Topic: Butter beans

[cestrian]

I love butter beans, but not sure which ones to plant. I am looking for a heavy cropper as I don't have much space left. Can anyone recommend a good variety and a good website to get them from??

[saddad]

I don't grow them... but people on here have...  :-\

[chriscross1966]

Gigandas or Corona Spagna are productive if we have a nice year, the Painted Lima beans that Pennard Plants sell is very very nice too.... you're a bit late to get Gigandas started though, they need a long season to really crop well (I'll be growing a few indoors this year), also can I point you in the direction of some of the shelling french beans? Yin-yang is easy to source, but Ernie's Big-Eye is great if you can find it, as is Cherokee trail of tears, and POlish climber will give you a Borlotti type bean six weeks before Borlottis will....

[antipodes]

Can you specify what you mean by butter bean? To me that is a yellow French bean  ???

[Ellen K]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370337932223?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_909wt_905

^^ these look good and the Seeds of Italy website also sell them.  You need to start them off in the warm though then plant out.  And hope for a good summer.  But I grew them last year and did get a crop of sorts.

[Jeannine]

Butter beans are actually Lima beans, Gigantes are runner beans but can be used as butter beans.

There are many kinds of lima beans, speckled colours,some  green and some white.If you can specify what it is you are looking for I can help you further. I grow several types of Lima beans and sent quite a lot over the the UK earlier this year.

XX Jeannine

[chriscross1966]

I've had excellent germination from a pack of dried Gigante beans I got from an online Greek deli...  can send you some spares if you like PM me and I'll try and drop in the post tomorrow or Thursday... They look exaclty like the ones I'm growing from self-saved seed (forget who sent me the originals a couple of years ago, probably Jab, Jeannine or Goodlife I think, might have been Robert Brenchley.... I swap seeds too much to remember sometimes :D)

[cestrian]

I quite fancy giving gigante beans a go. They will take up less space than Lima beans as I could grow them up the fence and they've probably got more chance of surviving the English summer. I could start them off in the green house.

Thanks for the offer chriscross. pm'd.