I promised a picture of the current cropper and here it is:
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| Sungold |
Last year I tried to grow these and they failed to prosper, due to the wet cold summer and the lack of adequate support.
The only beans to crop earlier were the Broad Beans.
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| Broad Beans |
And here's Runner Bean Painted Lady. A very old variety 1633? one source says. They may have been the first to cross the Atlantic. As I tried about four varieties of climbing bean last year and the runners were the only ones to pod I just stuck to the one pole bean this year - and only one variety of that. There are tons of flowers and the bees are going mad for them so I'm hoping the recent wet weather won't have washed away too many before they set.
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| Painted Lady |
Back to dwarf beans, aside from the Sungold I'm growing Canadian Wonder to dry. They are in the foreground here, and looking very healthy. Hopefully this will translate into lots of beans!
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| Canadian Wonder |
I'm a bean fanatic too! The "scarlet runner" is hard to beat. Probably the most prolific crop in my garden most years. I am also a strong advocate of climbing French Beans (esp "Cobra") - twice the yield as compared with dwarf beans, because they are tall but occupy only the same amount of ground.
ReplyDeleteIn a good year that's probably true - but this is the first "good year" in the last 4! Last year I pampered my pole beans giving over two raised beds to three Continental climbing varieties and they returned - nothing to speak of. This year I've banished them except for dwarf varieties because I reckon they are quicker to produce - and the conditions have been favourable. This year I'm sure the climbers would have produced too, in volume. Such is gardening!
DeleteThese all look super healthy. We've not gotten much further than blue lake, which is going like the clappers this summer. I like the red-flowered varieties. Fresh French beans are amazing: a great excuse to throw a salad nicoise together!
ReplyDeleteGot nowhere with Blue Lake last year - but that was last year!
DeleteEnjoy your salads, Lee.
We have three varieties of runners this year,
ReplyDeleteAny French/Italian pole beans in there or are they all genuine "runners"?
DeleteWe've sown 3 varieties of French beans this year, Tendergreen, Sungold and Royalty. All growing well but only Tendergreen has cropped so far with a decent crop of beans. Don't know why but our runners are really struggling this year.
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