Bean There, Done That: A Bean Review

Here's my review of the green bean varieties I planted this year.

Top: Speedy.  Bottom: Royal Burgundy.

I planted three varieties of beans this year; Speedy bush, Royal Burgundy bush, and Fortex pole.  On the whole, all three had excellent germination rates.  All three grew at nearly the same pace, the RB had the first beans ready, followed a day or so later by the Speedy, and several days later by the Fortex.

My observations (remember this is based on my garden for 2012 and may be completed different in your garden or in a different year) of Fortex:  good flavor, smaller harvests over a longer time period, had more pests (japanese bean beetles, leaf beetles).  I planted equal amounts of each bean type, but the Fortex have produced far fewer beans at this point than the other two varieties.  I would recommend them for fresh eating over freezing or canning, because they are long beans that tend to twist and curl and come in small batches over a longer period of time.

Speedy is a bush bean with an upright and very small habit.  From what I could see no pests seemed to care too much for them, the beetles preferred the Fortex, and the slugs preferred the Royal Burgundy.  The beans on these came in all at once and had a very uniform straight 4" pod.  I can't say that the flavors of the beans were noticeably different to me, but I'm not really a bean connoisseur either.  They tasted fine.  I would recommend Speedy specifically for canning.  The pods were consistently straight and just long enough to fit a pint jar, and since they were all harvestable within about a week a large planting would supply all of your canned bean needs in one fell swoop.  

Royal Burgundy  is another bush bean, but with a much more spread out, almost vining, habit.  The slugs loved these, but they were not bothered by the beetles.  More effort is needed in the harvesting of RB because of the tangled vines, it's easy to miss beans hiding in the foliage.  The primary difference from Speedy is that the beans of RB come in over a longer time period, but they are far more productive.  Again, the flavor seems fine to me, I can't say that it lacks compared to the others.  Despite the slug damage I have gotten nearly twice as many beans from RB so far as I have from the other two varieties put together.  The beans are purple and have a tendency to curl and come in all different sizes and shapes.  This habit means i would not suggest them for canning.  But for a frozen bean or for fresh eating they are fine.  

One day's harvest of beans, showing the difference in quantity between varieties.

 So that's my review.  If you have a favorite bean variety I'd love to hear about it, I'm always looking for more to test out.

Harvest Monday: July 30th

Pickings have been slim this week, the beans are going strong, and the peas are in their second wave, but the cukes and peppers and tomatoes are only just starting to catch on that it's time to produce.

For some reason my zucchini are not getting very large, I think they are lacking pollination.  The slugs love that the zucchini fruit run along the ground and have been feasting on them, which means that I am actually having a shortage of zucchini this year.

First picking of beans.

Oh look, more beans!

Big harvest after being away all weekend.

I've actually harvested about 3 lbs. of veggies this week, but didn't get pictures of everything.  I did remember to weigh it all though and my harvest total for the year has finally hit 50 lbs.  Still, this is turning out to be a very unproductive year, part of which I'm sure is due to the weather, but it is also partly due to my double-planting I'm sure.  The hot weather crops were planted so late that they are still struggling to grow before they fruit.

I'm confident that by next Monday I'll have some impressive cucumbers to list among my harvests though.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions and is a way to share your harvests with other gardeners and bloggers around the globe.

Pirates, Peter, Pirates!

i have several posts today so I will be keeping them short.

The pirate camping event was tons of fun and I tried to get a few pictures to share but pirates are notorious for their dislike of cameras.

 A few pictures of the campsite are above and below, people really get into being appropriately period.

One of the "ships".

Mina and my husband, all dressed up and ready for fun.

One of my favorite ships, The Redemption, was built from a gutted motor home.

 After the pirate event I got a few days of rest, and had some guests, then headed south to Eugene to visit friends.  Including super cute babies!

Jaxon was so happy to see me!

 Then there were sushi lunches, visits with more friends, and a birthday party to attend.

Yum, can never get enough sushi.

After all of this adventure I'm finally home and things are getting back to normal.  No more traveling for me for a while.  Now back to the garden I go...

I'm Back!... And I'm Off Again.

After a fantastic pirate weekend the whole family has been exhausted.  We've spent the week recovering, easing the aches and pains and sunburn; unpacking, cleaning and storing the gear; and visiting with some unexpected guests.

I knew I would have Mina's best friend visiting this week, but was caught unawares by my brother following me home from the camping trip, then my sister called and asked to visit the next day.  It was a busy week with a lot going on. 

Not a whole lot has been happening in the garden this week luckily, mostly just picking the few peas, tons of beans and a few zucchini that were ready. 

I'd love to include pictures and take more time to post but it took me all morning just to catch up on Facebook, email, Twitter, and everyone's blog posts.  I'm already running late getting out the door to return the teenager to Eugene, and I'll be staying down there sans children for the weekend. 

It will be refreshing to get out of the house without the kids (the one downside to stay-at-home parenting is no time kid-free).  Hopefully I'll return Sunday rejuvenated and ready to do some blogging for Harvest Monday.  Have a wonderful weekend all!

1,000 Blog Visitors!

Wow, hard to believe that 1,000 visits have now been made to this blog.  Glad to know it isn't a complete waste of time.

Picked half a quart of green beans this morning and my first cucumber is nearly ready to pick.  It's a tiny little thing but I'm looking forward to my first taste of garden cucumber this summer.  The butterfly bushes are in full bloom now, and happily buzzing with honeybees, a few bumble bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.  Those bushes are one of my favorite things about summer in the garden, they smell so sweet, look beautiful, and attract tons of beneficials. 

One of my other favorite things is the song birds that show up at the feeders.  The grosbeaks and goldfinches are showing up regularly and don't even seem to be bothered by my presence these days.  I think they've figured out that the cats are a much greater threat than I am.

I will be out of town and disconnected for the weekend to attend a pirate camping event, hopefully I'll get a few pictures while I'm out there and come home to find a harvest waiting for me.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped in to visit here, i hope the posts have been entertaining, informative, or helpful to you.