Beginner Gardening: Dry Bean Question, 1 by Ozark

Ozark wrote:
I grew a 22' long row of Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans this year, and they were great. They bore continuously from June until I finally quit picking them about a month ago. We had all the green beans we wanted to eat, freeze, and give away, all season.

Now the bean row has been nipped a couple of times by nighttime frosts, and I've planned to harvest what's on there, shell them out of the pods, and eat them as dry beans. The seed catalogs say Kentucky Wonder has very good flavor as a dry bean, too. Now that the leaves are withered, you can see I've got a LOT of bean pods to pick and use.

But, the pods are still green and leathery, and the beans inside are soft. They would be impossible to shell this way. Question: Should I pick the pods and put them in buckets or sacks to dry, OR should I let them dry on the plants before picking? Dry beans are so cheap at the store, I've never bothered to harvest beans this way before - but since we've got these now I'd like to try them.


This message was edited Nov 1, 2013 3:26 PM