Wednesday, July 13, 2011

For Cali on Peanut Beans

Hey Cali, here is the post I promised. On your Crooked Neck Squash, try putting some Epson Salts on them. This is what we use on tomatoes and other plants if them show forms of rot.

A Peanut bean, also called Old Joe Clark bean is a small green bean, absolutely delicious. Every year I say I'm not going to grow them, then we hit that last quart and I cave in. Denise is done 14 quarts today and tomorrow maybe another 11. Our pressure canner does 7 quarts so I'll pick some of the Turkey Crawl beans to make up the rest. My first successful (?) year at getting them. For two 100ft rows normally they would be better but with the way this year and weird weather has been, I'm pleased. Not as good as I usually do but better than I expected. Peanut beans are a bush green bean, though I run lines to try and keep them as erect as possible. They do have to be stringed which is also a pain given the small size.
The beans shown are from 2009. Left to Right, Peanut, Greasyback, 1/2 White Runner, State, Rattlesnake.   I think you can click on it to make it larger.

This is what they look like when growing They are the two rows on the right. Last year we had the most beautiful vines, but few beans. These look so-so but have done better. Our Tomatoes and some of the Cabbage have done well considering 2 hail storms, it cut off most of the Onions, Garlic made it through though. We have the prettiest Pepper Plants we've ever had. They'd be even prettier if they had peppers, lol. Don't give up, I think it's the weather we've had these last 2 years.

  Peanut Beans are the best tasting green bean we've ever eaten. They are an heirloom bean. The draw backs to them are it seems like your not getting anywhere when you pick them and even less when you break them, lol. I do ours a bit different. Some people pull their plants up and take off the beans. I do a 1st picking and try and train the plant to stand back up while also weeding what weeds are there. Then later I do a 2nd picking, leaving the pods that aren't ready. The remaining ones I leave to mature out and when I pull the plants then I keep them for seeds.

  This is my 2nd year attempting Turkey Crawls and probably my last, unless something changes. Personally I'd rather do Rattlesnake , but Denise don't like them.

Here is a video of our gardens.

9 comments:

Pat robotti said...

Hi Anthony, Pat again. Thank you for your prayers. My husband (Daryl) is having a rough week.His hearing is getting worse and he now has consistent pain in his ear. Is this ever going to end? I can't help but think the treatments are so barbaric and inhumane.Daryl never smoked and was a fitness nut and now he looks like a rickety old fella. He does have trouble swallowing but manages to eat certain foods v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.
On a lighter note, I am quite excited about your peanut beans and plan to try growing some next year.Will have to try and order some from the internet. Don't know if they'll do well here. We are in the Pacific NW - lots of rain, clayey soil. We do, however, have an abundance of garden slugs probably much bigger than a teensy old peanut bean.
How are you feeling now? I think the road you travelled was much much harder than Daryl's and you beat overwhelming odds, so I have great hope for my husband.
I know this is maudlin but when you are living through something like this, it's difficult to focus on anything else. When I am wallowing in self pity, I look to your blog for motivation. Derek K Miller was a friend of a friend who passed away recently and posted a final message on his blog about cancer here is the link http://www.penmachine.com/ It's horribly tragic but in some ways, it puts our small measure of suffering in perspective. Please be well.I hope to compare notes on peanut beans that Daryl has strung up for me next year.Peace & prayers,
Pat

anthony7 said...

Hi Pat, The pain in his throat will Feel better in time tomorrow.

He will probably have to eat slower from not on, not a bad there.

God Bless
Anthony

Cali said...

Thank you, Anthony, for the photo of the peanut beans. They remind me of the French haricot ver beans, but shorter. When they are green you eat the whole thing, not just the insides, right?

Cali said...

P.S. I misspelled those French beans. It should be "haricot vert." Sorry. It's pronounced "hair-EE-co vair" and the words are run together so it sounds like one word.

anthony7 said...

We string and snap the beans, but I think some people leave them whole after stringing them.

Plants I found out a few years ago are known by different names in different areas. Part of that was region, part of that was advertising. That was before they started the GM foods. Everything we grow is now called heirloom, so it's been around so long it may have different names. I noticed there is practically no difference in the Peanut Bean and an Old Joe Clark bean.

The Greasyback I noticed today is what made it, I thought the Turkey Crawl that I bought did. I bought 2 lbs of those seeds. This was my 2nd attempt on Turkey Crawl unsuccessfully. They must not like this soil.

Greasybacks are just as good as the Peanut Bean. They are native (to my knowledge) to NC. A cornfield bean, but we plant and make trellises for them to grow on. I'm not dissapointed though, we know we love them.

We've never ate Turkey Crawl so it was a shot in the dark as to if we did. Then again I never met a green bean that I didn't like yet. :)

CourtneyC said...

Anthony...ever read "90 minutes in heaven"? It says in heaven we will be greated by people who helped us along the path to heaven. I now fully expect to see you there...or you to see me there, and for us to greet each other with your version of "shoot 'em 'lisbeth! Shoot em!"
So, yes I Tivo'ed Swamp people...6 hours later, I know how I'd catch a gator with a treble hook, if need be - but not how I'd get him in the boat. I'd need Willie for that.
Thanks for the lessons in beans.

anthony7 said...

Hey Courtney. I haven't read it yet but I'm sure we will see each other there one day. Maybe Troy will be there too, lol. I can't believe I done that on the phone, lol. Those guys are tougher than I am. I ain't hunting for anything that can have me for lunch.

Here is a link to a video I made on the gardens. http://youtu.be/F2vxW5x41Ns

David said...

Love the video on the garden, Anthony.

anthony7 said...

Thanks David. I'm still learning on how to do videos, Megan is good at it but she is breaking beans. Denise has canned 56qts so far and Megan has another run ready.