[EthosSeedCompany]

Hello fellow gardeners!

I am having a great bean year so far and am starting to plan on saving more seeds from my own lines of bush and pole beans. I know food security is at the heart of a lot of gardener's concerns do and it is my strong opinion that we cannot have true food security without taking back control of our seed source.

As I am preparing to harvest the seeds for next year's crop I decided to put together a little article to help those of you who may not have tried saving bean seeds in the past.

It's truly very easy, but if you feel like you need to learn more, you can read on here: The Ultimate Bean Seed Saving Guide.

These are some of my very own Good Mother Stallard bean seed line. I've been working on it for about 10 years now and I love it more and more every year!

 

[harrylee]

Thanks for the info. Beans are one of my favorites to grow. Grows fast and is pretty easy. One thing I have noticed with my bush beans is that the first couple of pickings are great but after that the beans seem to be tougher and a bit more bitter. I try to pick them before the seeds get to big but they still seem that way. Is that normal? Maybe it's just the heat and less moisture in them as the summer wears on?

 

[EthosSeedCompany]

It's both: the plant's ultimate goal is to produce viable seed for the next generation, so they will put a whole lot of effort into those first two-three "flushes" of beans and there will be less energy in the plants as the pickings continue. As an annual, they are programmed to give out everything they have in their first season and produce as many viable seed as possible.
I cannot be absolutely certain, but same as with lettuce, bitterness and a general decline in eating quality could very well be a mean of protection from the plant to protect its last seed effort.