Topic: Best French Bean

[Kea]

I like fine beans but some of the french beans I've grown this year wouldn't count as a fine bean ..too thick and long by the time they were found! however they have still been tender and tasty. The extra ones I bought as plants from the garden centre were not so nice the pods were flatter and were stringy...when mixed together on the plate I've noticed the family sort and discard these. They weren't labelled so I don't know the variety. I think the variety I grew from seed was cobra.

Anyone suggest a good variety, not stringy...these are climbing ones not dwarf...dwarf don't seem to do well on my plot the slugs eat the beans.

[saddad]

I use heritage varieties like Blue Coco and Trail of tears...  :-\

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's worth looking at the purple ones like Cosse Violette. They seem to grow in a somewhat lower temperature. So this year I had CV and Trail of Tears. CV did moderately well, while Trail of Tears sulked till the slugs devoured it.

[Suzanne]

Not a round one - but meraviglio de venezia which is a stringless flat pod yellow bean is lovely.

I agree about Cosse Violette which I also grow and stays tender for a long time. Also Coco Sophie is good.

[Jeannine]

Blue Lake, round sweet comes in dwarf and climbing, good crop reliable.

[Kea]

Great!

Thanks everyone.

 I'll have a look at those suggestions for next season.

[antipodes]

I am really confused about beans. I like thin "French" beans, I can't cope with those flat ones that you cut into pieces, I grew them once and couldn't pick them fast enough and they were tough and stringy with big floury beans inside, yuk.
But I was under the impression that climbers were always the flat-pod type? are you saying this is not true? I always grow dwarf beans, bending over to pick them through the foliage. I find that even if they swell a bit they remain edible.

Can someone clarify this for me?

[Barnowl]

I grew Blauhilde for the first time this year. They've cropped heavily for a long period - still cropping now in fact.  Good quality beans (purple that turn green when cooked).

[Suzanne]

Antipodes - lots of french climbers are round types. Blue Lake (green) and Cosse violette (purple) already mentioned - but you can yellow varieties like Neckargold and Osiris as well.

[Jeannine]

 Antipodes,try Fortex if you want a climber that will double as a filet bean. At maturity they grow to 10 inches but picked at  6 inches they are a very good filet type, it is  early  and very productive. Round and slim with great taste.

XX Jeanninme

[sawfish]

I would most definitely go for Cosse Violette. They look amazing, growing to about 10 feet and never ever get stringy no matter what size or age they are and grow an enormous amount of beans. Plus they grow in any weather.

I tried trail of tears but they were less prolific, looked more ordinary and got tough. So I left them on the vine and used the beans inside.

I would like to try fortex but I dont know where to get them?

[hopalong]

I grew Blauhilde for the first time this year. They've cropped heavily for a long period - still cropping now in fact.  Good quality beans (purple that turn green when cooked).

I grew Blauhilde too with similar results. The family have enjoyed eating them. Highly recommended.

[Kea]

Some of the climbers I grew this year.....and I think it was cobra were tender and not stringy even when they got big. My dwarf ones....un named variety bought as seedlings were stringy and not so nice and so were the climbing ones again un named variety bought as seedlings were flat and stringy. The problem I had was my first batch didn't germinate well and I didn't have enough seeds....went to get more seeds and everywhere was sold out so bought all the seedlings I could find to fill the space and could only find one tray of climbers and two of dwarf. I got some dwarf beans but the slugs go for these as they don't have to climb to get the beans. Strangely this year the slugs didn't eat the plants just the beans!

[valmarg]

We only grow climbing french beans, as the dwarf varieties get the curly wurlies and slug-bite.

Our favourite it Fasold.  We used to get the seed from T&M, but they now have it at Moles Seeds as well.

valmarg

[KathrynH]

I've been growing Modus for the past few years with good results. I start them off in pots and plant out when they are  couple of inches high. This, along with a sprinkling of organic slug pellets seems to keep them safe.

I'm interested in trying the Cosse Violette variety that a number of you have recommended though. Where do you get them from?

[sawfish]

cosse violette

http://www.beansandherbs.co.uk/heirloombeanseed.htm

this is a great place.

[tricia]

For the past two years I have grown Neckarkoenigin, a climbing french bean - seeds from Lidl - very successfully. Very prolific.

Tricia

[vegmandan]

You can't beat "Cobra".

Pick 'em small or let 'em grow a bit bigger.

I must have had 20lbs off just 5 plants this year and never picked one over 4 inches

Also "Safari"as a dwarf bean you can pick very fine. ;D

[Tulipa]

My vote is for Cobra too.  A couple of years ago I started a thread on which kinds of beans to grow and cobra came out tops then.  I have grown them the last 2 years and like Vegmandan have had so many off them, I am really impressed. :)

I also grow Trail of tears which have a lovely flavour and are beautifully tender but not so prolific.

T.

[Kea]

Yes I agree the cobra have been good this year...just didn't have enough of them planted. I've now bought my cobra seeds for next year but I'm going to get some Cosse Violette after everyones rave reviews!

I also like the small extra fine beans but I found the cobra were fine it was just the other unknown varieties that were horrible.