Thanks to the HSL I have fallen for three
Mrs Lewis's Purple podded for green (actually purple) beans
Odriscoll for Fresh Shelling
Major Cook for turbulence free baked beans (dried)
Would be interested in other peoples favourites.
The list is endless...
Cherokee Trail of Tears, good fresh, nice small dark bean
Blue Coco.. purple bean good fresh, nice brown bean
Ryders Top of the Pole... massive crop, white bean
Climbing "Barlotti" Firetongue..
for a start :)
Quote from: Digeroo on December 18, 2009, 21:22:53
Major Cook for turbulence free baked beans (dried)
My mind is boggoling (sp??) at the thought of these !!
ying-yang - the variety that we have produces attractive cream and red/purple beans.
I must confess I was surprised to be disappointed with Cherokee Trail of Tears after all the enthusiasm I've seen for it - seems a touch squeaky to me, more like a flat bush bean, and I prefer soft skins and rounded ones.
I don't have too many to compare with; my first year was very last minute and I was given Helda and Blue Lake - both better than shop bought but not fabulous.
I was delighted this summer with Cosse Violette, soft-skinned and full of flavour at any size and it kept on cropping from an early sowing til it was cut down by frost. That's my keeper from this year.
I've got a batch from HSL coming, hopefully. I wish they'd say something more descriptive in their catalogue rather than 'Guardian X says this is a lovely bean'. Seems a total lottery. Fun in a way though, I suppose.
I was also slightly disappointed with Cherokee Trail of Tears did not have a particularly good flavour, but cropped really well . I love the little shining beans. And Meraviglia Di Venezia cropped very well with a good flavour to take the runner up spot, rather oddly it has been very shy to produce beans.
Did not do well with yin yang I thought there were climbers and put them the wrong end of a row. But I gave a few beans to some children who thought they were amazing.
I like the romano style flat wide pods but have yet to find anything great. Most seem very prone to slugs.
Quote from: Digeroo on December 19, 2009, 10:19:03
And Meraviglia Di Venezia cropped very well with a good flavour to take the runner up spot, rather oddly it has been very shy to produce beans.
Digeroo - that's also on next year's list so can I ask - did yours have the pink stripes or not. It seems on http://www.daughterofthesoil.com/ blog it does
(http://www.angelfire.com/az/garethknight/dots/images/meravigliapods.jpg)
so I'm assuming that's HSL in origin and I might get some of the same from beansandherbs, but it's also available from mainstream suppliers, but their photos don't have the pink stripes. Or did they just not grow them on for long enough? Were yours HSL?
Anyway, I really need pink stripes :D
Also did you plant them out later than others as they say 'late season' or do you plant them at the same time and they just crop late?
Its Blue Lake for me ;)
I have that too... :)
Digeroo - yin yang (or ying yang) can be found in both dwarf and climbing forms.
Actually M di V was a franchi and no! I did not have any pink stripes. Did not look like the pic at all. Clumps of straight yellow pods.
Certainly if it comes up from HSL I will give it a whirl.The Real seeds Cherokee Trail of Tears were different from HSL.
Although I am not far from Cheltenham my growing conditions are different particularly on my allotment where it is very windly, so my experience of some of the varieties is totally different from daugter of the soil. She does not seem to have a slug problem.
Quoteying yang can be found in both dwarf and climbing forms
I would really like some climbing ones not seen them anywhere.
thanks Digeroo - I think I'll check with beansandherbs whether they get the essential pink streaks.
I had Cobra this year they are a climbing bean very good crop & very tasty i will do them again next year.
Last year i grew blue lake and cobras, cropped wonderfully, i shall be growing them again this year with the addition of cherokee trail of tears, borlotti and cannelini. I think once you start growing beans, you become a bit of an addict.
;D
Quote from: TEL on December 19, 2009, 11:21:01
I had Cobra this year they are a climbing bean very good crop & very tasty i will do them again next year.
