at what stage do you harvest the giant Blanco bean

[michaeljohnson]

Can someone enlighten me as to the correct time to harvest the very large white Spanish Blanco beans for eating purposes and approx what month are they usually ready for eating, do you wait until the pods begin to dry up first, or do you harvest them whilst the pods are still green but ripe with beans in them, can you also eat the pods whilst still half mature as a green bean, or are they unpalatable,

Naturally I shall obviously wait until the pods are fully dried up in order to save the bean seeds for planting next season.

[grunt]

Treat them like you would Scarlet Runners, or any other runner bean. Pick very early to use as a green bean, or let them achieve full size to use them as a fresh shelling bean, or let them dry to use for soups or stews over the winter.
To be honest, I haven't tried them yet as dry beans on their own. They have gone into mixed bean soups/stews, along with about 45 other varieties at the same time. I'll try a batch of Spagna Blanco soup/stew next, and see how they do.

[kathm]

I've had Spagna Bianca - I think that's possibly similar? - and I left them on for dried beans. They were fantastic - much bigger and meatier than shop bought butter beans. The only problem for me was that the pods didn't hold many beans and I got far more leaves than pods. The yield didnt tempt me to grow them a second year (but I've still got a few for seed if I change my mind!)

[grunt]

Kathm: If you got low production, it may have been too warm for their liking. Mine didn't start punching out pods until the summer heat broke. I'm growing them again this year, and going to try to get them in earlier, so they get a chance before the heat hits, so I may get, in effect, two crops of them.

[michaeljohnson]

Thanks for the info from both of you, as it is the first year I am attempting to grow them, and I am really looking forward to giving them a try-so any previous experience from growers is very welcome-so that I do all the right things when trying them out.

I have grown scarlet runners and similar runners for donkey's years, so will base them on that experience-and a new learning curve.

[kathm]

It's rare we get a too-hot summer on the East coast of England! But I'm sure it's something local - position, weather conditions, soil, or similar - because others get good yields, obviously!