Topic: Yellow wax beans

[anemone]

I'd really like to grow some of these this year after no luck last year. I don't have much space but have 3 varieties to try.

Dwarf French Bean, Brittle Wax
Dwarf French Bean, Kinghorn Wax
Dwarf French Bean, Minidor

Has anyone grown any of these, and have any tips?

Two of the packets say space 40cms apart but this seems quite far? one type says only 15cms apart.

And last question - any ideas how many of each I should grow? I do like beans but I'm also growing some french green ones and runner beans.

[saddad]

24 of each with a good succession should give enough for a family of four and some to freeze...  :)

[artichoke]

I have to say that I have completely given up on dwarf beans. Short season, I can't seem to grow them well, in the same space you can have climbing beans that go on for ever and ever with enormous crops and no slug damage.

And you can get yellow ones.

[Sparkly]

kinghorn are nice. Slug damage is a problem though so you need to be picking very regularly.

[saddad]

True, I find climbers a much better bet...  :)

[Deb P]

As usual, I seem to have the opposite luck of everyone else!
I grow dwarf french beans early under cloches, and get fab crops that keep going all summer. Climbing french beans I have less luck with, I get much lighter crops much later...perhaps my plot isn't very sheltered so the dwarf ones do better? I dunno... :-\

Artichoke, I grew some great yellow dwarf french beans last year, Burre De Rocquencour I think...we are still eating them from the freezer, really nice flavour and not stringy at all.

[saddad]

There's always one trouble maker isn't there Deb...  :P

[thewoodle]

I haven't tried yellow ones, but have had lots of luck with green bush varieties from the real seed catalogue (I love all the seeds I've bought from there so far...). And I didn't start them off under cloches or anything either, just popped them in the stony ground on the top of a hill! (and I'm not a particularly good gardener...)

[anemone]

I've not tried dwarf beans before either but I hadn't seen any pole wax ones. I've done a search and found there are some though. I really don't have any room to try any others but they are called 'kentucky wax beans' if anyone's interested. We have got millions of slugs so slightly worried amount of dwarf vs pole I have now.

Deb p - what do you use for cloches? they must be biggish, although i guess depends on how many you grow. 

Thanks for the quantities saddad, off to do some maths to see where I can squeeze them all in :)

[Deb P]

Deb p - what do you use for cloches? they must be biggish, although i guess depends on how many you grow. 

I found some rusty metal cloche hoops with handles on my plot when I took it over, and cut some corrugated plastic sheet to fit to make the cloches. This was my legumes bed  in early June last year, dwarf french beans under the cloches, peas on the wigwams...

[anemone]

Thanks for the pic, I haven't used cloches before and was thinking of the single dome type :)

Your plot looks fabulous btw !! I love the wigwams.