Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: pa snips on March 26, 2015, 19:00
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Anyone recommend any French beans for performance and taste a good all rounder please :)
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Cobra is a climbing French bean that I will be tring this year, it's supposed to be prolific and tasty!
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I grew blue lake last year, best for flavour I have tried so far, Dave
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Not a squeaky bean fan but brother in law is and rates Blue Lake for growing and eating. :)
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I grew talisman last year nice flavour and excellent crop beans are about eight inched long and round rather than flat ish grows about 18" high.
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As a climbing bean I always grow Cosse Violette, it is a long, purple, bean wit excellent flavour and texture. Dwarf beans, I'm still struggling with. haven't found one with an outstanding flavour that performs well.
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I grew and bottled bush Blue Lake last year. This year I may go for the pole variety of Blue Lake to save on space. A friend of mine gave me a large pack of Tendergreen (bush type) so I may try those out this season.
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Cobra is a climbing French bean that I will be tring this year, it's supposed to be prolific and tasty!
Likewise :)
edit to clarify quote
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Generally it is a matter of personal taste, I grow both climbers and dwarf green, purple and yellow!
The climbing yellow ones are fairly tasteless, but the dwarf yellow are sweetest of all!
And I always end up with a glut!
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Generally it is a matter of personal taste, I grow both climbers and dwarf green, purple and yellow!
The climbing yellow ones are fairly tasteless, but the dwarf yellow are sweetest of all!
I'm really glad to hear that as this year I too am trying all 3 colours in dwarf beans (including, I hope, sweet yellow ones 8)) plus my favourite Climbing Blue Lake and a heritage climbing one called Mrs Fortune's Beans that I was lucky enough to get in the Pass the Parcel :D
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We like Cobra and Fasold which is an early one. We have done Blue Lake and Zebra a purple climber, too.
TBH I couldn't tell any difference in flavour between them.
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A did a few blue lake and cobra last year, seemed ok, not a great yield I thought. Will try again as I've got seeds left, but watching this thread for any other suggestions!
Dwarf Hestia and yellow wax always work for me if you can keep the slugs off. I added a late sowing as a green manure for the last two years after the early spuds come out and that's always ended well for me- beans in Oct and something to dig in too.
Cosse Violotte looked gorgeous but I didn't like the grey colour it goes when cooked so may not bother again.
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Following a recommendation on here last year, I grew "Nautica" - a dwarf variety. I'm pleased that I bought a big packet of seed as I will be doing the same again this year.
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I grew some The Prince last year, which are a flat-pod dwarf bean and they were tasty and prolific, and Speedy for an early crop in the unheated mini-tunnel were delicious too (round pencil pod type)
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I like Purple Queen, they are quite productive, you can spot the beans easily and they don't grow too close to the ground. I've grown them for two years now and will again this year.
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Anyone recommend any French beans for performance and taste a good all rounder please :)
I think the Variety discussions are subjective - depending on both your preference/taste and also growing conditions / husbandry. My advice would be to grow a selection (if you can blag a few seeds of several varieties, or don't mind buying packets of several - and putting the spares into the seed parcel maybe? :) ), the ones recommended here are a good starter-list of course ...
We like Cobra and Blue Lake. I also grow a flat climbing French bean (usually Limka) as my family prefer them to runners [also available as a Dwarf French - "Masterpiece" I think]. I don't think they have much flavour (but the family love them) so perhaps not good for your "Taste" list ...
I have never had a performance or productivity issues with any variety I have grown so, assuming no one else has, those criteria may not be particularly important.
I grow a few Dwarf French for an earlier crop, and I sow a seed in the hole where I plant my plants [i.e. the Climbers] out (to bring on a later crop - the first sowing (indoors) of French Climbing give up before the first frost for me, whereas my Runners carry on, hence the additional 2nd sowing of French Climbers. I grub out the Dwarf French as soon as the climbers start producing. Does my back in trying to pick from them! I grow some Dwarf French earlier and put them in the greenhouse - to get some early beans before the outdoor crops are on stream.
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I've grown purple green also last few years. They grow anywhere, in pots well too and very productive.
I have grown them in the same pots I grow my sweet peas in, they grow well together and being a dwarf it does not really interfere with the flowers, plus look lovely with the dark purple beans in the lower half of my pyramid and sweet peas on the upper level.
I'm growing dwarf Opera this year too, I grew them a few years back and also very tasty and productive.
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Kristen - that's a brilliant idea of sowing a seed when you plant out the bean plants - I'll try that!
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sowed Opera today in heated GH for the poly ,only a dozen for an early taste ;)
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. I grub out the Dwarf French as soon as the climbers start producing.
Hi Kristen, nowerdays I leave the roots of all my beans/peas in the ground to fix nitrogen, as an example, last year my blue lake and Lady Dia runners were cut at ground level and in November 2014 I planted Wilkos garlic over the top of the old roots and now they are looking really healthy, cheers Dave
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. I grub out the Dwarf French as soon as the climbers start producing.
Hi Kristen, nowerdays I leave the roots of all my beans/peas in the ground to fix nitrogen, as an example, last year my blue lake and Lady Dia runners were cut at ground level and in November 2014 I planted Wilkos garlic over the top of the old roots and now they are looking really healthy, cheers Dave
Research a couple of years ago proved that there was no real nitrogen benefit to leaving roots in the ground - all the nitrogen was taken up into the plant.
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. I grub out the Dwarf French as soon as the climbers start producing.
