Allotments 4 All

Merveille de Piemonte dwarf french bean:

"Mottled pod turning yellow when cooked. A meaty French bean, stringless and juicy. Piemonte is in the Alpine North of Italy".

Very tasty bean, grown mainly for their pods but can also be dried. Beautiful flavour.

Coco Bicolour climbing french bean. They are cream on one side and speckled on the other. I haven't been able to find any detailed information about their origin. Seeds originally came from Beans & Herbs. Prolific, ready to harvest from mid August and dry very well.

Jacob's Cattle Gold dwarf french bean description:

"Jacob's Cattle Gold Beans are a cross between Jacob's Cattle and Paint beans. These big beans are sturdy, and hold their shape with long cooking. They tend to soak up the flavors of the food they're cooked with. Great for soups, stews, and baked bean".

I like these because they are beautiful and prolific. They also dry extremely well and there are rarely any tarnished beans that have to be tossed. I direct sow them outside in late May/early June and they are ready for harvesting by mid August. Highly recommended.

I've sorted out and bagged up my seeds today and here is the final list:

Tomato -
Sgt Pepper's
Malachite Box
Black and Brown Boar
Tiny Tim

Climbing french beans -
Coco Bicolour (dry)

Dwarf french beans -
Merveille de Piemonte (pod)
Jacob's Cattle Gold (dry)

Flowers -
Canary Creeper (vine)
Ipomoea Grandpa Ott (morning glory vine)
Cerinthe

The flowers I'd planned to include didn't produce viable seed, it has been such a soggy autumn here so I've replaced with some of my favourite reliable flowers. Also the Deb's Creek bean didn't come true again, about 20% were a grey borlotti cross so I'm going to try again next year.

Preview of forthcoming attractions:

Quote from: Vetivert on November 07, 2025, 15:18:15Hi Debs,

I had a look back at the record for the SSC 2016 and found that the description for 'Sharpe's Liberty' matches your unknown peas; the donor states they are "perfectly round with a black hilum spot".

However, what was shared as 'Sharpe's Liberty' in the circle and by the HSL is without a doubt not actually the real variety, to which the seed bears no resemblance, as evidenced by reliable descriptions:
 

QuoteFoliage dense, very dark blue green, not whitened, with non-characteristic leaflets in 6s and much larger, deeply clasping, sharp-tipped, stipules, finely serrate to above the middle; pods start at the 15th node, on long very heavy stalks, singly or in pairs, the longest of any described for the Ne Plus Ultra group, usually 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 inches, occasionally 3 3/4 or almost 5 inches, tending to curve slightly, but otherwise of the Ne Plus Ultra type, very dark in colour with heavy bloom; peas 5 to 7 or more, also very dark green, smooth, round and not indented, oval in vertical section and smaller than most of those in the group; seeds of medium size, dimpled to coarsely wrinked, largely cream in colour.

Peas of New York, 1928

It was also included in RHS Wisley trials 1939, under 'Seeds Wrinkled':

QuoteHaulm 4 feet, dark grey green; pods mostly in pairs, pointed, straight, 4 1/2 inches long; peas large, bright dark green, of good flavour, 8 or 10 in a pod. Crop good. Ready Aug 10.

For whatever reason the HSL does not appear to make use of historical references to identify their pea varieties accurately, unfortunately I've found numerous errors and varieties be touted as something they are not, still to this day.

Of course this is absolutely no fault of your own and thank you for offering the variety, whatever it may be! A black hilum on a pale pea is uncommon. However, I just want it to be known that while it was traded as 'Sharpe's Liberty' this is a mistake and steps should be taken to prevent its further dispersal under that name. I feared it would have inevitably been 'misidentified' again, based on the past circle reference, if I didn't comment :)

Thank you, Vetivert, for your continuing campaign for accuracy in nomenclature. I know you have brought the attention of HSL to naming mistakes on multiple varieties, to no avail. Given their position in the country as the leading organisation on distributing preserved seed from a small library and involving a small number of loyal volunteers, it's a great pity that they don't research the accuracy of their naming more rigorously. But great work from you. Thank you again.

Quote from: Debs on November 07, 2025, 11:51:42Sorry JanG,
I've completely missed messages as have had a lot going on!!

Is there still time for me to catch up and contribute?
Debs

Hello Debs. Thanks for your interest in joining the Seed Circle. I'm afraid it's much too late to join for this year. With the deadline being only three weeks away, the other members of the Circle will already have measured out many of their available seeds into six packets. As you can imagine, with several contributing between 20 and 30 different varieties, there are quite a lot of hours involved in making up possibly in excess of 100 little packets.

So please set your sights on next year. I hope you have a good growing year ahead on your new allotment and can build up to a good range of seeds to offer by summer next year.

Hi Debs,

I had a look back at the record for the SSC 2016 and found that the description for 'Sharpe's Liberty' matches your unknown peas; the donor states they are "perfectly round with a black hilum spot".

However, what was shared as 'Sharpe's Liberty' in the circle and by the HSL is without a doubt not actually the real variety, to which the seed bears no resemblance, as evidenced by reliable descriptions:
 

QuoteFoliage dense, very dark blue green, not whitened, with non-characteristic leaflets in 6s and much larger, deeply clasping, sharp-tipped, stipules, finely serrate to above the middle; pods start at the 15th node, on long very heavy stalks, singly or in pairs, the longest of any described for the Ne Plus Ultra group, usually 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 inches, occasionally 3 3/4 or almost 5 inches, tending to curve slightly, but otherwise of the Ne Plus Ultra type, very dark in colour with heavy bloom; peas 5 to 7 or more, also very dark green, smooth, round and not indented, oval in vertical section and smaller than most of those in the group; seeds of medium size, dimpled to coarsely wrinked, largely cream in colour.

Peas of New York, 1928

It was also included in RHS Wisley trials 1939, under 'Seeds Wrinkled':

QuoteHaulm 4 feet, dark grey green; pods mostly in pairs, pointed, straight, 4 1/2 inches long; peas large, bright dark green, of good flavour, 8 or 10 in a pod. Crop good. Ready Aug 10.

For whatever reason the HSL does not appear to make use of historical references to identify their pea varieties accurately, unfortunately I've found numerous errors and varieties be touted as something they are not, still to this day.

Of course this is absolutely no fault of your own and thank you for offering the variety, whatever it may be! A black hilum on a pale pea is uncommon. However, I just want it to be known that while it was traded as 'Sharpe's Liberty' this is a mistake and steps should be taken to prevent its further dispersal under that name. I feared it would have inevitably been 'misidentified' again, based on the past circle reference, if I didn't comment :)

Viola Cornetti seeds (Galina 2016)
This is a sample, despite poor germination,the plants produced a good number of pods, so plenty of beans

Unknown peas ( see pic) were from the seed circle 2016

San Marzano-heirloom Italian tomatoes (renowned by chefs) were grown in the greenhouse and very productive

Gazza yellow Egg (Markfield Rover 2016 Seed Circle)
Grown in greenhouse,distinctive egg shape ,very productive, sweet tasting tomato

Viola Cornetti
Grown from seeds of the 2016 seed circle, contributed by Galina.
Poor germination so grown for seed collection.

Sorry JanG,
I've completely missed messages as have had a lot going on!!

Is there still time for me to catch up and contribute?
Debs