2012 bean review

[habitat_gardener]

Yes, I've been saving La Vigneronne for several years, and I generally try to save seeds of beans that I like if I don't have any seeds left. Some years I had only 3 seeds to replant! I do have some Helda seed left, so I've been eating them instead of letting them go to seed. I have nearly a pound of Blue Coco dry beans, so I've been eating those as snap beans, too. But I let several Purple Peacock go to seed -- actually, they were too high to pick. I found one dry pod of Christmas Lima, even though the rest of the beans don't look ready yet.

Much of my bean foliage is turning yellow. But this week I noticed Blue Coco, La Vigneronne, Helda Romano, Purple Peacock, Waterloo County Mennonite, and possibly the 2 other purples have been growing new foliage from the base, and I've been picking more beans. So far it's only 5-10 at a time per variety, rather than 20-40. Most years I don't pull the plants until the plants are completely done, either with dried up vines or with the first frost at the end of November. These varieties seem particularly suited for my climate, with nights in the 50s (F) and days in the 70s all summer long. Of the varieties that prefer warmer climates, Rattlesnake has not bounced back, and Red Noodle is still not producing, though Chinese Long is doing well.

A couple people at the community garden planted a second crop of pole beans and they're already picking. One person planted Emerite, which looks like it's very productive, and the other one has a purple bean she got from another gardener who got it from Germany. I thought that pole beans only had to be planted once! Next year I'll plan to start the first crop April 1 and a second crop July 1, all in 6-packs in a cold frame.

I used glass jars with metal lids to store saved bean seed last year, but some of it was not dry enough, particularly the larger beans, which also had insect holes by spring. Now I know to check dryness by pounding with a hammer.

[kath]

I saved some bean seed a few years ago and read that if you freeze the dried beans for 2 weeks, it will kill any insect larvae.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by kath

I saved some bean seed a few years ago and read that if you freeze the dried beans for 2 weeks, it will kill any insect larvae.

Yes, but the beans have to be dry first (or will lose their viability), and the freezer has to be a chest freezer, because it needs to be 0F for at least 4 days.

[loeb]

Hm, I was planning just put mine outside in the winter. -20 Celsius or something like that should be enough. I have planted only 2 varietes for dry beans this year.. A runner cross [I guess Scarlet Runner x Painted Lady], and a yellow bush bean. I don't have much place yet, so I was afraid of cross pollinations in bush beans.. I know that they are usually self pollinating, but I have a lot of pollinators here, of all kind, and bumblebees and butterfies loved the flowers of runner beans..
How do you avoid cross pollinations?

[kath]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

Yes, but the beans have to be dry first (or will lose their viability), and the freezer has to be a chest freezer, because it needs to be 0F for at least 4 days.

Correct- thanks for adding the specifics.

[habitat_gardener]

I just came across this article on pole beans that recommends pole varieties such as Fortex for freezing.

http://www.mofga.org/Publications/Ma...0/Default.aspx

[ddsack]

I agree with the article in that Fortex are great pole beans, and I grow them every year. But I disagree with his statement that frozen bush beans are tasteless mush. It depends on the variety, and how long you blanch them. The flat-podded ones like Roma, do turn to mush, but there are many bush bean varieties that freeze just as well as Fortex, in fact some of the baby beans like Masai can be almost too crunchy when I freeze them whole.

[Zeedman]

Although I prefer pole snap beans, I too would have to agree that bush beans 'turning to mush' is an over generalization. There are good bush varieties for canning & freezing, just as there are bad pole varieties.

I also got a kick out of the whole 'using a ladder to pick them' thing. There's a simpler, far less dangerous alternative... which is to use a shorter trellis.

Personally, I've found that the "filet" type beans are some of the best freezers. They are firm, slow to develop seed & string, and freeze well. "Fortex" is a pole filet type, as is "Emerite", which IMO is the gold standard for freezing. "Nickel" and "Maxibel" are two bush filet beans.

One of my favorites for flavor, though, is still "KY Wonder". It has a softer cooked texture than the filet beans, but the rich flavor is hard to beat. Some of the thicker Romano types are fairly good frozen also. These softer beans need more attention both during the freezing process, and in the way they are prepared after freezing. It took me a lot of years, and a lot of mushy beans, to figure that out.

