Shelling bean recommendations please

[chriscross1966]

Due to my impending house move this year I need to grow stuff on my current allotment that could best be described as "low maintenance" bewtween what can be a big days planting out and a harvest that isn't at gunpoint the way say courgettes, sweetcorn and green beans are.....

A big chunk of it will be spuds, onions, garlics, popcorn and winter squashes, but there'll also be beans....
I like beans that you shell and they fit my description well. I've already got borlotti's, yin-yangs, pea beans, O'Driscoll's, Cherokee Trail of Tears, a few soy beans and a couple of types of butter bean, I'm guessing I'll need fifty beans to grow a trenches worth (or a decent double row of the dwarfs/bushes) on my plot, allowing for some fails.... I've got about three trenches worth of climbers and one and a half double-rows of shorts.... I'd like another couple of rows of climbers and to fill in that spare bit.....

So what do people recommend?... I was thinking canellinis, but which one? Any other things I should be looking at?... and for the short one?

chrisc

[aj]

Hi Chris.

I'd recommend buying a bag of dried beans that you like the look of from a grocers/supermarket and just pop some seeds in where you have any gaps in your trench.

Black beans, pinto beans, cannelini, kidney beans; I've done this for the last 2 years and it really helps bulk up the dried bean volumes. I bought a bag of soup beans in NYC and sowed those last year and got a huge amount for the price of a small bag of beans bought in a 'seed packet'.

If you want good kidney beans, look for Canadian Wonder - they are dwarf. Also Pinto Beans, are dwarf and you can grow both types in blocks rather than rows; and both are fabulous for chillis and related soup type dishes.

I'm in the middle of a 'Bean Project' which is trying to grow and expand the amount of about 78 different types of bean for drying. I will be swapping them on the Vine - so in the future I'll have more to dabble with.....info on my Blog if you want a look
http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/

[1066]

Chris I've been wondering about trying some canellini - but had forgotten! What about Flegelot beans?? And where would you be getting them from!

[chriscross1966]

For some ofdd reason I'm not a massive fan of flagelots, I think more to do with the smell when cooking/opening the can... I might well go for that idea with the packet of mixed drieds... I've got to go to the supermarket today anyway......

chrisc

[Vinlander]

Anyone tried growing turtle beans from the shops?

I thought pintos were too tropical so maybe turtles are possible too?

[1066]

I've a) remembered I was going to try growing some lentils (puy) and b) last night was having a root through a cupboard and found I have managed to buy 2 bags of Turtle beans, so I will have to start eating some for starters!! and c) I was wondering about black eye peas - maybe a no go though?

[aj]

Pintos - black eyed peas - lentils will all grow here in the UK.

Lentils are harder to get a good crop out of as you get very few pods on each plant - they are much easier to buy dried. But most other beans will grow here fine - given the right conditions.

I grow loads of pintos - they are one of my favourites. Grown from a packet bought dried in the supermarket and now in their third generation.

[chriscross1966]

Chris I've been wondering about trying some canellini - but had forgotten! What about Flegelot beans?? And where would you be getting them from!

Umm if I remember correctly, the BBC is putting "Blue Lake" in its pack of seeds this year adn they're often mentioned as being suitable for use as flagelots/canellini.... One thought I'd had was to increase the numbers of bens per lant by taking them before they're dried out, blanch and freeze the beans

chrisc

[Robert_Brenchley]

Major Cook is said to be a good one if you can find it. I'll be trying it this year, and hopefully I'll have some seed to share in the autumn. Trial of Tears is another, though none of mine have lasted long enough to end up as dry peans so far!

[chriscross1966]

Major Cook is said to be a good one if you can find it. I'll be trying it this year, and hopefully I'll have some seed to share in the autumn. Trial of Tears is another, though none of mine have lasted long enough to end up as dry peans so far!

I've got Trail of TEars, it's a black bean.... I might well get soem Canadian Wonder to use for kidneys though.... chillis just don't look right without them.....

chrisc

[1066]

The Canadian wonder were good as a shelling bean, we ate the last batch from the freezer last week 

And the lentil thing - its just for fun really 

[antipodes]

In France there are numerous good varieties of drying beans. I have been growing Coco de Paimpol, they give a good yield and are good semi-dried or dried.
In relatively low manitenance, there are aubergines! They don't need picking constantly like courgettes and if they are well fertilized and mulched, they need little care. Just an idea...

[Jeannine]

Any of the cranberry beans would be good or Christmas limas which are speckled  xxJeannine

[amphibian]

Good sources of shelling beans are not so easy to find in the UK, we're obsessed with green beans for reason that are beyond me. Don't get me wrong, I like green beans, but with dried beans storing so well feeding you through the winter, you'd think we'd grow more of them. I'm a big fan of Trail of Tears, I had a bumper yield last season and will be sowing tons this year. I've had mixed success with using dried beans, I as really hoping for a good crop off my jumbo beans, but they were hopeless.

I'm buying some shelling beans this year from SSE in the US, they have a great range of shelling beans, if anyone knows a good UK source of shelling beans I'd love to hear about it.

[Jeannine]

 I find SSE quite expensive  and so is their postage, I and got annoyed with them because they will not send certain seeds to the UK as most other sellers do and they don't e mail to tell you, they just short ship . I am am member of SSEand it is fine here but be careful what you order from the UK.There are other sellers in the US I think you can get a better deal from.Seeds by size in the Uk might have a decent selection. I must admit the SSE catalogue is awsome.

xx eannine

[amphibian]

Seeds by size. XX Jeannine

Forgot about them, silly me, craziest website on the internet, but very good.

I'm off to have a gander.

[saddad]

In France there are numerous good varieties of drying beans. I have been growing Coco de Paimpol, they give a good yield and are good semi-dried or dried.
In relatively low manitenance, there are aubergines! They don't need picking constantly like courgettes and if they are well fertilized and mulched, they need little care. Just an idea...

Sadly Aubergines need too much heat to be low maintenance here... now if anything would make me move to the Dordogne it would be being able to grow Aubergines outside...