Climbing French beans

[michaeljohnson]

I don't know exactly what variety they are -But a top english vegetable showman, called Medwyn Williams-is advertising in his catalogue a variety of french climbing beans which he says give tremendous crops of beans if they are treated in a special way.

According to him you plant the young bean plants at the bottom of each pole or cane, and when they begin to climb up the pole you let them reach three foot high then pinch out the main leading shoot to stop them , they then send out loads of side shoots and produce an exceptionally heavy crop of beans that will continue to climb as well-according to him you get quite sick of eating them after several plastic shopping carrier bags full of beans from them you feel stuffed to the gills with beans. ;D

I am determined to send for some of these bean seeds on monday just to see what variety they are, and grow them out according to his method- I don't mind having too many beans to cope with as I can always give some away to neighbours etc,

[raymondo]

I saw something similar on a gardening show here. The gardening personality was talking to an old Italian gardener who had converted his backyard entirely into vegetable production. He also pinched out his climbing beans to increase yield, though from memory he pinched them out when they neared the top of the trellis.
Sounds interesting. I will await your reports as your season progresses.

[robertb]

I've heard of pinching out at the top, though I gave up bothering after a while. I get all I can cope with without the extra stretching.

[galina]

Some beans are better at producing early sideshoots than others. It stands to reason that once the main shoot is stopped, any bean will concentrate on producing sideshoots.

However there will be a time delay before these sideshoots will be producing beans. For short season gardeners this could mean jeopardising harvest from the remainder of the main shoot, whilst never benefitting from the sideshoot harvest.

[michaeljohnson]

I eventually found out what variety it was, apparently it is a very old and re-selected version time and time again re-selected, that has been in general use for over twenty years or more-it is called (The Prince) many of you will already know the variety and probably have grown it in the past, as also have I many years ago, but apparently this version of it from constant re-selection tends to climb a bit up poles to about four foot, before you nip the tops out.

One particular dwarf been I really like from several years ago and is still available today is- (Tendergreen) totally stringless fat chunky bean, that remains stringless even when left on the plants for a while,nice flavor too.

[ianpearson]

Ordinary 'The Prince' is a variety that I have grown in the past. I now only grow climbing frenchies, as there is far less problem with slugs, and they are easier to pick, crop longer, and give a better yield per area.
But if this is an intermediate 'dwarf/climbing' it could have some merit. Full-on climbers do shade out other crops, so this could have a lot of advantages for intercropping situations. I'd be keen to hear how it goes, and you could save a few for seed ...

Where are you getting them from?

[canadamike]

RED SWAN, available at SSE in the US is said to be a bush but really is a short indeterminate. It is HUGELY productive and is the best canner I have had in 25 years.

The flavor , once canned, beats the crap out any other I have tried, It is an american bean as opposed to the french ''filet'' ones, but even my french girlfriend, absolutely partial to the slim ones had to admit of their superior flavor.

She cannot get over their shape, she is, like all the french, used to these slim filet beans, the french eat with the eyes more than us, but she stops talking when she eat them. They are truely a different experience in the mouth, designed for hard to satisfy people.Very very hard to beat in the mouth....and the mouth is king. And I can them in a presto without water in mason jars.

It also has an old dusty pink color ( turning green in cooking) that is a killer for the eyes. EVERYBODY FOCUSES ON THEM WHEN MIXED WITH OTHERS. I plan to grow lots of them for market.

I know a few here have issues with SSE selling seeds. I do not care. They are doing an amazing job at it. Truely amazing. And they put on the market the best canned bean I ever had. And it means a lot for a man striving for total self sufficiency.

Hurray to SSE.

I needed to say it.