3rd year stable. First year of a fairly large increase in seed stock. No loss of this to critters this year so I am grinning inside regarding it.
Pods set 9 to 13 seeds which is a huge amount for a shelling bean. The pods are good too, though not as good in an advanced stage for fresh eating, being great tasting before the seeds set in the pods, not as sweet once the beans set, and drying down much faster than a Dragon Tongue would.
The vines climbed vigorously to 9 feet and are still flowering and setting pods. This is not my only bean from that cross that I have, though it is the only one I have, apparently, completely stabilized. Not sure on a name for it yet. Not that it matters. Fun to have created something new in the bean family that is unique to my yard.
Beans look great! Very sorry to hear about your corn losses. May be time to electrify the Ness garden – hard to afford such losses affecting your breeding experiments and seed collection. Electric fence is fairly easy to set up, it is kind of ugly and a bit of a hassle but it does work. Hard to keep rabbits out with it (I learned having a wire that low to the ground is problematic) but should be able to keep raccoons and deer out.
My uncle got fed up with the destruction to his garden so he has been using a large live trap that he baits with a marshmallow. Caught nine raccoons in a week, and he lives in a suburb. All well and good but obviously does not solve the deer problem.
My current projects are digging potatoes, weeding/cleaning gardens, and prepping areas for fall garlic planting. Potato crop okay, not nearly as good as last year due to June flooding.
Farmer is tiling his field around me. Should help reduce future flooding issues in my gardens that border his field. He harvested his wheat, got 98 bushels/acre (!) and is a happy camper. He used a modern open-source OP wheat variety (I saved some seed). I got free straw for fall garlic beds and next year’s veggies which makes me a happy camper as well. 🙂
After a summer respite the deer are back here. Was digging potatoes in the evening a couple days ago and three deer came out of the grove and casually walked through the harvested wheat field. They saw me and I swear they stuck their tongues out at me. Watched them as they headed to a nearby field that was just harvested for sweet corn.
-Renville Tom