Thread: Pole beans
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Old September 30, 2016   #8
Zeedman
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 313
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Beans of all kinds are my primary interest (heresy in this neck of the woods, I know) so a list of all of my favorites would be long. Right now the growing season is nearing the end, and all the beans are ripening furiously. For all but one, I already have enough dry seed to replace the older seed in the collection.

This is one of my favorite times of the year, because most of the beans I grow are good as shellies. We've been eating fresh shellies daily for over a week, with at least 2-3 weeks more to come. Zlatac is an heirloom pole wax bean, but it also produces really good shellies if allowed to ripen; I froze 10 pints of shelled beans. We just finished shelling and cooking Striped Cornfield, one of DW's favorites... she'll be snacking on them for a week.

We also shelled out all of the remaining Ma Williams (a.k.a. Goose); large-seeded, easy to shell, and incredibly productive. Fat pink pods when ripe. Probably the best all-round shelly, and the one that first got me interested in shelly beans.


Bosnian Pole shellies are ready to harvest, if the rain ever stops. Tetovac is the only variety dragging its feet; it has only now begun to dry down a few pods. It appears that the freeze will be late this year, though, so I'm hopeful that I'll still get a fair amount of dry seed - and a big shelly harvest.

For snaps, I rotate between Fortex, Emerite, and Kentucky Wonder White #191; it was Emerite's turn this year. It was planted late (the last week of June) and still did really well.

Violet's Multi-colored Lima is bearing heavily, and I already have several pounds of dry seed; so I'll be freezing the remainder as butterbeans. Like all the beans but one, it has done exceptionally well, so that should be a good harvest. The runner bean I grew for seed & shellies (Bianco de Spagna) is covered with fat pods, but nothing yet beginning to ripen; I may get shellies, but dry seed looks unlikely at this point.
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