Which brings me to one more comment re: beans turning to mush. Choosing the best variety & freezing properly are only part of the picture. How you cook snap beans after freezing also has a lot of influence over the final texture. Frozen beans need very little cooking, and are easily over cooked... which makes them mushy. I recommend not pre-thawing prior to cooking, and sampling once a minute after the first 5 minutes. Pull the beans out of the water just before they reach the desired texture, since they will continue to cook a little more until they cool. The use of a strainer basket makes quick removal easier. I stir cold margarine into the beans immediately, which has the advantage of helping them to cool more quickly... but you can also place the basket briefly under cold running water (or a sprayer) until the beans are just warm, to halt the cooking process.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by Zeedman

...I also got a kick out of the whole 'using a ladder to pick them' thing. There's a simpler, far less dangerous alternative... which is to use a shorter trellis....

I liked that part, too. Last year I used an 8 ft. cage and had to carry a stepladder to the garden to reach the beans. This year most of my cages were too short -- only 5 ft. high. But I also grew some beans using 2 tomato cages: the bottom one with the wire ends anchored in the soil, and the top one upside down, so that the widest parts were together and then the wire ends of the second cage were way at the top. Some of my beans grew up to the wire ends on top and back down again. Since I couldn't reach the beans at the top of the wire ends, I let them go to seed, and fortuitously the two varieties I most wanted to save seed from set 8-9 beans way at the top. So this is the first year I've saved a good supply of my favorite bean!

And re cooking beans: I cook most of my vegetables by boiling water, tossing in the vegetables, and cooking for up to 2 minutes. Kale is ready as soon as the water starts bubbling again, maybe 30 seconds. Beans and zucchini are ready in 1-2 minutes. As soon as I see the purple beans start to lose color, I scoop them out. I use the cooking water for rice or lentils.

[Zeedman]

Just realized I never posted my own bean results for the year; it took awhile to collate the data.

It was an exceptionally warm, dry summer here. The temps hardly ever dropped below 80's/90's for highs from June through August; and while that is lower than much of the U.S. experienced this year, it was abnormally high for us. I was late getting down mulch, which in combination with the weather, probably contributed to the stunting most of my beans displayed for much of June. There was also a severe hailstorm which stripped the foliage from one of my suburban plots. Fortunately, my larger rural plot - where I plant most of my preservation crops - was spared.

The majority of the beans below are heirlooms or OP varieties once developed commercially, obtained through SSE or internet swaps. Yeah, I know this is a tomato place; but I'm into beans the way most of you are into tomatoes, and I thought maybe you could use a palate cleanser.

Because of the lateness caused by stunting & hail, I didn't record DTM's this year. My apologies in advance for the length.

