started the beans off today

[ACE]

About  400 in 7 different varieties all in plug pots and tucked safely away in the green house, along with a few mousetraps. Tried some posher compost this year to give them a bit of a start. Miracle Grow, same old council tip rubbish but a few of their little yellow slug eggs  plant food granules that are supposed to perform miracles. I'll still cross my fingers though. That usually works.  My mate done his earlier this season and lost the lot in the cold weather, so all my spare seeds have been given a good home.

[ACE]

[Deb P]

400 bean plants! That sounds like an awful lot! You must love beans....😂
Mine are going to stay in their packets for a few more weeks yet....way too cold up here in Derbyshire!

[Beersmith]

That does seem a huge number!!

I usually go for 20 runners, 20 dwarf and 20 climbing french initially and repeat about a month later often with different varieties. 

And most seasons, after giving away a good proportion, think "too many" must cut down next year!! The reason I don't is just caution that this season germination might be poor, or I might lose some to pests.

[ACE]

I eat beans as a replacement to the potatoes I am not allowed anymore. Two or three big sweet jars of dried beans do not last us the whole year so I even have to buy some as well.   Refried beans , bean flour,  curries, chillies and stews. Then there are the runners earlier on before I pick for drying. 400,  not enough room for any more.

[BarriedaleNick]

That's a mountain of beans!
I have 10 climbing beans and 8 dwarf ones out in the veg area and some are starting to flower.  Going to try some flat beans and some beans for podding as they are extremely popular here..
I'll sow more climbers and some different dwarf ones in a couple of vegs but that will still give me too many if they come through..

[ACE]

You must be warm enough for butter beans down there. I can get the colder weather varieties but they are not the same as the real thing. Great for all sorts of dishes and beans are a far healthier alternative to the starchy staples we usually eat.  Try mashing them after a good boil, Refry and add any herbs and seasoning you like, a dollop of yoghurt and grated cheese. Make them into patties and bake, toast them off with another cheese topping. Goes with anything. I missed my fish and chips with my diet. but bean patties and a  tuna steak and I am happy.

[saddad]

As Deb P says, no butter beans here!

[Obelixx]

Lots of broad beans in flower here but I don't grow any others as it's too dry.   Really dislike runners anyway and not that fond of green beans but I do love butter beans, kidney beans, cannelini beans, chick peas, black-eyed peas, lentils.  Never seen butter beans here either to eat or sow till I found a bag in a Vietnamese store in La Roche-s-Yon.   I might try sowing a few just to see what happens.   The local bean is a moguette which I reckon is botanically the same as a cannellini but they're so cheap to buy here I won't bother trying to grow any.

[ACE]

No good looking for butter beans, they are usually called Lima beans on the packet. They don't grow well in the UK. A good alternative  are Gigante  beans but are just not the same as the real thing. I sown some gigante, pea bean, borlotti, dwarf and climbing french and a few runners. Also for a try out this year some yard long beans, that should be fun.

[BarriedaleNick]

I tried gigante last year in London and the plants were huge, they never stopped growing.  Hardly got any beans though!
Like Obelixx said beans here are a staple, they are cheap and there are loads of varieties - so many it is difficult to know what is what.
I am going to give lime\butter beans a try though if I can source them.

[saddad]

I'd stick with barlotti, good return in terms of weight of crop.

[gray1720]

Once it warms up a smidge I'll get some beans in - the broadies are already out on the allotment where no doubt the blackfly will savage them, though I have kept 8 back at home where   I can at least watch the blackfly tucking in.

I think I still have some of the dwarf borlotti that climbed... or was it climbing borlotti that dwarfed, blowed if I can remember now. Plus some yin-yang, various climbing French beans, the other borlotti that aren't the confused ones (it's just me confused now) and of course runners as well. I'll put a few wigwams up in the home garden, as they did well last year, and I'll try to remember to take the tops out - we were up to our tits in beans last year, and had loads left to dry for the winter.