Why do we choose to grow the plants that we do? Do we enjoy the taste, flavors, smells or the hues of lushness that they produce? Is it us who choose them or they who choose us? For these few reasons and also a bunch more that were not mentioned, I have been fascinated with the growing of beans, the magical fruit! With great variation in growth habits shape, color, size variation, and abundance in yield potential. The magic beans have the ability to feed people and nourish the soil from which they grow.
Interested in trading seeds? – I would love to share my collection from all over the world
Bush Bean Diversity Project
2024 ~ 2025 ~ 2026
Pole Beans * Semi-Runner Beans * Runner Beans * Bush Beans
Lima Beans * Fava Beans * Cowpeas * Garbanzo Beans
Legumes are known to fix Nitrogen. The first picture is a look at Nitrogen converted to a plant-useable form of NO3-. These small round nodules are ready to be used by the rhizosphere as a benefit to the next cycle of life
Pole Beans
Runner Beans
My story and general fascination with beans starts with the unique history as to where the beans came from, and what dishes they best complement. This goes a long way to simplify as each bean has a distinct flavor and growth profile. Upon embarking on my journey with beans, it hadn’t crossed my mind that there was this much to it, and I was wrong. There is an entire sub-group of bean cultivation. I have found a new gardening specialty within a specialty.
Semi Runner Beans
Along my journey, I encountered Russel Crow, and his efforts with heirloom variety of beans, a magical bean collectors window. His work to educate and make hundreds of varieties of just beans available is remarkable. The following is the ongoing progress of my collection of beans and my efforts to save seeds and generations of beans that came before me.
Bush Bean Trials
This is an ongoing project in collaboration with the beans that are traded, purchased, and collected. I am trying to grow them in a 10ft section of the garden and give them all the same treatment with the hopes to measure what variety is best suited for cultivation. These factors might be yeild, pest resistance, germination, and adapatability.
2026
This year is in the planning stage, which happens to be my second favortie stage. At this stage I am gathering a list of the seeds that I hope to plant. I am narrowing down what I what to grow, and where the seeds come from. I’d love to include everything, sadly there just isnt enjoy bandwith for me to do that in conjunction with space in the garden to make that happen at the present. I am also working on bed prep so it can rest over the winter. This includes a thick layer of leaf mulch and straw from the Spooner research station. Pile on until the ground is frozen.
Please stay tuned for more updates to come. Hopefully the growing season is genorous and plentful.
Joseph Lofthouse – Landrace Selections
Diversity by permiscious pollenation or survial of the fittest. This project started in 2023 when I read a book about adaptive gardening. This concept of starting with bean sorting, and then growing out beans and actually letting them sort out adapting to the place where they are being grown. Plants find a way to thrive or slowly die. That is the basic idea behind letting them do their thing.
2025
This year begain in the planning stages with 5 beds to involve 32 different varieties. The hope was that each variety would thrive and provide enough seed to really showcase the diversity.
Seed Savers – Renew Project
The group of people working to preserve diversity in Decorah Iowa are amazing. They a non-profit organization working to protect seed diversity available to gardners world-wide. I have been working towards understanding better how I can play a part in this effort, and in 2025 after visititng a seed exchange I was able to get involved in the Renew Project. I choose beans as my trials. I was able to get setup with a variety called Mary Massie, who grew these dry bush beans near Chatek Wisconsin which is right down the road so I figured it was the prefect type for me.
Joseph Simcox Unknown Beans – Russell Crowe
This was a fun project that started as soon as the ’24 season had wrapped up. I had reached out to Russell Crowe and mentioned I was interested in growing some beans of the unknown. He had mentioned that he has some beans in his deep preserve that he was willing to pass along that were orginally from Joseph Simcox. he had done a germination test and sent along 16 varieties that he knew nothing about.
From the beginning this project seemed like it was going to be a multi-year project. First was to establish what type of growth these beans were. Second to see how the yeilds were once they had proved the first year. Final stage is to give them a name, and share with the comminity of bean growers interested in these types of projects
Anthive Diversity Project
While traveling down the rabbit hole of beans in the off season I stubbled upon Anthive. First impression, WOW! The journey this gentleman has started begain in 2012-13-ish, and very possibly before then, but being documented in a way that is an enjoyable read.
I was lucky enough to have been shared with some of the work he has been cultivating, and was able to get a few types planted for my exploration into what they can produce.
2024
In the ’24 growing season, I decided to trial 10 varieties of bush beans. The beans came from various producers all over the US and had similar growth habits and dates to maturity. The goal was to find a bean that grew well in my sandy loam soil, was productive and healthy, and would adapt to my climate. More importantly, it would be planted around June 1st, hoping its life cycle would be complete before the first frost.
From the beginning, there were standouts in terms of germination, growth, and overall vigor. I tried my best to provide similar conditions and watering to every row of 10+ feet. Another goal for this project was to grow a bean that dried on the vine and provided viable seeds for another growing season.
2024 Highligh pictures
Fava Beans
Here is what I know so far. These large seeds are very cold tolerant, and they have been used to improve the soil quaility. They are edible, but often they are more benefical to the soil fertility. I have grown them a few season, and I am still trying to understand how I can incorperate them into my garden cycles.
These seeds were shared with me from a permaculture connection in nothern Minnesota.
Seed Saving and Bean Exchanging
While exploring the magic of cultivating beans, I met and traded seeds with some amazing people who had great stories about what, where, and why they continue to grow their seeds. I find these unique stories to be fascinating.
If you are interested in trading seeds:
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