Common beans:
* Bird Egg #3 - pole shelly, from Heritage Farm (SSE). This is my largest shelly bean. Plant spacing was 2 @ 12" this year (as opposed to 1 @ 12", my default spacing) to judge the effect on yield & seed size. Seed size was notably smaller, so I will go back to 1 @ 12" when it is grown again. The plants recovered from stunting & really took off in late Summer, but the crop was much later than normal; most was harvested after the first light frost. Still, I was able to freeze 20 pints of shellies, and harvested 5 pounds of dry seed.
* Champagne - pole green snap, from an SSE member. White seed. This was one of the first beans to recover from the stunting. When I first grew it, I observed that it had no trouble setting pods in our (admittedly moderate) heat, and that was verified in spades this year. Flat, green, Romano-type pods grew to 7-8" or longer, had great flavor, and the yield was heavy. However, this variety has a weakness: it is hard to get good seed from it. As in my original trial, about 75-80% of the dry seed was deformed, and had to be discarded; not sure if it is something in my soil or climate, but this is the only bean I've grown with this level of deformity, and it was repeated in different years. This might be the reason it was dropped commercially.
* Clem & Sarah's Big Bean - bush dry/shelly, from an SSE member. Somewhat rangy bushes, recovered fairly late from stunting, but still produced a fair crop. The white seeds are long & nearly cylindrical, about 3X as long as wide, many with blunt ends. The shape is so distinctive that I could probably mix them with Great Northern, and still separate them fairly easily. Since this was a seed increase, I only ate a few shellies; but those were sweet, and of good quality.
* Czechoslovakian - pole purple snap, from Heritage Farm. This was the least affected by the stunting, and growth was exceptionally vigorous in the heat. Flowering & pod set were heavy, and the pods showed no stunting whatsoever. I had previously grown this one in pots, and the increase in vigor when grown in fertile ground was striking. So was the seed increase; with over 5 pounds, it tied BE#3 for highest yield... but in only 16 feet of row, as compared to 72 feet of row for BE#3. I only ate one meal, wish I had tried freezing them.
* Dolloff - pole shelly/dry, from an SSE member. Possibly same as/similar to Golden Lima. This was quick to recover from stunting, had a heavy pod set, and was the first pole bean to produce dry seed. I would estimate its DTM at about 90 days. While the seed quality was very good, the pods had poor seed count, probably due to the heat. This means the yield potential is most likely higher than what I observed... which would make it quite high. The seed is pink as a shelly, drying down orange -> tan w/brown spots. Still a pretty good dry seed yield in a bad year; 12 feet of row yielded 4# 3 oz.
* Fortex - pole green snap (commercial). This was severely impacted by the stunting; it was over a month late. I was picking yardlongs for several weeks before these even started (!!!) which is a reversal of what would happen in a normal year. They came on strong in September, so I was able to freeze a lot... still, the performance this year was disappointing. Bug damage was worse than any time previously, spotted cucumber beetles were really bad this year. The row dedicated for dry seed produced 2 pounds, but more than half of the pods were still unripe when cut down by frost.
* Isla - pole shelly/dry, from Chile. In habit, pod, and seed, this resembles a slightly smaller, more purplish version of True Red Cranberry... I suspect they are closely related. It has a very late DTM, and being forced to recover from a severe hail storm this year certainly didn't help. There were no dry pods before the freeze, so I picked all of the pods that day & dried the ripest ones indoors. The seed appears to be mostly OK, about a pound or so. The flavor is really good, I wish this had a shorter DTM.
* Light Brown Zebra - bush dry, from SSE member. This never really recovered from the stunting, and was far less vigorous than it was when I last grew it. The small seeds are beige with black stripes, held in pods which shrink down tightly around the seed as they dry & offer outstanding protection against rain. Collected a pound of seed, it should have been at least twice that.
* Poletschka - pole, uncertain use, from internet swap, probable origin HDRA. Started as transplants. I only grew a few plants in pots, and since I was trying for maximum seed increase, I only snacked on one pod raw. Can't remember my impressions of the taste, and apparently didn't write them down. :-( Green pods that shrink down tightly as they dry, with oblong, glossy, purple-black seeds that look almost metallic. The DTM was fairly late. With 3 ounces of seed, I hope to do a larger growout next year for seed increase & evaluation.
* Portugal - pole shelly, from SSE member. Failed. This is a shelly similar to BE#3. The vines appeared to be diseased, so no seed was saved, and the plants were destroyed.
* Schwarze Witwe - pole wax, from SSE member. I'm told that the name translates as "the veil of old widows", which is a reference to the seed coloration. This was stunted in June, then severely damaged by hail in early July just as it was beginning to climb. However, the plants sprouted new runners & made an impressive recovery. Small 4-5" yellow pods, curved, completely stringless in all stages. The seed is small, very glossy, with fine buff spotting over a deep purple/black background... almost the same purple/black color as Poletschka. Nearly all seed dried before frost, so under less difficult conditions, this should do well here.
* Soissons Vert - pole shelly/dry, from SSE member. This is a pole "flageolet" variety, with outstanding flavor as a shelly. Seeds are lime green as shellies, pea green when dry. These were inexplicably trying to vine on the ground (one other pole bean did this), only beginning to climb in late July with considerable assistance on my part... after which they grew normally. They just made it before frost, but produced a heavy crop. Froze a lot of shellies (somewhere around 20 pints, I lost count) and collected over 4 pounds of dry seed.
