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Poletschka Beans

May 04, 2010

I've not had a great success this year with my seed saving as two trips and two invasions by mice have seriously depleted what stocks I had. Following recent advice, my seeds have all now been moved to better storage jars or boxes of either heavy plastic or preferably, glass.

However, one of the things I was successful with last year was the Poletschka bean. A purple pole bean, which has a beautiful small variegated bean. I don't really know whether I can call a bean variegated... but I'm sure you'll all know what I mean. I originally got the beans from Miss Fuggles at A blog called Fuggles, and grew them here for the first time last year. They were very successful.

I'm just sowing these now and it's a little bit late but if anyone would like to try them then I have a few beans I could let you have. Sadly, the offer can only be made to those people resident in Europe as the problems of shipping seeds beyond our borders is simply too complicated.

If you're interested, please leave a comment here or better still, email me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, ian.holden

Comments

Mary Riekert

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 16:25

Mice are a real pest for seedsavers and I have learnt the hard way to make sure seeds are stored correctly. A friend gave me a French pumpkin he had grown - a potimaron - and it was so good I kept some seeds to see if I can grow some next summer. I laid them out to dry and on checking on them after a couple of days, found that a mouse had been enjoying them and left chewed husks. Fortunately it left behind a few whole seeds which I have now stored in a glass jar.

Simcha

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 02:16

Very pretty beans.

Africanaussie

Thu, 05/06/2010 - 15:05

what pretty looking beans Ian! I wish I could give them a try, but I am way over in Australia! I have tried pigeon peas this year, and they had lovely flowers, but so far no beans, so not sure what is going on. We have had a trememdous amount of rain, so maybe they were in fact not pollinated. It gets very hot and humid here, with lots of associated bugs. I keep my seeds in a plastic container in the fridge, and it works for me.

Africanaussie

Thu, 05/06/2010 - 15:06

Joel LeGrand

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 19:31

My yin yang beans look like your Poletschka beans. This is the first year I have had them, so I do not know how they will produce. I got them from"Vermont Bean seed company/ www.VermontBean.com. So if you would like to try them, e-mail the V.B. Company & ask if they sale to your country. Joel