Favorite Flavor String Bean

[Alan]

Contender/Provider do well here and a terrifically productive market and home garden types. Definetly a must for market gardeners.

However, for a home garden bean, if you don't mind a little hard work picking then I would go with White Half Runner which is my all time favorite.

I don't have seed available this year of my other favorite, but provided a good crop this fall I will have seed available on the new web-site for a small, white, bush, cutshort, greasy bean from Manchester KY called "White Icecicle" a terrific family saved heirloom in a rare bush form. Most Greasy types are pole types, but somewhere along the line someone got ahold of an off-type bush and thankfully saw the merit and saved the seed. Even if I don't have a good year with it, I've got a backup seed accession sent to our good buddy in the north Canada Mike. All in all, hopefully in 2009 you can grow out this wonderfull old time bean in your gardens!

[canadamike]

I am all excited at the idea of growing greasy beans. Since there is nothing in the french language already existing to describe them, I am tempted by ''FÈVES BRILLANTES'' which could be translated by ''shiny beans''. It is not often one has the privilege to name something. I also feel pretty sure it would be better to draw people to them if they were renamed in english, greasy has a very negative connotation in these day and age.

It would be a wonderful endeavor for us HG people to work at making them better known,since they taste (apparently, according to many sources) so good.

So Alan, up for the revamping of the name à la Homegrown?

[Alan]

Hmmm, I don't know about revamping the name in the US, but for canada it does sound awfully pretty. The only reason I don't want to rename it in the U.S. is because the conotation of "Greasy Beans" is a distinctly Appalachian conatoation which lends and air of folklore and general "old timey-ness" to the beans which I think suits their original homes well and makes them a legend in their own right as in Southern Indiana everyone has heard of "Greasy Beans" but only those who have lived in Appalachia or have relatives there have had them. They are a "you have to know someone with that background" kind of crop.

However, if you want, I may be up to putting my crossing skills to a real test and crossing a couple of varieties of greasy beans to create a new type which we can name one of those "Fancy, Dancy" French Monikers. What do you say friend?

[robin282]

Never heard of greasy beans before.

It has become pea weather here! I try to get them in for St. Patrick's day, but sometimes it is not possible. I have turned over the beds, and put plastic over them--just to get a head start.

The purple beans I grew last year that survived a frost will be going in soon. They have to keep surviving frost for me to select them. The beauty of it is that they are very tasty too!

I have gotten 2 Italian (form Italy) romana beans: one yellow, one green. I will be growing those along with some of the recommendations here.
Thanks, and if anyone has a favorite bean not mentioned, please post!
Robin

[canadamike]

I am all for it buddy, but hybridizing them might be something, apparently they are often self-fertilised before opening, but in some areas of the country there is an 80% chance of natural hybridisation, I sure would like to know by which bug or special bee.

And tell me how you do it, I was thinking of doing it with stringless beans, as I understand they are stringy. Am I wrong?

[Alan]

Yes, beans and peas are very hard to hand cross and are self fertile just like lettuce, but I know it can be done! I just have to figure it out and if I do or even if I ever just find an off type, you will be the first to know and we can throw one of those awesome french names on that bad boy that I love so much!

[robin282]

Well, I suppose whatever is fresh out of the garden first could qualify as the most tasty bean of all...

[raymondo]

This year I grew Muffet, a pole bean, for the first time. I was very impressed with flavour, yield and earliness (57 days from sowing to first harvest). It will be my regular from now on but of course I will try others as well. Next season I want to try Romano.
Like Johno, Slenderette is my favourite bush variety, though I try new ones each year. For some reason my bush beans didn't produce this year. We had a very cool summer with temperatures struggling to reach 25°C (77°F). It didn't seem to affect the pole beans but the bush beans couldn't cope at all!

[robin282]

I cannot find the "Muffet" pole bean here. They sound great and fast!
Robin

[canadamike]

Ray, I am not surprised at all. The pole beans here always gave me aaa harvest until almost frost, altghough it was slow at the end and the beans were crooked.

Thedwarf beans, on the other hands, were always exhausted by that time, or so I tought. I said to myself : they have given, it's over.

Then last year, I planted some late in a free space. I got some alright, even in our cold summer, but not a great harvest. Then september and october were really warm, and I harvested them untill the end of october. After going lame, I let them there anyway, I was busy canning and all, and they had a second wind, actually they produced more. The july nights were close to the usual fall nights, mind you... often around 8 instead of over 20-25., while the fall ones were warmer.




So they are more

[canadamike]

romanos are the tastier I ever tasted, but as Johno says my wife does not like their look. For canning, you need a tight, compact package. The beans with bumps are kind of a no no, so very apparent seeds are not in order, they don't look that great once canned, unless you filet them. The gizmo costs 2-3$ to do it

Rocdor would be a good wax. I am trying fin de bagnol this year and plan yo can and freeze a lot. I will tell you later.

[flowerpower]

I like the flat Romanos. I just wish they were pole beans not bush. I didn't even grow them this yr. I replaced them with the french filet. I am still waiting on beans I am happy they survived the hail, so I won't bitch too much. lol

[jtcm05]

For bush....blue lake....for pole beans....fortex

[canadamike]

Flower, the funny thing is I got seeds of bush romano for the first time this year. William Damm and Berton seeds carry them pole. Berton is an italian/canadian seed company. If you cant find any, tell me, next time I go to my italian grocery store I'll get some for you. They still had them today, I went there.

[flowerpower]

Thanks Mike. Good to know they have the pole style in Canada. I'll have to see if Grow Italian has them. I try not to look at that site. There's too many things I want to try. lol