I grew Cobra this year and they've sort of saved green beans for me. The un-named dwarf FB's I had were sush a hassle to harvest and the bunnies loved them ..... the cobras went from the time they were about 3 foot high until the frosts came, but it's still a green bean and I prefer shelling ones.... so Borlotti Firetongue was great and will be grown again, Yin-yang didn't do well but gets a second chance as it got abysmal husbandry from me and ended up in a flower bed, I've got several other climbing benas to try next year, butter beans (both normal and Gigande), I'mm looking for the climbing version of yin-yang too, I've also got a tall pea to try (Telefono from one of the italian seedhouses)
chrisc
Quoteying-yang - the variety that we have produces attractive cream and red/purple beans
I am somewhat surprised by this I thought they were black and white. They are also known I believe as Orca.
I've never come across a climbing ying-yang (black/white) bean either. :( Next year I'm going to try the pea bean (http://www.organiccatalogue.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=134&osCsid=776cb6fba1d117bca91860587b5dad7a), which is vaguely similar in appearance (brown/white).
I was given some beans this year that have been grown on our site for many years, nobody knows what they actually are. They are maroon/white and after googling I decided they were a sort of ying yang ;D. They are a nice pea bean, eat well fresh also good dried. Planted them thinking they were bush (Like most ying yang I read about) guess what they climbed to 5' or 6'.
Have plenty saved, if anyone would like to try some please send me a pm. I think that Real Seeds had some climbing ying yangs from a french monastery or somesuch but they gone from their site so sold out I guess.
Quote from: Sholls on December 19, 2009, 20:06:18
I've never come across a climbing ying-yang (black/white) bean either. :( Next year I'm going to try the pea bean (http://www.organiccatalogue.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=134&osCsid=776cb6fba1d117bca91860587b5dad7a), which is vaguely similar in appearance (brown/white).
I think the pea bean is the climbing yin-yang.... oddly they might not just be a dwarfing and climbing version of the same thing cos yin-yang always lists as a dwarf french bean as a dwarf and it was my understanding that the pea-beans were a different species, they just have similar markings though the colours are different.....
chrisc
Yes yin yang are also known as Orca. Also, I think, known as calypso (mainly in the US?).
The ones in the picture on this link from the US Amazon site look very similar to what I have.
http://www.amazon.com/Gourmet-Valley-Heirloom-Calypso-12-Ounce/dp/B00106NDNY (http://www.amazon.com/Gourmet-Valley-Heirloom-Calypso-12-Ounce/dp/B00106NDNY)
I am afraid that our crop this year is just about gone - a key ingredient in our "allotment soup".
Blue Lake, and Cobra grown before, both successful. Also grow Borlotti for clour - looks great, but don't really know how to use them, so have lots (shelled) in the freezer... Still, will grow more as they look great on the plot!
Cosse Violette are usually reliable and prolific, and seem to thrive at a slightly lower temperature than a lot of beans. Last year's flood finished them off before they established themselves, but it's the first failure I've had with them. Pea beans survived, and gave me lots of seed, so that's another I'll be growing again.
This was my first growing year, grew a few different varieties of climbing beans, favourite has got to be Cherokee Train of Tears, great crop but also I love their heritage story
Quote from: Mike J on December 21, 2009, 20:13:01
Blue Lake, and Cobra grown before, both successful. Also grow Borlotti for clour - looks great, but don't really know how to use them, so have lots (shelled) in the freezer... Still, will grow more as they look great on the plot!
There a good bean to use for winter stews and soups etc.... depending on how green they were they might need a while to cook though. If they were unpatterned then about 20 minutes or so, if they had clear markings then about an hour...
chrisc
Love Cosse violette, pea bean, borlotti, meraviglia de venise, Mother Stallard. Plus new one Polish purple stringless (got these at a Ryton seed swop) which I grew for seeds this year and find the mature bean is a really nice borlotti type and the green beans are stringless. Grw some Hendersons Black Valentines as well this year - not very prolific though.
Another vote for Blue Lake, and another one to be disappointed by Cherokee Trail of Tears. :-\