Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello
Last year i grew all sorts of french beans. Green, purple and yellow ones also borlotti beans. They were all dwarf and i had a fairly good crop. This year i would like to grow a load in my polytunnel and was wondering if i would be better off growing the climbing variety. Would i get a better Yield?

geacher wrote:Hello
Last year i grew all sorts of french beans. Green, purple and yellow ones also borlotti beans. They were all dwarf and i had a fairly good crop. This year i would like to grow a load in my polytunnel and was wondering if i would be better off growing the climbing variety. Would i get a better Yield?

Without a doubt; I grow three varieties of climbers in the tunnel every year and they are much better use of space, crop over a long period and give a crop of shelling beans to eat fresh or freeze. I usually put a few dwarf beans in for the end of the summer when space is available.

Dear Alan, may i be so bold as to ask you if you would be so kind as to share with us, what varieties you find best, thankyou.

Hi OH,
Of course I cannot speak for Alan but most of the French Climbing Beans do well in tunnels being that they are self fertile as opposed to Runners which need pollination. I grow Diamant and Cobra and also Cosse Violet and one yellow one who's name escapes me at present.
JB.

Thank-you for that Johnboy, thougt it might be useful to anyone trying it for the first time.

What about Blauhilde? The dark purple pods go green when cooked but are still very tasty and always provide a talking point for visitors to the garden. I would also endorse Cobra.

oldherbaceous wrote:Dear Alan, may i be so bold as to ask you if you would be so kind as to share with us, what varieties you find best, thankyou.

Morning OH

It's not so much which varieties I find do best, more just the varieties I always grow. I agree with Johnboy that any variety that takes you fancy will succeed in a polytunnel.

I grow the same every year and save a few for seed.

Ryder's Top of the Pole (an old, quick-grower that produced roundish dark green pods and white seed later)

Madeira Maroon (rather slower cropper, flattish, very pale green pods and red seed later)

Kew Blue (fat dark purple pods)

I usually sow about 20-25 April. I could get away with an earlier sowing but the time is determined by when I will have space to plant out.

I grow The Prince (dwarf) when I have space at the end of the summer - sowed 2nd August last year.

Morning Alan, i just wondered if you found some varieies better than others, but i'm sure people will find your chosen varieties very interesting.

I used to grow dwarf French Beans but find I get a far better yield per plant from growing the climbing varieties which seem to crop for a longer period. The only proviso is that you have space to grow them up poles which don't shade out your immediate growing area. My favourite varieties are Cobra, and Blauhilde which is the purple podded bean which turns green when cooked.

We mainly grow climbing french,I'm sure it's a better use of space and when they get away they are no longer troubled by slugs which I find a problem on the handful of dwarf beans we grow later in the season

i grow a few dwarf both in the tunnel and outside cos they crop before the climbing ones are ready, the climbing ones provide the bulk of the crop for freezing later in the season.

The varieties of French Dwarf Beans I grow are Purple Teepee and Green Teepee simply because they produce their crop above the leaves and this means that they do not drag the ground and become attractive to just about every slug known to mankind and apart from that I do not have to stoop so much when picking. This is not through laziness but Arthritis!
Both varieties give a very prolific crop and the Purple Teepee turn a dark green when cooked. The Cosse Violet Climbing French Bean I mentioned earlier also turns green when cooked. Both varieties have a good flavour.
I mainly grow outside but have a couple of dozen plants in the tunnel on a late sowing which gives small quantities of beans up until late November early December most years with scant protection.
JB.