Three Months Later..

Some of us remember my mystery bean story and the last installment was posted on April 28, 2013.

click on link to refresh memory Bean Moving Day

Now, I won't bore you with another dragged-out lengthy story, BUT...

Something wonderful has happened after something sad had happened. You see, it snowed here the very day after we left and bean #1 died. A neighbor had promised to water it once in a while, but she looked at it after the snow, and it was dead. Dead! d... e... a... d.

On July 6, when we returned from being away for two months, a new bean sprout popped up in the SAME POT that the first one grew from during the month of April. 

I had planted three. When only one sprouted, I assumed the other two were not going to germinate. The first bean was grown in the house. 

The 2nd one came out of hiding in the very same pot exactly 3 months later and is flourishing.  Yippee!

I had taken the pot back out of the ground and set it in the carport. When I went to empty it I saw the sprout. It is now three weeks old and, hopefully, will live to produce - outdoors. Lessons learned: Nature knows best. Don't plant bean seeds in the house in April.

#2

21 Day Bean =Moving Day

Bean was getting way too large to keep indoors as it was reaching for the ceiling with nothing to hang onto. I was hoping to take it with me to SC next week, but seriously think it can survive better here. It would be much more difficult to bring it back to PA after 2 months in the South! So I gambled and put it outside in a sheltered area that gets some sun in the morning. The temperature went to 62° today! It's "do or die" and it's "doin'" today.

I hope it remembers its roots and grows big pods - YES! 

September 2012

November 2012

Day 16 Bean

Day and Night Difference - in the morning the first leaves reach for the sun and in the evening they droop and sleep. So do I!
The first two leaves to emerge are called “seed leaves” or “cotyledons." They will usually fall off when they are no longer needed. They are not strictly true leaves but they function as such because they are photosynthetic. The epicotyl emerges from the cotyledons and heads upward as the cotyledons begin photosynthesis. It is the true stem of the plant and tightly furled around it are the first true leaves which begin to unwrap as the stem shoots upward. This is happening on my bean plant:

True leaves begin as a pair of real green leaves that unfurl from the epicotyl after it emerges from the cotyledons. There is one on each side, opposite each other. Subsequent leaves will form as trifoliolates, each leaf will have three leaflets. There is also a top bud on the epicotyl called the apical meristem. It is always hidden in the newest leaf before the leaf unfolds or unwinds from the stem and is the point from which new leaves grow as the plant develops.

True leaves (above and lower photos)

Trifoliolate leaf 

Day 14 Bean

What will I do when it reaches the top of the dowel???? It's too cold to put it outdoors.

Day 11 Bean

Life.....

Day 8 Bean & Bug

Well I first took a photo of the bean plant and it's still growing. I then went back to drinking my morning coffee. 

Do you see what I see? Guess I need to remember to rinse out my cup before pouring my coffee. I ALWAYS do! Well, not always. Lesson learned.

When living in an old log cabin we will have these days. Nope, I was not "freaked out" ... just surprised. 

Day Four Bean Sprout

I am growing a MONSTER!

Maybe This is My Bean!

http://www2.greenculturesg.com:8080/articles/feb07/feb07_swordbean.htm

It could be! The lady said it came in a gift can. 

I found these pictures on the internet. 

MAYBE.............

The Mysterious Bean Vine - Continued

 Monday, November 12, 2012

Mystery Seeds

When at the campground in SC this past September and October I noticed that another permanent resident had a vine in her side yard that intrigued me. It was a bit scrawny and grew from a hanging pot and twisted around the shepherd's hook.  The lady seemed to never be at home whenever I passed by, but once I caught her coming in.  I asked her what kind of vine she was growing and she didn't know. She received the seed in a gift can which called it a Jack in the Beanstalk, with directions of how to grow it. She threw the can away! She then told me that in the summer it produced a lovely large purple flower. I never saw the flower. 

Actually, the reason it attracted my attention was that there were only two hanging long seed pods on the bare stems and I wanted one. They looked like giant pea pods.  So.....I asked her if I could have one when they had dried. 

One morning I discovered MY pod on my porch deck. Whoopee!!!! I did see her later on that week to thank her. She told me that several others were stopping by when they saw those pods and she was afraid that someone would pick them and take them away so she beat them to it!  She kept one and asked me what I was going to do with mine. I told her I would dry it, open it, save the seeds, and next year plant them to see what vine it really is. I also told her I would try to accomplish, by internet research, its identification.

I was afraid that, because they hadn't dried on the vine they weren't ripe enough to pick, but just decided to dry the pod and reap the seeds anyway. So I did. When the pod finished drying in my PA home it really rattled and was tough to open. BEANS! I have purple/pinkish beans! 

I have spent hours trying to know what my precious seeds are. I have just about given up and hope that I can plant them and have them sprout and grow and produce flowers and more wonderful ten inch pods.

UPDATE

 Well, here you are! I gave 2 to my daughter, one to a friend in Canada, and I kept 3. Only ONE germinated, but it looks good...so far.

Mystery Seeds

When at the campground in SC this past September and October I noticed that another permanent resident had a vine in her side yard that intrigued me. It was a bit scrawny and grew from a hanging pot and twisted around the shepherd's hook.  The lady seemed to never be at home whenever I passed by, but once I caught her coming in.  I asked her what kind of vine she was growing and she didn't know. She received the seed in a gift can which called it a Jack in the Beanstalk, with directions of how to grow it. She threw the can away! She then told me that in the summer it produced a lovely large purple flower. I never saw the flower. 

Actually, the reason it attracted my attention was that there were only two hanging long seed pods on the bare stems and I wanted one. They looked like giant pea pods.  So.....I asked her if I could have one when they had dried. 

One morning I discovered MY pod on my porch deck. Whoopee!!!! I did see her later on that week to thank her. She told me that several others were stopping by when they saw those pods and she was afraid that someone would pick them and take them away so she beat them to it!  She kept one and asked me what I was going to do with mine. I told her I would dry it, open it, save the seeds, and next year plant them to see what vine it really is. I also told her I would try to accomplish, by internet research, its identification.

I was afraid that, because they hadn't dried on the vine they weren't ripe enough to pick, but just decided to dry the pod and reap the seeds anyway. So I did. When the pod finished drying in my PA home it really rattled and was tough to open. BEANS! I have purple/pinkish beans! 

I have spent hours trying to know what my precious seeds are. I have just about given up and hope that I can plant them and have them sprout and grow and produce flowers and more wonderful ten inch pods.