French Beans - dwarfs or climbers?

[pjh75]

I'd recommend Cherokee Trail of Tears as climber. I tried dwarf beans for the first time this year; Delinel and Gold Dukkat, and the yields were good but no where near as much as CToT.

[bethduckie]

I tried blue lake climbers last year at home and they were fab.

This year I'm growing a purple and a yellow bush variety at the lottie, purely because I'm intending to freeze most of them for winter use, and they tend to all 'come at once' which is handy. I planted one lot early in the season and I think I had three pickings from those, some of which we ate and some we froze. Those plants are now spent, and the next planting are just setting some teeny beanlets.

They taste pretty good too, but not as good as the blue lake. But they are more convenient for me with limited time, it's easier to do fewer job lots of bean- processing then it is to do little and often- if it were little and often I'd scoff them and they'd never see the inside of my freezer, and TBH I'm drowning in produce at the mo and need to be eating the unfreezable stuff.

[yorkshire sam]

First time with climbing beans this year as we always grew dwarf french, Cobra was one recommended from the RHS site, this has done really well, prolific cropper and a great taste, and very little grubbing around as you do with dwarf french and climbing beans also take up less space. I use a darlek composter lid as a guide for the wigwam and plant a cane every 6-9 inches with 2 beans per cane.
PS they also taste quite nice raw

You should never eat French Beans raw as they contain a poison that is boiled away within minutes of cooking!

[yorkshire sam]

I have tried to grow a few varieties over the last two season as we love these and I always try to freeze a lot of them too for the rest of the year.. I prefer climbing beans, as they are easier to pick and give a bigger crop. I have tried several, can heartily recommend Cobra which I think pips Blue lake for both taste and harvest. The dwarf ones obviously dont give as big a crop as climbers and I find their taste is not really so different. Have grown Cropper Teepee, which is nice but can be a little bit stringy if you leave too long. Safari I can also recommend as this has a fine taste - its actually a kenya bean type which is a little finer than some others ( I think its what supermarkets call bobby beans!) Royalty is also a heavy cropper and they are also purple making them easier to find!

[bethduckie]

You should never eat French Beans raw as they contain a poison that is boiled away within minutes of cooking!

Really?

Oops...

[Thelma Sanders]

You have to eat a fair size portion to be affected, though, and runner beans are worse than Frenchies.
If you ever buy runners in Trashco the label tells you not to eat them raw

[BroadRipple]

i've eaten loads in my time...my children do from the garden...do we REALLY have to stop? Thelma, what kind of quantity are we talking about here?
sheesh. you'll be saying we can't eat deadly nightshade crumble or delicious laburnum risotto next. or breathing in the nourishing dust from our compost heaps...

[WendyC]

I've grown blue lake and cobra and now tend towards cobra as I think they have a better texture. I'm a bit fussy and don't like the "floury" (not the best word but can't think of another) texture of some beans.

[Alison]

I'm the opposite, wasn't very impressed with Cobra but had a lovely plate of Blue Lake earlier this evening Some of it is just personal taste so you have to try them yourself.