* Uzice - semi-bush shelly/dry, internet swap, from Serbia. This cultivar was severely stunted, and while it never fully recovered, it still produced an OK crop. Allegedly this is a bush variety, but grown without support, I found the 4-5 foot runners to be unruly; I will probably grow it again on a trellis. The seeds are large, and resemble a slightly smaller version of Porcelain in coloration, mostly white seeds with a patch of tan with maroon specks around the hilum. That resemblance to Porcelain does not extend to the flavor; the shellies are sweet, firm, and of excellent quality. This was a fairly large planting (39 feet of row) but because of the severe yield reduction due to stunting, I didn't freeze any. Collected 3 pounds of dry seed, though, and had a couple meals of shellies just before frost.
* Uzice Speckled Wax - pole wax, internet swap, from Serbia (the same source as Uzice above). These were started early as transplants. Like Soissons Vert, the plants were severely stunted early, and reverted to almost a bush habit until mid-July... at which time they sent out numerous creeping runners. Once trained to the trellis, these began climbing normally, and I would judge the vines as having fully recovered. Flat, curling, yellow, 6" Romano-type snaps of fine flavor. Good shellies, but had enough of other varieties that I didn't eat any. Was able to save 2.5 pounds of seed.
* Woods Mountain Crazy Bean - bush snap, family heirloom from a GW member in Arkansas. Glad I tried this in a hot year! Seeds were started as transplants, and were exceptionally vigorous as seedlings. After transplant, they were stunted in early June; but the plants were very quick to recover, and IMO were only minimally affected. Incredibly lush foliage, forming a dense canopy over the beans; planted on 12" centers, the canopies overlapped to completely obscure the ground. The branching was very heavy, like what I would expect of a pole bean or bush lima. The root system was the most extensive I have seen from a bush bean, which probably accounts for its reported heat tolerance. I was actually late finding the beans, since they were not visible until I tipped a plant over to examine it! The snaps are round, creaseback, 6" long, and borne in large numbers. The flavor is exceptional (comparing favorably with Fortex) with a moderately firm texture. My only complaint would be WMCB's late DTM, which made it a challenge to get dry seed... but then, I suspect this is a bean well adapted to the South, and poorly adapted here. The heavy canopy protected most of the pods from the first few frosts, so I was able to get 8 ounces of dry seed... but over half of the pods were lost to the hard freeze. While WMCB is too late for it to be practical here as snaps, it is a great bean for those in hot climates, and I will continue to grow it for preservation.
Limas
* Cave Dweller, Black Seed Coat - bush, from Heritage Farm. A black-seeded variety from SSE's collection. Started from 2007 seed as transplants (peat strips with starter mix) and had poor germination. The seeds had been planted vertically (eye down) and seemed to have trouble breaking free. Replanted in pots filled to within 3/4" from the top with packed starter mix, laid seed on its side, and covered with screened play sand. This method resulted in about 90% germination, so it will be my default method for starting limas in the future. (Makes sense when you think about it, since flat seeds in nature would naturally fall on their sides.) These were transplanted into two locations; one of poor fertility, and one of better fertility. The best location was nearly flattened by hail, but the plants resprouted vigorously, and still surpassed those in the less fertile soil that had escaped the hail! Heavily branched bushes, densely covered by flowers. The flower spikes were longer than many pole limas I've grown, flowered over a very long period, and attracted large numbers of bees & skipper butterflies. This was followed by a heavy pod set. The seeds are deep purplish black, and slightly wider & flatter than Sieva, although their seed weight was comparable (at around 60/ounce). As shellies, they had stronger flavor than Sieva, though not as strong as some (such as the Hopi limas). Nearly all ripened (even with the setback due to hail) and there was almost no shattering. From 35 plants, had several meals of butterbeans, and harvested 3.5 pounds of dry seed.
* Sieva, Mottled - pole, from SSE member. Started as transplants by same methods, and with same results, as above. Vigorous, heavily-branched vines; I experimented with both 24" and 30" spacing, and 24" seemed to be optimal. This was a large planting, 75 feet of row. With all of the extra heat, and with frequent deep irrigation, the vines were healthy & produced a good crop. While the mottling on the dry seeds was similar, there appeared to be two races; one with black mottling, and one with light maroon or lavender. The seeds are a little smaller than the white-seeded Sieva, (at 69/oz. vs. 60/oz.), and the yield did not appear to be as heavy; but about 80-90% of the pods had ripened before the killing frost. We ate a few meals, gave a lot of shellies away, and harvested just under 22 pounds of dry seed.
Runner Beans
* Bianco de Spagna - white seeded, from SSE member. Failed. Severe stunting, mostly fatal; they never really recovered. The few plants that just barely hung on (I didn't have the heart to pull them out) didn't even flower until very late August / September. The pods harvested just before the killing freeze were usable as shellies, but there was nothing mature enough to save for seed.
* Gigandes - white seeded. These were slow to start, but were less affected by the the stunting, and were the first beans in that plot to begin climbing. Unfortunately, the vines were stripped by hail in early July. The plants responded by sending out new runners, and made a remarkably rapid recovery... but they were set back by at least several weeks. Dry seed only began ripening about 10 days before the killing freeze. Was able to harvest a lot of shellies, and 11 ounces of dry seed... which will be used for a larger seed increase next year, hopefully under better conditions
Yardlong beans and cowpeas

