Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The bean counter


I was surprised by the pinkness of the scarlet runner beans, popped from their green pods. I saved the pods when I pulled the vines down from the birch pole screen, because I'd like to grow some more, next year. With the purple pole beans and lablabs, they formed a perfectly leafy privacy curtain, during the months when we sat outside to eat dinner.  

They were also the last to bloom in the summer, I discovered, but they fulfilled their hummingbird promise. That Harlem hummer did stop to feed from them.


The small beans in the foreground came from the same pods, but I discarded those, and kept the giant ones for next year's crop (some will be gardeners' gifts, too).


I also shelled some lablabs, fresh (top left, green), as well as ones that had dried on the vines (small black ones with the dramatic white stripe); but most had not had time to to set good, fat seed yet.

The purple pole beans are the blah beige seeds, far right on a plate.

Funny, for a pretty, purple bean.

5 comments:

  1. I also shelled some hyacinth beans, but mine look more like the ones in the center of the baking sheet! I haven't opened up any of the gorgeous purple pods yet, only the shriveled pods. I wonder if it's better to sow the beans in the purple-pod state or the shriveled-pod state. When I get home I need to open a (still) purple and shiny one to see if there's a difference.

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    1. My hyacinth beans are far right, on the plate. The big ones are scarlet runners...

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    2. Nope, I'm wrong. See comment below.

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  2. This is interesting, as I too have saved hyacinth bean seed, and they are like the dark ones on the baking sheet with a white 'tongue'.
    If you are interested in some lovely Fall flowers check out the edible tubers called Mashua. I am enjoying the flowers in hopes of a good harvest.

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    1. I'm bonkers. I've been calling my purple pole beans hyacinth beans. It's not the first time. My mistake. So the purple pole beans are far right.

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