Dolloff bean
$4.00
(Phaseolus vulgaris)
Pole, 8”/ 2.6 m tall. Flattish orange seeds with darker orange speckles resemble Lima beans. This bean entered Seed Savers Exchange Seed Network through Leigh Hurley in 1986; she had received it from Hattie Gray of West Burke, Vermont, who had grown it for years and used it for baked beans which she served at church suppers. Hattie told Leigh that it came from Roy Dolloff in Burke Hollow, Vermont, in the 1920s; she remembered walking with her mother to get it when she was a girl.
This bean is said to resemble the “Horticultural Lima;” like Lima beans, it can be used either shelled while still green or as a dry bean.
For those who are really into bean terminology, Hattie called this bean a “cranberry bean,” a term commonly used to refer to what are also called “horticultural beans.”
85 days to maturity. 35 seeds/packet.
Out of stock
Plant after last frost; soil must be warm or seed will rot. If growing on corn, wait to plant until corn is about 3” tall, or two weeks after corn is planted. Sow 1” deep. Space pole beans in pairs 6” apart, with 8” between pairs if climbing twine, or in groups of 3-4 around single poles 1’ apart. Pick shelly beans when seeds are full size but before pods dry, and dry beans when pods are fully dry; seed must be dry enough to not dent with a fingernail for storage. Dry beans can be further dried on a tarp, then threshed by dancing on them and winnowing away the chaff.