The Blind Pig & The Acorn’s Bean Project was sponsored by Sow True Seed.

Sow True Seed sent seeds from most of their bean varieties. I, along with 4 Blind Pig & the Acorn @ Large Bean Reporters, planted the seeds and over the course of the summer we kept track of the following attributes:

• early growth
• bean vine
• growth throughout the season
• harvest
• and perhaps most important-taste

A few weeks ago, I shared the results of my test varieites, today I’d like to share the results from the @ Large Bean Reporters.

Western NC author, Vicki Lane, reporting on the Lima Bean Dixie Speckled Butterpea Bush Bean:

Oh, Tipper — there were problems. First a groundhog nibbled them, setting them back, but they went on to flower. At last they began to bear but not heavily — never enough that I could try a mess fresh. And then the deer invaded. I managed to salvage some for seed but the overall experience was not great — as much my fault as anything. I’ll try them next year and hope to taste them.

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Second: Quinn reporting on perhaps the funniest named bean-Lazy Wife Greasy Pole Beans:

Since this was an experiment, I did 3 small plantings, in 2 locations, working around a stretch of very wet weather. First, on 31 May, I planted a short row of ten beans by the goat barn. These seeds were presoaked to give them a headstart on germinating.

In only four days, the cotyledons began to appear. It was tremendously exciting! Really, does this sight ever get old?

After 9 days, these bean plants began popping up piecemeal over several days, and on the 14th of June, I planted the remaining 20+ seeds along the same fence. These last seeds were not soaked first. To my astonishment, eight days later, they all came up simultaneously. One morning there was a perfect row of beans greeting the sun, where the day before there had been only a line pressed into the ground.

I wouldn’t call them “stringless” exactly…

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Third: Patti, aka Osage Bluff Quilter, reporting on: Snap Bush Royal Burgundy:

They were planted June 10th, conditions were a little on the dry side. Our row was about 20 feet long. I did water them a little. Twelve days later they were popping through the dirt. I must say we don’t have the best soil here in mid-Missouri. There is a lot of clay in the soil. We have, over the past three years since building our gardens, added a lot of cow manure.

Growth was slow, blooms were just as slow. But when they came, they were beautiful purple blooms. I wanted to cut
them and bring them inside they were so pretty. But I resisted knowing what the consequences would be!

Our first picking gave us only enough to make a nice size meal. That was on July 26th. Two weeks later they really started producing. I first canned 5 quarts and a week after that I canned 7 pints.

In the end, we really liked the beans, they were good producers just a little later than what we were use to.

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Lise from Lise’s Log Cabin Life reporting on 2 bean varities: Strike Snap Bush Bean and Margaret Best Greasy Cut-short Pole Bean.

• Snap – these grew well from the beginning and began producing early on
  
• Greasy Cut – took a very long time to get big enough to produce flowers

• Snap – prolific and still producing, nice sturdy bean
  
• Greasy Cut- it took a while to get the beans

• Snap – awesome…sweet, crispy, beautiful green, very appealing looking
  
• Greasy Cut- pods are a little tough, the seeds inside are big and a little hard. They tasted OK, but can’t compare to the snap beans and even our pole and bush beans tasted better

• Snap – we are saving seeds from these and are looking forward to planting them again
  
• Greasy Cut- we are saving some seeds, but I don’t know that we will plant again.  They also yellow very quickly, both on and off the vine.
• Even though it wasn’t the best summer for gardening, we had tremendous success with our beans. Like I said before, they’re still producing!

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I hope you enjoyed the bean reporting! How cool is it that the Snap Bush Royal Burgundy start out purple-but turn green once they are cooked? I think I’d like to grow them for that reason alone!

Sow True Seed has been very good to the Blind Pig & the Acorn over the last 2 years, and I certainly hope our partnership continues into the future. If you’ve never signed up for their free newsletter-jump over to their website and do so. The newsletter always has interesting gardening information and tips in it. Sow True Seed also has a great blog-you can subscribe to it for free as well.

Tipper