New to Beans

First year with beans, and I don't know what I like, so I bought a BUNCH of different kinds. I'll find out:
1) what germinates (Baby Gourmet has a LOW germ.rate I can tell you that already)
2) what grows well in my conditions
3) what I like the TASTE of
4) what freezes well (if there are any leftovers)

I planted 5/5, 6/1, and will continue 7/1 and 8/1 -- just to see (Pinto in first two plantings because they take so long)

Types of Beans
- Stringless Green Pod (50d)
- Tenderpod (50d)
- Derby (53d)
- Tendergreen Improved (53d)
- Contender (55d)
- Kitchen King (55d)
- Harvester (55d)
- Blue Lake Bush (58d)
- Blue Lake Bush 274 (58d)
- Baby Gourmet (60d)
- Cherokee Wax (65d)
- Pinto (85-90d)
- Scarlet Runner
- Rattlesnake

I want to try some colors, too, because I already learned that finding green pea pods among green pea leaves is a trail YELLOW, RED, and PURPLE bean pods among green leaves sounds so much nicer.

I don't intend to grow all of these every year. But I've never done this and I found a lot of 20c and 50c seed packets, so it's an inexpensive experiement.

Any of these above that you love or hate? Any suggestions for further experimenting?

I like 'Dragon Tongue' beans for a fresh saute (butter is best). They are yellow and purple and are easy to see in the plant. They are a bush bean, so no trellis or poles are required. They can be left on the vine to mature and picked as dry beans, too. Don't know what the flavor is though, since I always pick when they are tender.

Here's a link to the Plantfiles entry for Dragon's tongue with opinions and some photos.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40034/

David


This message was edited Jun 2, 2013 3:25 PM

I have planted 'Contender' and 'Blue Lake 274'. I prefer the Blue Lakes for production and taste. I have grown 'Pinto' beans before and honestly, I just assume to go to the store and get some dried ones. I just prefer the taste of the ones that are dried in the store compared to eating them fresh. The 'Pinto' beans can be used as a green bean I think if you pick them early before they get tough. Go to the top of the page and click on 'Guides and Information' and then go to 'Beans' and search alphabetically for the types that you have and see what others have said about them.
There are so many varieties that there is not hardly a way for you to grow all of them unless you really had a huge area. I think for a green bean, you can't go wrong with the two that I mentioned earlier. However, I think the best tasting green bean that I have tasted/grown is 'Royal Burgundy'. They are purple on the plant but turn green when they cook. Ferry Morse distributes them.
Hope this helps a little.

'Jade' has been my go-to for the market garden, a green bush variety that's sweet and productive. I've got to say, though, if I was growing a small personal garden, I might see if I could find a good pole bean variety. In our market garden we never trellis anything because building trellises on that scale would be ridiculous (and you'd have to rebuild each year b/c of crop rotation), but spending hours bent over picking bush beans is NOT FUN. Picking beans standing up sounds more appealing.

I switched 4 years ago to pole beans when I found some French Filet varieties as pole beans: Emerite, Fortex for green; Ramdor and French Gold for yellow; and a new one for me which is supposed to be a pre - 1775 French heirloom called Blue Coco from Fedco. For years I grew the French filet bush beans and loved them but like you, SwallowFeather, I tired of bending over to pick the beans and only got maybe 2 crops from a plant. The pole beans just go on and on (at least these varieties do) until the first frost and we never tire of picking them. We usually have more beans than we know what to do with!

gardadore, are the French Filet varieties those extra-thin ones? (Also, let's hear it for Fedco!) I am not crazy about extra-thin beans (it's the extra picking for the same volume) but if they are not I might try some of your varieties.

They are all the thing French filet type but the nice thing about the Emerite and Fortex is that they stay crunchy even when extra long. But if the thin beans are not your thing then don't buy these! The extra picking doesn't bother me because I am at least standing up!

Good point about standing up. ;) I'll have to do some research about pole beans in general I think, to find what varieties suit me best.

My step-father was a truck farmer, and always grew Blue Lake beans for market and for home. For many years, those were the only fresh or home-canned pole beans I ever ate (and only when visiting my mother). I traveled 5 days/week for my job so no time to garden for myself. Several years ago, after I retired and moved out of the city, I started growing Kentucky Wonder pole beans. The taste blew me away, both fresh in the pod, and dried. After that, I swore I'd never even try to grow blue lake beans.

I may have to eat my words, because a friend recently sent me some "blue lake black french climbing beans". I have just started them in a flat, so it will be a long time for results.

I usually try every year to grow out at least one variety of a bean that is in danger of becoming extinct. If we don't save them, who will?? Last year it was the Cherokee Trail of Tears black bean. I only had a few seeds, so the crop didn't produce enough to cook a pot of them. I saved the seeds I grew to grow more this year, hopefully I'll have enough to eat as a trial, and still save a few to replant.

For eating fresh, I really love the french filet beans and want to try the Fortex variety. I forget the variety I have grown before, but I do know I had to watch them carefully. One day they'd be too small, and the next day, too large.

We grow Kentucky Wonder & Romano beans here, the latter are my personal favorite. I like them steamed, roasted or sauteed (with olive oil and garlic). Even the canned ones are good.

You are right about the Fortex. They can really take off but at least still taste good when they get long. My husband preferred the Emerite but I ran out of my packaged ones and am still planting just the ones I saved. I'm not sure what the difference really is but I think he feels they don't get as large and he prefers to pick them small.

I grew Scarlet Runner last year and again this year. They taste great and the flowers are very pretty, bright red. Matured very late. The beans look like dark red giant limas.