* Bush Sitao Var. BS-3 - snap/dry, from SSE, developed in the Philippines. Semi-bush cowpea with 6-8" pods, bred to be eaten as snaps. The pods are light green, have a firm cooked texture & semi-sweet flavor. These did incredibly well this year; two large pickings of pods, then let the rest go for seed. Kidney-shaped tan & white seeds, the pods let go produced over 4# of dry seed from a 20 foot row.
* Fagiolino Dolico Veneto - dry, from SSE member. This is a semi-bush black eyed pea. The seeds are a little smaller than commercial varieties, but the yield is very high. Did really well, over 5# of dry seed from 20' of row. For some reason, this was much more attractive to wasps than my other cowpeas. They were swarming on this patch in large numbers; but the nectar appears to make the wasps docile, I was never stung while harvesting as long as I moved slowly.
* MN 157 - dry, from SSE member. This is a true bush, purple hulled, calico pea... very unusual. It was bred in Minnesota for short-season areas (hence the designation) and usually does well here. This year, however, it was heavily stunted early, and did not bear as heavily as in years past. I was able to coax the plants into producing a second set, but this was heavily attacked by box elder bugs (!!!) which destroyed most of the seed. Only got 2.5# of dry seed from 36 feet of row, about half of what I expected.
* Yardlong, Galante - pole, commercial variety from the Philippines. Light green, sweet, very firm pods 24-28" long. This one bore consistently all summer long; we ate them, froze them, gave them away. The seed is dark reddish brown, with a small cream patch on one end. Curiously, when temperatures finally began to cool into the 70's, the white patch on the seed grew larger; seed that matured during hot weather was almost completely brown.
* Yardlong, Sierra Madre - pole, another commercial variety from the Philippines. Deep green pods just shorter than Galante, but wider. Slower to develop fiber than any yardlong I've grown; even the dry pods are papery. In diameter, flavor, and texture, this is the closest yardlong I've found to snap beans... snapped & frozen, you can hardly tell them apart. A good yield, but still less than Galante and Chinese Red Noodle. Dry seed is tan & cream.
* Yardlong, Three Foot Plus - pole, seed swap, originally from Evergreen. Very light green pods, almost white, 24-30" long, with a firm texture & nutty flavor. This bore surprisingly well on a plot of low fertility, where other yardlongs have done poorly... makes me wonder what it would do in good soil. When dry, the pods have an unusual greenish tinge, especially under florescent light. The dry seed is mostly an off-white, with reddish-brown in spots & around the hilum.
* Yardlong, Yancheng Bush - bush, internet swap, originally from Yancheng, China. Light brown seeds. Possibly similar/identical to Stickless Wonder, but in my one attempt to compare the two, the Stickless Wonder sent to me was not true-to-type (it had vines) so couldn't make an evaluation. Vigorous, heavily-branched bush. This bears very early (50 days here) and seems much more cool tolerant than pole varieties. Light green, very firm pods 8-12" long. The yield was continuous except for a brief period, then resumed heavily until killed by frost. This is the only yardlong I grow every year; pole varieties are grown in a rotation.
Adzuki and Mung
* Buff - from SSE member. True bush habit, racemes of yellow flowers. Skinny 3-4" pods borne in large numbers. As the name implies, the seed is buff colored, as opposed to red. This is a little later, and has a heavier yield, than the variety below... and IMO, the seed is more tender when cooked. The first flush was complete after about 110 days, but a second smaller flush was still ripening when killed by frost. Planted in pairs 18" apart, 20 pairs produced over 4# of dry seed.
* Takara Early - from SSE member. True bush habit, yellow flowers. The earliest variety I grow, about 10 days earlier than Buff. Small red seeds. This bore over 1 ounce per plant when I last grew it, but really languished this year. It was grown on the plot with poorest fertility, and even with inoculation, seemed very sensitive to something in the soil. With the same number of plants as Buff, the dry seed yield was only 4 ounces!!! I am left wondering if this variety is more heat sensitive than Buff.
* Mung, Black Kali Gram - from SSE member. No runners, but a sprawling prostrate bush 2-3' wide. Pale yellow flowers, followed by clusters of narrow 2" black pods. There appears to be two races in this cultivar, one earlier w/smooth pods, the other later w/hairy pods. The dry pods are able to take a fair amount of rain without allowing seed damage... which is good, because they can be hard to find in the foliage. The tiny dull black seeds are slightly smaller than green gram. This is supposedly a popular variety in India, but I have yet to find a way to prepare them properly... my one effort at making a soup from them was unpalatable.

