Half Runner beans

Last year DH planted half runner beans (called Mountaineer). They didn't have nearly the flavor of the ones he planted in previous years, but he can't remember what they were.

I thought some of you might know which ones have the best taste. The Mountaineer ones didn't taste any different than a plain old green bean as far as I'm concerned.

Ginny

The mountain half runner is one of my favoites, However there are several half runner cultivars, State http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/39863/index.html This one is a semi flat pod. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/39936/index.html, This one is sort of generic, frequently sold as the Dixie half runner or skip bean.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/67897/index.html is new half runner. These are readily available from commercial sources. There are a lot of half runners, that are only available from specialized sources such as SSE.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?search_type%5Bcommon%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcommon%5D=bean&search_type%5Bfamily%5D=contains&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&search_type%5Bgenus%5D=contains&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&search_type%5Bspecies%5D=contains&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&search_type%5Bcultivar%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=half+runner&search_type%5Bhybridizer%5D=contains&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&Search=Search

This message was edited Mar 28, 2005 11:18 AM

Farmerdill, is the mountain half runner the same as mountaineer?

Yes, but these are old cultivars and there may be some variation among sources. I used seeds from Southern States Cooperative. This cultivar is small (4inches) and completely round. It does have strings when full grown. Some folks called it the Tobacco Worm, but that is an even older cultivar. They do have a strong family resemblance. Taste is very close to that of a pole bean.