Question about dry bean harvest

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Hi, this is the first year that I have grown my own dry beans. They are Vermont Cranberries, and they grew quiet nicely. The info I read on how to harvest them, said to wait till the pods are all brown and dry, and to shake the beans out, when they start to rattle around in the pods. Here is my problem: I have to share my garden with the local mouse, groundhog, squirrel populations, and they know when things in the garden get ripe, and eat them accordingly. I don't mind sharing a little bit, but if I don't harvest often, they will eat more then just a little bit. Therefore, I get lots of waxbeans, because I pick them often, but I didn't end up with a lot of dry beans, because they ate them. The plants that ended up having pods left on them, only had two or three pods, and lots of them were halfeaten. Could I just pick the pods, when they are nice and full, and finish dryind them in the house? Wouldn't that make more sense anyway, because the plant would keep producing longer, too? Anybody out there, that has any ideas on this? Thanks Karin

-- karin morey (www.wind_crest@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001

Answers

Karin, we had a problem a couple of years ago with blister beetles - they just attacked our garden and stripped all the plants! When they got to the beans, I just couldn't let them have them, so we pulled up the plants by the roots, shook the bugs off, put them in our car trunk and drove back to our house (at the time, we hadn't moved to our homestead yet, but had a garden there). When we got home, we just hung them upside down on our deck and they finished drying there, even when it (rarely) rained. This was probably in July or early August, and they were dry by late August when we moved. We had a bumper crop of dried beans! If I go to harvest them from bugs again that way, I'll probably still put them in the trunk - keeps the pests from following you! You might give it a try next year. I have a dehydrator, but haven't tried the beans on it.

-- Leslie W (whomestead@inter-linc.net), October 08, 2001.

We frequently pull ours up when the pods are fully mature and hang up to dry. Our falls are often too moist and the beans would just rot in the pods or critters would nibble too much. We are happy with the results.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 08, 2001.

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