I grew a lot of peas & soybeans as well, but some other time... this post is long enough as it is. I hope it was worth the time. Best regards to you all.

[Zeedman]

Habitat, the trellis I use is 7.5' T-posts driven into the ground, with rebar top & bottom supports, and string run both vertically & horizontally. The top rod is run through 1.25" PVC T's placed over the top of the posts. This results in a trellis just over 6' tall (and easily reachable) with a string lattice with about 12" squares.

Most of the pole beans will reach the top. For the most vigorous varieties, I allow the main runner(s) to reach 2-3 feet beyond the top, then train them further down. Branches, and varieties with less vigorous runners, I just leave to themselves (except for limas). This results in some bunching up at the top late in the season, but provided the plants are widely spaced, this is seldom a problem. If the top growth becomes excessive, I trim some of the main runners.

The problem with very tall supports isn't only that they are hard to pick from. They also cast a longer shadow. This is not an issue if the trellis/support is on the North side of the garden; but if it is placed elsewhere, or if there will be multiple trellises, then large areas of the garden will be in full or partial shade. When I grow multiple rows of a pole bean with the 6' trellis design, the rows need to be spaced at least 42" apart to prevent shading which would otherwise reduce the yield of the inner rows. I try to run such multiple rows in an East-West direction.

Not sure where you are located, Habitat, but for much of the 80's & 90's, I lived and gardened in San Diego (where I had a source of unlimited free manure) & San Jose (where I gardened on a fertile flood plain). Those were some great gardening years, you could grow almost anything there; I really miss it. Wish I had known about the Seed Savers Exchange then, I would have really had fun!

[habitat_gardener]

I'm on the peninsula north of San Jose. At one of my garden sites, the eggplants and zucchinis have already frozen (from morning sun hitting the dew in the low 40s). It gets the cold afternoon winds and everything freezes there first. A mile away, at another garden that's a lot more sheltered, I still have tomato plants, though not much that's worth picking is left. And 4 miles away, a friend has eggplants that are flourishing.

It's a good climate for growing, but a difficult place to find garden space. I'm always trying to strike a balance between growing a big variety but still giving plants room to grow.

[Zeedman]

I'm on the peninsula north of San Jose.

Interesting. The "fertile flood plain" I mentioned was Stevens Creek, close to Palo Alto. I obtained permission to garden on a utility easement for the NASA Ames facility, where there was also a BMX track. It was a great location for cool-weather crops, but the wind off the Bay made warm-weather veggies a real challenge.

My home then had very limited garden space, but I had as much as I could work at the Ames site. Over the years, I have had 4-5 large gardens, always on unused land where I made an arrangement with the owner... including the large rural plot I currently garden. At one point, I even gardened behind the company I worked for; I could go out & pick a few things during lunch. If you are creative & offer a "win-win" proposition, you can find garden space almost anywhere, often with water provided.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by kath

Thanks for your feedback, habitat_gardener and Ted. Renee's sells a pole bean mix of Purple Peacock, Blue Lake and Yellow Pole(?) so I may try that next year based on what was said about the sweetness of the yellow beans and what about the popularity of Blue Lake for canning. I must be harvesting my Rattlesnakes early because I never noticed strings on them but the fact that Blue Lake doesn't have any is a plus.

I haven't fully committed to the idea of a pressure canner yet because I don't really care for the taste of canned veggies. To me, the flavor of canned beans doesn't come close to steamed fresh beans and DH says canned beans (or peas or corn) taste like completely different veggies altogether. But we don't have room in the freezers for all the veggies we need for the year and we don't have good long term storage for things like potatoes and beets either. The goal is to provide as much of our food from the garden as possible.

We can a lot of dried beans from the store. They are so inexpensive and easy to use. I love having quarts of canned beans in the pantry for breakfast or dinner! Cost is pennies compared to buying canned beans. Plus, taste is much better than store bought and I can mix varieties of favorite beans.
We just did about four canners full two weeks ago.
I also do a lot of chicken and turkey broth, using carcasses and scraps. At $3-4.00 a quart for organic chicken broth, my homegrown chicken broth, using my homegrown chickens is quite a bargain! I use the legs, backs and scraps off the chickens that I raise organically.
I really don't can a lot of veggies. But it's nice to have the canner for the things I do use it for. In fact, I just bought the second canner because it's so nice to use when I do need it, especially for broth and beans.

[Tracydr]

Currently having a very warm winter. I've never had success in AZ growing bush or pole beans in spring, summer or fall. I'm thinking about planting some bush beans tomorrow. Temperatures are high 40s at night, high 70s daytime.
Any thoughts?