Heirloom Beans: Painted Pony, Speckled Cranberry, and Calypso

After the beans were up for about two to three weeks we had a grasshopper invasion.  About 50% of our seedlings were eaten.  And if that wasn’t bad enough we had a loss of another 10-20% to disease within the next month.  At this time we were getting pretty discouraged.

In mid September, we were able to harvest a few dry pods from our Calypso plants (all three of them!).  Just a few days ago we harvested the last of our dry pods.  The Brockton variety, though our toughest and most prolific, did not have enough time before the frost set in to mature any seeds.  And, even though we did not have many Calypso plants, they ripened the earliest as I mentioned above.  We harvested just two pods of Speckled Cranberry, a late ripening type.  The Painted Pony plants, however, performed the best in terms of the amount of dry bean seed we were able to collect.

I should mention that all of the varieties produced fresh green beans in abundance.  But, since we were interested in collecting seeds only, I do not have an edible flavor comparison to share. 

In subsequent years we will probably plant twice as many as we want to grow to mature plants.  In addition, we will focus on shorter season varieties when we want to harvest dry seeds for saving. 

Overall our experiment with heirloom bean seeds was fun.  The best part was watching the kids open the dried pods to find the brightly colored beans inside….the simple joys of gardening at their best!

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Heirloom Tomatoes

I have recently begun to be interested in seed saving and preserving historical vegetable varieties.  While in college and during my first job where we performed variety trials to determine high producers in Oklahoma, I was definately concerned with hybrids and thought the old varieties were useless.  Now, in my home garden setting (and with the passing of 10 years), I have changed my outlook. 

During college I learned that you cannot save seed from a hybrid plant and expect to get good results the following season.  A tomato will always produce a tomato, but the offspring of a hybrid will not be true to type and will likely produce poorly.  With open pollinated varieties, such as many heirlooms, you always get plants that are just like their parents.  It’s important to note that when planning to save seed, you should ensure the variety you are interested in is separated by a good distance from any others of the same species.  When cross pollinating occurs, your offspring plants will not be the same as the parents.  In a sense, this actually produces a hybrid. 

Another thing I’ve come to realize over the years is that the large seed companies are creating monopolies on the best producing varieties.  This is fine for commercial production, but what about home gardeners and those wanting to preserve historical types?

The answer, as you may have already realized, is to grow open pollinated or heirloom vegetables.

I found a great website, Seed Savers Exchange, which sells and promotes old varieties of many vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  I have joined the exchange ($35 a year) and also have ordered the following beans to start on my journey:

• Hidatsa Shield Figure Bean
• Brockton Horticultural Bean
• Calypso Bean
• Painted Pony Bean
• Speckled Cranberry Bean

Seed Savers Exchange also helps connect seed savers together through an annual spring catalog.  I hope to be able to sell some of the bean seeds I collect this season.  I think I will also produce some lettuce seeds (Black Seeded Simpson) and radish (Cherry Belle).

This is really an exciting pursuit.  I’d love to hear of your own seed saving experiences.

Happy saving!

-Thomas