The Great Dry Bean Experiment - and giveaway!

You may remember that, after my success with dry beans last year, I decided to try a bunch of different varieties this year. I ended up with 15 different varieties, which is truly a drop in the bucket when it comes to dry beans. And of course, being the geek I am, I did things like monitor germination rates and harvest totals.

Blue Jay - the most incredible purple-blue colour.

What, doesn't everyone?

Calypso. Or Orca. I like Orca.

Well, most of the results are in. There are a few varieties that aren't ready to harvest yet, which is actually a bad thing - if, in this year of insane heat, they aren't ready in 3 months, what hope will they have in a cooler, "normal" summer? But don't worry - I won't bore you with graphs and table and statistics. I wanted the information for my own use, since hard data is useful for making certain decisions - like which beans grow better than others. Of course, taste matters too, and I'll be doing taste tests this fall and winter. Like the Lazy Housewife green beans, if they don't taste good (to me), I won't grow them.

Mrocumiere. Yes, they really are that colour.

Since I only planted a single row of most varieties, I don't have a lot of beans for each variety. And I want to keep some to plant next year (a single year trial, especially when that year has abnormal weather, really isn't enough to make firm decisions) and some to eat, of course!

But, I'm excited about being able to grow such a good source of protein. In such pretty packages ;)

Littlefield's Special. Or, as I like to call them, Holstein beans.

I'm so excited, I'm willing to send seeds to anyone who wants to try to grow dry beans next year.  Yes, for free.

Caveats: 

• Limited to Canadian addresses, since I'm getting mixed info about mailing seeds across the border (If you are really interested in getting some to try, and live in the US, e-mail me, and we'll work something out). 
• You will only be getting a few seeds (4-10, depending on the variety and the amount of requests). I'm trying to share the joy of growing dry beans, not take business away from seed growers.
• I make no guarantees about germination, disease contamination (but as someone who worked in plant pathology for years, I'm pretty confident in saying these are good, clean seeds) or hybridization, as I took no effort to separate varieties, since beans seldom cross-pollinate. 
• Amounts are limited, so when I'm out, I'm out - first come, first serve! 
• I still want to dry the beans out a bit, as well as finish the harvest, so I won't be mailing anything out for a month or so.

What do I ask in return? If you have a blog, please blog about this (and link back here, naturally), and blog about your results next year. And hey, if you want to send me some seeds in return, feel free :)


List of varieties (see key below for the varieties in the first photo):

• Ireland Creek Annie (limited)
• Black Turtle (good harvest)
• Calypso (harvest not complete)
• Blue Jay (good harvest)
• Littlefield's Special (limited)
• Canadian Wonder (good harvest)
• Black Valentine (good harvest)
• Saskatchewan Dry (limited)
• Fall Speckled (limited)
• Mrocumiere (harvest not complete, should be good)
• Lina Sisco's Bird Egg (limited)
• Romano (limited)
• Pinto (VERY limited - only one plant grew!)
• Jacob's Cattle (limited)
• Soldier (harvest not complete)

How to get seeds? Leave a comment here, and e-mail me at myoldnewhouse at gmail dot com with the list of varieties you want to try and your mailing address.

Oh, and if you have any good bean recipes? Share!