I am so excited. I picked the first of my shelling beans thanks to Galina and AJ.There are still loads more to come. I have to be very careful that I don't get them mixed up cos there are about 10 different varieties.
Last year I had loads of drying beans in different boxes, until my husband decided to 'amalgamate them' into one single box. :BangHead: Hope you manage to keep them all straight.
THe only ones I've got that I would struggle to tell apart would be the various rose beans... Borlotti, Bird Egg, Bridgewater adn Polish CLimber... maybe a runt from them could be confused with Pinto.... also Egyptian Pea-Bean and Box are fairly similar though a slightly and distinct different colour....I guss a seed from Cherokee Trail of Tears would look like a Cobra too... but the following are all pretty distinct..
Giganda, Painted Lima, Minnesota Purple Mennonite Stripe, San Antonio, Ernie's BIg Eye, Yin-Yang, Soldier and BLue Lake... if you limit yourself to one of the rose beans, one of the black-seeded climbers and only one of the red/white pea-beans then you should be OK....
If I was recommending one to a beginner then it'd be Bridgewater... crops well in indeifferent years, adn is early enough to guarantee both a crop to eat and seed to save... the ones to avoid for beginners...probalby Giganda until you've grown BOrlotti successfully, Minnesota Purple Mennonite Stripe isn't the easiest either, the crop can be hard to dry.... .
I don't have any of the ones you have mentioned chriscross and I am only a novice. You probably know every bean by sight so I am going to be very diligent and label them all very carefully.
Bridgewater, Major Cook and Odriscoll would prove something of a challenge to separate, though the pods of Major Cook are a give away and O driscoll are slightly bigger beans.
Major cook make super baked beans not very windy. :drunken_smilie: I still think O driscoll are better than Bridgewater: they are superb as fresh shelling ie eaten like broadbeans. :tongue3: