Butter bean seeds??

[vegnut]

Me too. love them dearly. But blimey guy's all that foreign lingo has confused the living daylights out of me Think i'll stick to Lima

[crichmond]

Well I just ordered some so only time will tell.

[Peta]

Have a go!

Not sure if anyone else has suggested this, but perhaps you could purchase some dried organic butter beans from your local health shop and try growing those? If they're organic, they shouldn't have been sprayed with nasties. Beans have such a long "shelf life" that they should be OK, even if they've been hanging around for a while.

You could try "pre-germinating" them first by soaking them for a while and seeing if they sprout. If all else fails, you could always eat the packet!

Forune favours the brave - good luck. Let us know if it works.
Peta

[momol]

This is a good idea Peta but it should be not just organic but also sundried as the machine/oven dried are usually no longer viable.

[Snadger]

I grew butter beans along with my climbing borlotti beans a couple of years ago.
All the beans were at the top of the plant at about 8 foot high! I say all, but in truth there weren't that many. They just started to form the main pods in October when the frosts arrived and killed the bl**dy lot!

I can't say I was too impressed with the ones I ate either because they were green, not cream, not being fully ripened and tasted and looked like broad beans which I already had a freezer full of!

I suppose there's a slight differnce in climate between downtown Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Naples though!

[smallblueplanet]

Mr PW seems to have done okay?

Evington Hilltop Adventures: spagna bianco

But he is a bit of a star, he's not got green thumbs, he's a bloody jolly Green Giant!

[pigletwillie]

Creeping will get you everywhere Manda.

The beans I have are quite large, meaty in texture and are grown like runner beans but without the picking as you wait till the pods dry out before harvesting. I can highly reccomend them.

[smallblueplanet]

Have you eaten them fresh PW, rather than waiting for them to dry? (I prefer to freeze any of our spare shelling beans)

[pigletwillie]

Yes, just fabulous. My first meal using them was in a bean and chorizo soup. Twas just grand and really forced me to build two more bean frames for this year.

[smallblueplanet]

Lol! I'm pleased to see you agree with our opion on the superior taste of fresh shelled beans. I wish we had the room to grow more shelly beans, as the Yanks call 'em (I think).

[Two_Sheds]

Lima beans, aka butter beans (Phaseolus Lunatus). Lima beans need a growing season of about 4 months with relatively high temperatures, more so than French or Runner beans. This is a good article:
Handbook of Vegetable Science and ... - Google Book Search

[smallblueplanet]

Interesting book, reading the chapter on french beans it splits pod type into 'green pod' and wax pod', what are wax pod type?

[Two_Sheds]

just bumped this thread because I've sown some White Emergo Runner bean, and they look just like butter beans.
Wilko, Chiltern Seeds, do them, as well as my favourite supplier:Beans and Herbs

[stevepkoreilly]

True Butter Bean Seeds

I have been succesfully growing true butter beans in England for about 4 years now.
You can just go into any supermarket and buy a pack of dried butter beans and a lot of them do organic too and a lot cheaper than seed companies.
Just plant them in a seed compost about 1.5inch deep and plant out late April to early May.
I plant the seeds around late December indoors.

[Snadger]

I have been succesfully growing true butter beans in England for about 4 years now.
You can just go into any supermarket and buy a pack of dried butter beans and a lot of them do organic too and a lot cheaper than seed companies.
Just plant them in a seed compost about 1.5inch deep and plant out late April to early May.
I plant the seeds around late December indoors.

Yeah, I have heard that butter beans can grown this way. Where are they on your piccie steve? They grow tall like scarlet runners don't they?

Welcome to the vine btw!