[Florablunder]

I love green beans, and have been successfully growing the french dwarf ones for the last few years (delinel and nomad), but was thinking about trying climbing ones this year to make better use of space/improve yield. Would be interested to hear from anyone else who has grown them, and maybe get some recommendations?
Thanks!

[Flowertot]

I am a huge fan of Climbing Blue Lake. Very productive, delicious French beans which are not stringy at all. I shall be growing them again this year 

[mumofstig]

I grow purple climbing beans Trionfo Violetto  and this year I'm trying Pantheon flat green beans, which got a good write up from the RHS AGM trials

RHS My Garden

[Robster]

I grow cobra which does me just fine.  This year I'm trying "yard long" as well.  On the picture it looked a bit thinner than a normal climber a bit like a fine dwarf bean.  Except a yard long obviously

[tosca100]

I grow cobra, much easier than the dwarf ones for us older folk. Dried a lot too for mixed beans for casseroles, to go with borlotti and the local white bean. They have always been very prolific for me, UK or here.

[snowdrops]

I grow cobra which does me just fine.  This year I'm trying "yard long" as well.  On the picture it looked a bit thinner than a normal climber a bit like a fine dwarf bean.  Except a yard long obviously

I tried  " yard long last year,good germination, lovely plants, planted out at the same time as runners,borlotti,yellow climbing & purple climbing. Then they just sat there & never grew,not one bit, all in the same row etc as the others. Eventually they disappeared . I shall try again as I have loads of seed left, I shall be interested to hear how you get on.

[LotuSeed]

I grew Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder last season. Went for the bush variety in hopes of getting a fuller crop over a shorter period so I could can them. The KW were pole variety and they were great climbers. This season I'll be going with Blue Lake, but the pole variety, to save on space.

[m1ckz]

blue lake for me too

[Dave NE]

I grew blue lake last year, one of the best tasting beans I have ever had, Dave

[Beetroot Queen]

We grow nautica dwarf ones but I may try two types this year. Cant wait love french beans, much nicer than runners and no squeak 

[tosca100]

I don't like frozen beans but did freeze loads of cobra last year as veg is very limited in winter here. The ones that have fared best were small ones, they steam up not too badly. They were so prolific I had to pick them small to keep up with them.

[upthetump]

i normally grow Cobra, year before last had really good crop but last year a rabbit got into my lottie and ate all the growing tips. this year i am trying Blue Lake as i bought them on sale in Wilko's last november. if you grow climbing beans well you should get lots of produce, 9 or 10 times as much as a dwarf bean

[Goosegirl]

Because of the high winds we get here, I have grown one plant in my greenhouse - grew like a triffid and produced loads of beans. Because I now grow sweet corn in there, I underplant with dwarf French beans as the climbing one tried to take over! 

[tangojulie]

I like Cobra too, but last year we tried Blauhilde and thought they were much better. Earlier, longer picking season, longer pods that stood well, easier to find because they're purple (they go green when they're cooked though), great taste and texture - what's not to like?

I grew an equal number of plants of each, and looking in the freezer I find I have about twice as many Blauhilde as Cobra, so I reckon they must have given a better yield too.

[cadalot]

Scarlet Emperor Runner beans for me last year, a really nice tasting green bean