Saving Seeds

The Asian Long Beans are on the way out.  I'm still harvesting a big handful of tender green beans daily, but I'm allowing many of them to mature and dry on the plant. My original long bean seeds were given to me by my hairdresser, Lek, hence my name for them ... Lek's Long Beans.  I've saved seeds every year since, planting a new crop each year and sharing extras with friends and family.

The Rattlesnake Pole Beans are essentially finished.  The plants are losing leaves and looking pretty sparse. Many of the latecoming beans are deformed or shriveled. We loved this bean. Thinking about saving a few of these for next year ...

It's easy to save beans for planting in next year's garden. Beans rarely cross-pollinate, so seeds may be saved with confidence, knowing you'll be getting the same type of bean year after year. Just be sure you're growing a non-hybrid variety.

1. A hybrid bean won't come true from seed, i.e. seedlings won't be exactly like the parent plant. If you want to get the exact same plant, make sure you're saving seed from a non-hybrid variety.
2. Let the beans dry completely on the vine. This is best done near the end of the growing season. Once the pods start to mature, growth of the bean stalk slows down quite a bit and bean production drops dramatically.
3. When the pod is completely dry, remove it from the plant and open it, revealing the dried beans inside.
4. Remove any chaff or pieces of pod. Discard beans that look moldy or have worm holes. Store your dried beans in a labeled envelope, inside a marked canning jar or other container in a cool, dry place.
5. Plant the beans next year. Share your seeds with a friend. Start a tradition!

Here's more information about seed saving:
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenmaintenance/a/SeedSaving.htm