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I was given these (all 2 of them) by a freecycler last year, when is the time to sow them? And how do you eat them? Are they for drying or cooking like any other runner or French bean?

Fankoo  :D

 ???

I grew these last year. They are climbers so treat in the same way as Climbing french beans/runners in terms of sowing. You can use them as green beans if you pick them young enough but not a spectacular taste or texture this way - but they were one of the best flavoured shell beans I had last year so will be growing them for this again. I have plenty of other varieties that give excellent green (or other colour) snap beans

yes they're lovely. we're having some in our soup this lunchtime

if you want some more seed, drop me a PM

Thats very kind of you RT :D, I am growing yellow and purple podded French climbing beans as well in not a large garden. I think it would be greedy of me to accept some to be honest. I will grow these two and save seed for next year ;).



I have never had snap beans or shell beans, can someone explain them to me please. Treat me like an idiot as I really know nothing of which you speeeeek :D

Quote from: star on March 31, 2008, 20:18:49
I have never had snap beans or shell beans, can someone explain them to me please. Treat me like an idiot as I really know nothing of which you speeeeek :D

oh yes you have. a snap bean is what the Americans call a string bean ie where you eat the whole pod like with runners or french beans. A shell bean is one where you grow it to ripeness, and use the beans inside, like with the pea bean. Btw if you grow French beans like borlotti or pea bean for the beans inside, try to eat them fresh rather than drying them, they're much better, and you can buy dried beans dead cheap in Tescos (OK they don't do pea beans dried)

I'd second that RT - I ate all my shell beans fresh last year and they were lovely. The leftovers I froze rather than dried and unlike snap beans they tasted just as good as fresh.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D Cheers RT, see? I told you I was an iriot ;)

I didn't realise runners and French were called snap beans, you has cleared that up for me thanks ;)

I understand the difference now..........excellent! I'm looking forward to trying them  ;D

I am  bit confused here, pea bean, can someone tell me more, is it what I would call a cow pea from the US. eg a Blackeye pea or Red Ripper.

XX Jeannine

 I got some from HSL last year but only bulked them up not eaten any yet.. grew them up Wigwams like  the rest of the peas for saving..
Cow pea is Vigna unguiculata.. but Pea bean is a phaseolus I think..  :-\

pea bean for me anyway is the same as ying-yang bean, a french bean in other words. There is a web page that says it's a different species - for memory Phaseolus aegypticus, but that's wrong i'm sure. I got it originally from Simpson's seeds (no picture)

I still don't understand, is the name of a bean, or a pear, or is it the name of a family of beans/peas. If it is   yin yan then it should be easy to identify but I have never heard a yinyang called this

Someone else said there are several varieties of pea beans which would suggest a family which is why I thought it was the same as the cow pea family,I havea lot of varieties of cow peas, which by the way are actually beans .

If this is the case some grow high ans some are dwarf.

Still confused here.

XX Jeannine

The current HSL catalogue has Pea Bean Inca, listed with the Climbing French Beans Jeannine  :-\

I posted a picture of them  here when they crossed with my borlottis. Let me have a look

here they are
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,36570.0.html

http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/growing_show_vegetables_1/pea-bean.php

Yay.....mine are the half cream half chestnut brown coloured ones. :D

Thanks for the info page Robert, thats interesting ;).

Hope fully next year I will have some to swop, hope they produce well, as I said earlier I only have two lonely beans :)

Yeah Pea beans.....My wife swears by them.......Got loads and loads and loads.

Phaseolus Vulgaris....... seed can be dried and used as a pulse where the gorgeous seed are half white and half brown.  My wife uses them like french beans eating them in the pod stage.  They grow to not much more than 4inch long but are quite prolific.   They are also amazingly reliable and since all that I grow is in pots they cope well with restricted space.

They are a climber (treat like climbing french beans) and readily available in the UK or contact me for a pack of 20 own seed.

Ah so if it is vulgaris, they are just another dry bean that happened to be called pea bea,  and not a seperate species, now it makes sense.I suspect they may have another name in the US.

Rentawreck I would like a pack please, I can swap you for another bean, European Soldier, Pebble, Tarbais,Yin Yang, Orca, Dapple,what ever, I have several more or something else if you prefer.

Thank you

XX Jeannine

That's fine Jeannine.   You don't have any climbing beans do you as I tend to grow them mostly because of their ability of continuous cropping and my restrictions to just a few pots?

While I am sending to you I have a very few spare pips of Dioscorea Batatas.......a Chinese Yam to you.   As far as I know this plant is unavailable in the UK.   It is a climbing plant mentioned in Simon Hickmott's book Growing Unusual Vegetables.   It takes up to 4 years for full maturity and the root (edible bit) can be over 3ft long......or is that deep.   I believe that if you need help to dig this up you hire a team of grave robbers!!!

Once established root cuttings mature in only 2 years.

These bulbits (pips) may not keep very long and should be planted this year so only take them if you really want to have a go.