Beans beans the magical fruit....

Keeping with my routine of partial post I am now going to share the seeds I have save this season in a few parts. Today's post is about the bean seeds I have saved this season.

This photo shows the Crimson Flowered Broad bean plants I saved this season. They are a cool season bean so they finish up around the same time Peas do. With that said these were harvested in July, hung upside down in the shed and forgot about until this week.

Being in the shed so long the seed pods had mildewed a bit but all the seeds look to be in very good shape.

Here are all the Crimson Flowered Broad bean seeds cleaned up and ready for their envelope. These are really tough beans, if they were grey you could easily think they are the hardest stones know to man. I was quite impressed this past spring at the speed these seed sprout from such rugged seed.

I also saved seed for the Vermont Cranberry beans I grew this year. Most of my initial seed rotted this spring and I only ended up with two plants so I just grew them on for seed production. Unlike the beans above these are a warm season bean so they were grown for the whole season and harvested just before the light October frosts.

Now for a shot of the Vermont Cranberry beans all cleaned up. Aren't they pretty in pink? Although these beans can be eaten fresh I think they are mainly grown for a dried bean. I can't wait for next season so I can grow a couple rows of them for eating.

Specials thanks goes out to Sarah for sharing the Crimson Flowered Broad bean seeds and to Dennis for sharing the Vermont Cranberry bean seed.