Anybody grow any of the dry bean varieties like pinto, kidney, navy, etc.?

[Dover]

I've never grown any and don't know what's involved or even what the plants look like.
I was mentioning in another thread how I loved greens and beans for meals and it occurred to me that while I've grown the greens (collards, chard, kale) I'd never grown the beans.

I found a few sites like this one, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/ho-175.pdf , and this,
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/articles/ji-beans.html , and this http://growingtaste.com/vegetables/bean.shtml , but would like to hear from anyone with personal experience/advice.

[ThomWV]

1. Its been a long time ...

You can dry any bean and we have planted pintos just for drying, but haven't done it in years. When we did we simply let the beans dry on the vine and then pulled the vines later and hung them. It wasn't very satisfactory and as I recall we only did it for 2 years. After that we came to the quite rational conclusion that store-bought dried beans were so cheap that we simply couldn't justify the space to grow them. Let the Agricultural Economist* in me come out for just a moment; one tomato plant will produce vegetables of greater value than the cost of a year's worth of beans, and we eat quite a few beans,

So here is my suggestion, leave the dried beans for the grocery store and concentrate on fresh beans in the garden. There is no greater pleasure to be had from the gardens of the very gods themselves than lima beans shelled an hour before dinner.

* No shit, I actually have a degree in it

[Dover]

2. That's probably why I haven't seen much discussion about dry beans on garden websites.

Although they are cheap for the consumer, from what I've read it can be a profitable crop for larger growers. But central Texas is not the ideal place to grow them apparently. So that's that.

I hear ya on the fresh beans. Yum! However, I often cook dry beans as well cause I really enjoy them.

I am a little curious what exactly you meant when you said "it wasn't very satisfactory" growing them yourself. Are you referring to yield or taste or are they difficult to grow (more difficult than the nondry varieties?).

At any rate, I think you've given sound advice with or without the sheep skin. ;)

[Kolesar]

4. A frugal gardening book I read this year said that potatoes were cheaper to buy

...relatively. It advised to grow produce that I pay a lot for, like cauliflower.

I am growing potatoes anyway this year. I want to learn how to grow them because they are great sustinence.

Now I know that you are an Agricultural Economist, I'll keep bothering you with questions. :hi:

[chelaque liberal]

5. If you buy potatoes from a store they could be GMO.

Foods don't have to be identified as genetically modified (it might infer that there is something undesirable about them!). GM potatoes kill the insects that try to eat them-the potatoes themselves are pesticides. I don't know about you but I don't want to eat pesticides.

[Kolesar]

6. thanks for the info

:hi:

[sazemisery]

3. I pick them when they are dry on the vine, then I..

shell them, blanch them and freeze them.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. What I've discovered about growing beans/peas

in a garden. You need approximately 17-1/2 acres to produce a pint. This is my second year of gardening and I discovered that hard fact this year. But those 16 peas sure were good! :9

[Kolesar]

8. Ha

We still have this mason jar with almost a quart of shelled lima beans sitting on our kitchen counter. It was a lot of "doing" to grow, pick, shell, and dry them. Better eat them before some bug or fungus gets them.