Hi Kristen, nowerdays I leave the roots of all my beans/peas in the ground to fix nitrogen
Yup, "grub out" was a poor choice of words, sorry. I just cut the tops off and leave the roots
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Research a couple of years ago proved that there was no real nitrogen benefit to leaving roots in the ground - all the nitrogen was taken up into the plant.
I'm not sure I'm convinced of that (easy to not be convinced of carefully researched science that flies in the face of traditional knowledge!!)
Farmers tell me that crops following legumes do well ... I suppose them might be leaving chopped-up tops in the field and they might be composting to provide the Nitrogen (but then they would for non legume crops too).
What I do doubt is that the benefit lasts very long - I reckon the Nitrogen would be washed out of the soil by the next season - but I think leaving the root nodule symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria behind must leave behind the Nitrogen that they contain?
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I like climbing Blue Lake too! ;)
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. I grub out the Dwarf French as soon as the climbers start producing.
Hi Kristen, nowerdays I leave the roots of all my beans/peas in the ground to fix nitrogen, as an example, last year my blue lake and Lady Dia runners were cut at ground level and in November 2014 I planted Wilkos garlic over the top of the old roots and now they are looking really healthy, cheers Dave
Research a couple of years ago proved that there was no real nitrogen benefit to leaving roots in the ground - all the nitrogen was taken up into the plant.
I've heard that too. Once the plants start producing flowers and then beans, they've started using up the nitrogen they've fixed into the soil while they were growing. Apparently it works with field beans, provided they are dug into the soil before they start producing flowers.
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Once the plants start producing flowers and then beans, they've started using up the nitrogen they've fixed into the soil while they were growing.
That's the bit of the science that I don't get - can someone explain it to me please?
I thought that the Nitrogen was fixed by bacteria living / colonising nodules on the roots symbiotically. If the plant doesn't need Nitrogen any more or its top is cut off, surely the Bacteria are still there? If they need something from the plant to live then they will die, but isn't there some "reserve" of Nitrogen in those nodules / roots?
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Another vote for Cosse Violette.
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I grew Cheroke Trail of Tears last year. They were late producing a crop, and in my opinion, not very tasty to eat. :wub:
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I grew Cheroke Trail of Tears last year. They were late producing a crop, and in my opinion, not very tasty to eat. :wub:
I grew some a few years ago not that tasty
Perhaps they were called that A pocket full of miserable beans :D
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Kristen, please read this old thread which explains the comment.
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=113251.msg1295430#msg1295430
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Kristen, please read this old thread which explains the comment.
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=113251.msg1295430#msg1295430
Thanks MoS, very helpful.
So if I were to pull my beans up and chuck them on the compost heap, rather than cutting them off, it would make no odds (to the soil where the crop had been)
Whereas a Legume green manure, where the whole lot was re-incorporated, would do a useful job.
Now just got to get my head to update from decades of entrenched thinking!!
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I grow dwarf and climbing beans.
I really like Amythest, and am trying Ma Lowe's Purple Teepee from the seed circle this year. I grow Minidor for yellow beans and they are lovely and tasty. Am also trying Nun's Belly Button.
Climbers am not so practised at - I did like the Cherokee Trail of Tears a lot, nutty and tender, whereas the Amythest are more 'beany' if that makes sense. I saved most of them for seed though and to eat as a dried bean, where they are also great.
This year I'm growing Mrs Fortune too, and Mr Fearn's purple flowered, Lazy Housewife and Sultana, as well as waiting for my selections to come back from the HSL and to see what I get as a newbie seed guardian. A goodly part of my plot will be beans....!
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Following a recommendation on here last year, I grew "Nautica" - a dwarf variety. I'm pleased that I bought a big packet of seed as I will be doing the same again this year.
DD i am really pleased to hear that, I never thought I'd ever be able to recommend anything to an " old boy" not saying your old but a wise one. We love them and will be growing this year, next year and every year after that.
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I usually sow some dwarf ones early to grow on in the GH to try for some early beans, three seeds to a pot!
But no matter how dry I keep the compost quite a lot of the seeds rot and don't germinate1
Does anyone else have this problem with early sowings?
Cheers!
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I made the mistake of soaking some of mine prior to planting, they turned to mush. I think they're likely to do the same if the soil temps aren't right for germination. If they sit in cold soil they'll just rot. *stinky*. I think soil temperature is key.
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we grow "Sprite" as a dwarf bean. These are nice and thin well flavoured and proper "squeaky" we plant an early crop in the cold frame. Then we grow "Cobra" for climbing outside. Prolific, good bean. Also trying "Yard Long" this year as well.
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we grow "Sprite" as a dwarf bean. These are nice and thin well flavoured and proper "squeaky" we plant an early crop in the cold frame. Then we grow "Cobra" for climbing outside. Prolific, good bean. Also trying "Yard Long" this year as well.
Best of luck with the Yard Longs, i tried them in the greenhouse and managed 5 flowers giving 2 beans that were 1/9th of a yard long !
:lol:
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I grew Yard Long outside last year, without having read about the really (REALLY!) hot summer they need ... didn't get any beans at all.
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I usually sow some dwarf ones early to grow on in the GH to try for some early beans, three seeds to a pot!
But no matter how dry I keep the compost quite a lot of the seeds rot and don't germinate1
Does anyone else have this problem with early sowings?
Cheers!
Sowing too soon even if they have very little moisture is the problem because sudden cold temps will make them rot. Later sowings always catch up.
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Thanks for the info to Lotuseed and Goosegirl!
I like to try to get whatever plants I grow as early as possible, as I think the first of any veggies always seem to taste better than they actually are, just because they are the first!
As for the French beans, I "will" wait!
PS The French always were awkward! ;)