Around this time of year, the staff gets overwhelmed with inquiries about growing beans. It's a great idea and we encourage it but we can't offer support for our beans as seeds. Introducing the Rancho Gordo Bean Buddies group on Google.

Fellow gardeners and Rancho Gordo staff share information about planting the beans and how to get the most out of your garden. We have lots of bean available to send you as seed for bean trials. Ben, also known as Beanbag around here, is coordinating our sample seeds and will help moderate the site.

You can get each post as an email, or a digest form (once a day) or even no emails and just read the posts on the website. I've created a folder and a filter on my email program and check the folder once a day. We're new but I have a hunch it may get pretty active.Anyone can join and post but you do need to join in order to post.

Rancho Gordo Bean Buddies on Google Groups.