haven't grown them, but when I bought some bulk it was an
illusion-crushing experience to find that all they are is a small red
kidney bean that tastes pretty much the same as a large red kidney bean,

i suspect you didn't actually get azuki beans
as they have a distinctly different texture, taste
and look quite different from a small red bean.

i have both small red beans and azuki beans here,
the small red beans are indeed similar to dark red
kidney beans in shape (but smaller). i haven't
eaten a batch of them alone yet to check the flavor.
(http://www.foodsubs.com/Beans.html seems to be a
decent reference for seeing what different beans
look like, alas they do not control for size or
color so you aren't always sure the scale or
color of the various beans, but it's a start).

azuki beans are more similar to taste and texture
of lentils (to me ).


and the sweetness of the red pean paste associated with them has nothing
to do with the red bean used and everything to do with a lot of sugar...

i've never had red bean paste but i have heard of
red bean ice cream (haven't tried it yet).


Or at least that was my impression upon cooking a batch up.

if you like lentils, get the right beans and give
'em a try again.


songbird

Steve Peek wrote:
songbird wrote:
Steve Peek wrote:

So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today.
They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

[you do know that mentioning the word "bean"
around here is dangerous right? ]

?

a bit of a joke at my expense... since
whenever the topic of beans of any kind comes
up i tend to perk up a bit and write too much...


are these the same beetles that used to be
sold as mexican jumping beans to kids in the
back pages of comic books (along with sea
monkeys )?

I don't know. These are just a little bigger than lady bugs and metallic
bronze in color with black spots. They can turn bean leaves to lace quite
quickly.

ah, ok, i don't think i've seen these yet.
do they have any predators?


....
The bean I'm growing this year is an heirloom pole bean locally called
"greasy beans". The strain has been in my family and one other for well over
100 years. I usually grow it every other year for canning and leather
britches. I wouldn't dream of planting another bean at the same time for
fear of crossing them although I do grow soybeans the same year.

"and leather britches"? i'm not familiar with that
usage or if it is a bean variety?

anyways, good to hear about old time varieties still
being around. someone said this past late winter that
they would send me some of their greasy bean variety but
then they forgot or something happened as i never got
them... so i won't be growing them this season.

i'm not worried too much about cross-pollination
here as i plant various kinds of beans of the same
variety in areas farther apart. most beans self
pollinate. and if the types seem to mix and not
stay true then i can sort out the odd-balls and
eat them or perhaps even get some interesting new
variety. we'll see what happens this year, i've
already started applying some selection pressure
to see if it makes much difference.


I plan to try to grow "yellow eyed beans" from supermarket seed. They are my
favorite soup bean. Hopefully they are a bush type bean, this trellising is
a big job. It took a dozen posts for three rows.

yellow eye are bush beans according to what i've
read. this is my first season of growing them. at
+$4/lb organic it is well worth growing them and
any other beans i can squeeze in any empty spaces.
we like to put up three/four/etc bean salad and
if i get a huge surplus perhaps the guys down the
road who run veggie stands will take the extras off
my hands for a few $...

last year i grew about 15lbs of pinto beans
and Ma likes them too, so i'm expanding production
this year of these, plus lima beans and many other
types of beans too. just for grins and because
i do like the different colors/shapes/sizes and
sorting beans is very tactile and appeals to my
hands on sense of things too.


have you ever grown adzuki beans?

I'm not familar with them.

similar in taste/texture to lentils but larger.
i'm about to find out if i can grow them here and
what their habit is.


songbird

Sean Straw wrote:
songbird wrote:
Steve Peek wrote:

So why not the bugs? I found the first two Mexican bean beetles today. They
met with an untimely end or perhaps that was timely?

[you do know that mentioning the word "bean"
around here is dangerous right? ]

I'd be interested in hearing why.

when the topic of beans comes up i tend to
write a lot. a joke at my own expense...


I've got 60 feet of row in the garden (2 sides of a 30 foot trellis)
planted with beans this year. I expect to give away quite a lot from
it. When I got done stringing the sisal twine, I did some math, and
realized I'd strung a quarter mile of twine.

i only have a few climbers (pinto, pink and
red beans) and they do ok climbing all over
each other well enough that putting up anything
special for them is more than i want to do.
however, i do have a bit of fence that i put a
row of pinto beans along this year to see what
happens.


are these the same beetles that used to be
sold as mexican jumping beans to kids in the
back pages of comic books (along with sea
monkeys )?

Hmm. Magic crystals (salts), electric shocker (wind up thingy), x-ray
vision glasses (cardboard thingies with a wavy pattern printed on
'em). I wonder how many more dissappointments I could recall. Its
depressing to realize just how much all of those companies preyed on
the comic-book reading youth. Where was the consumer protection
agency? "Provide evidence that your 'Sea Monkeys' hold tridents and
build castles or cease adveritising them forthwith."

heh, it was so long ago, but still amusing.


today and tomorrow, finally planting the north
bean patch, beautiful days to be out.

How many plants are in your 'patch' and how large is it (sq feet, or
for the benefit of the people reading this usenet group via that
infernal gardenbanter site, in sq metres)?

i haven't planted any yet, but it is about 1200 sq ft
for the one garden. some areas already planted with other
things. okra will be on the north edge. i've planted
seven other gardens of various sizes (probably another
1500 sq ft).

and after i get this north bean patch planted
i'll be gradually planting the back strawberry patch as
i get it weeded and ready (but no rush as for this patch
i'll consider the beans a cover crop and a soil improver
depending upon how many get eaten by the critters and
how many survive the soil and lack of general concern
they get because they are so far back and i don't get
there as often as i do other places. plus the whole
garden is on the edge of a large ditch that has
horsetail and a very vigorous grass. to keep that all
from making inroads i will have to do an impermiable
barrier down several feet and the edge is already planted
with hollyhocks too, which are a royal PITA to work
with...). um, yes, a fun project for the spare time
i'm not too likely to get. already with the strawberries
coming in and weeding and keeping up with watering
it's already enough to keep me busy enough for what
i like to be doing... beats work though. ha.


My beans, being pole varieties, are all planted along the north side
of my garden this year. Next year, I'll probably put them along the
west side (as part of rotation).

Rancho Gordo isn't too far from where I'm at, and the Seed Bank store
has started carrying some of their packaged beans (though I'm sure
they're intended more as a food product and not seed stock - I sure
don't need a POUND of seed beans of any one variety.

yeah, here even a half pound is more than i'll
likely use this season for several of the
varieties i have. i'll keep some back as a seed
stock for next year in case i have a complete
failure. whatever i don't plant or save is fair
game for cooking.

i'm planting many many different kinds of beans and
peas along with several varieties and different
sourced beans of the same name just to check out how
they do and how they compare. i plant the dry beans
in the middle areas of the patches or the back where
i won't need to get into that often. the edges i
put in the shelling beans, peas/pea pods, lima beans,
butter beans, and fresh beans (wax, green). it's
nice to not have to have pathways to weed in a patch
if i get them planted right, a better use of the
space too.

mapping it all out and keeping track of the dates,
sources, etc. will be fun to see what happens and
how well this year compares to last year for the
beans i am continuing with.


songbird