Vigna "Cortona del tresimero"

[12540dumont]

Exactly, my father used to always say, that "All cats look grey in the dark", but he said it in Italian.

So, Potato, Potata....in the skillet they are all yummy. No matter what you call them. Steev, getting older than you is not hard. All it would take would be to throw my arms in the air and say, "I can't do this anymore." Which would instantly make me older than you.

[steev]

Au contraire, ma chere; that would not make you older, only wiser.

ACLGITD is what we said when I was a young man, horny as a three-peckered owl. "Who, who?"

All yummy? Indeed so!

[ferdzy]

fagiolina del trasimeno - sole survivor

Okay, so I planted the red, white, and buff beans that I was able to save last year out of the 6 colours originally sent to me. Admittedly, I planted them on July 1st. They took so long to flower last year, and it seemed so tied to day-length, that I assumed I had lots of time. Well. No sooner were they in the ground than it turned cool and rainy, and cool and rainy it has been ever since. None of my beans did really well.

Nevertheless, all but 3 of the plants reached 5 or 6 feet in length. That was the good news; all but 6 plants completely failed to produce any seed. The three short plants produced 80% of what you see in the picture, and another 2 or 3 plants produced the rest. It seems pretty clear to me that all of these are related, as they are strictly the buff seeds and very uniform. I think they are also about 50% larger than any of the beans I started out with. I am perplexed, but I guess I will keep growing them out. But they aren't exactly "fagiolina del Trasimeno" any more.

[flowerweaver]

Well, they certainly look good, whatever they have become!

[cortona]

wo care? seeds are intended to adapt to different climates, and landraces (fagiolina is something similar) are the best way to adapt a crop to a different climate!

[ferdzy]

Okay; a question for cortona and @12340dumont; on further examinatoin the "sole survivor" I posted about back in 2014 is plainly not a Trasimeno bean. It is not a vigna, it is a phaseolus. Unfortunately the link I posted originally seems to have disappeared. Here is a new pic. Does either one of you know what it might actually be? (Or anyone else for that matter?) It's a terrific little bean. I also did get some Trasimeno beans last year. There seem to be 3 or 4 colours still surviving. This years plants look good, if rather long. They are just flowering now. I plant them very late since it doesn't seem to matter when they go in, they start to flower now.



Hard to see but the flowers are pink and white, pods are purple, and beans are a neat light buff, rather small. They produce very quickly. Is this something that jumped on board in Italy or in California?

[zeedman]

That looks a lot like one of the Lobitz beans... he bred several with pinkish pods. "Red Swan" looks very similar, and has buff seeds.

[ferdzy]

zeedman, I think you have it. Looking at photos of Red Swan on the internet they are quite distinctive, and I can't see any point where they are not identical with mine. Thank you!

I must say I am quite impressed with them. I see a lot of people eat them green; I will have to try that. I was thinking of them as a dry bean. They are small, but produce lots. I'm going to experiment with cooking them in the rice cooker this fall/winter. The Trasimeno beans too. I think the rice cooker can handle small beans. I use it for lentils all the time.

[zeedman]

Whatever bean you have, ferdzy , that is an impressive amount of blossoms - and a beautiful photo. Looks like you should have a good yield. I've been meaning to try Red Swan for years, but like many other beans on my list, it always gets pushed aside by other priorities.

[ferdzy]

Yes, zeedman, there are SOOO many beans, so little space. I've actually looked at Red Swan in the catalogues as well, but it never quite made the cut. Now that I apparently have it, it may get regular garden space.

We tried eating some fresh last night and thought they were nice, but they aren't going to displace Blue Lake and Anellino Yellow which are our main fresh beans. I'll have to measure their dry yield a little more scientifically this year, and also do those cooking experiments with the dry beans.

Is there a reason I cannot use an html spell to summon 12540dumont? (Why yes, I was "spelling" it rong.)

[12540dumont]

Red Swan! I was summoned!

[ferdzy]

LOL! Not exactly a speedy demon, are you? Thank you for confirming that. They are still in the garden drying down. I hope. All the rain we didn't get this summer is now arriving to make harvesting difficult.

[zeedman]

Sept 27, 2016 8:02:29 GMT -5 ferdzy said:

All the rain we didn't get this summer is now arriving to make harvesting difficult.

Same here. Most of my beans & soybeans are drying down furiously, and it has been raining about every other day - sometimes for several days in a row. We've had 5-6" in the last week. Fortunately, I've been able to harvest everything that is dry or near-dry before each storm, and haven't lost much yet to spoilage. It is really weird trudging through the mud, and finding beans drying down... they seem to be able to dry down even when wet??? Glad I'm growing mostly pole varieties right now. Only a few varieties have yet to ripen, and about 40-50 pounds of various beans are drying in trays... if the season ended today, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.

Oops, I take that back... I would lose sleep. If the season ended today, I'd be out all night with a head lamp picking peppers.