Calling all ye beany sleuths!

[Guest]

Haha, to be honest Ive never seen the black ones! But I have read that some people can sometimes confuse the red ones with black because they also have a several colour shades! With some of the mahogany markings being mistaken for black (gardeners are usually old and need specs! ) you can get yellow soldier beans too. Soldier bush beans have been used since the 1800's. In France the soldier bean is called Haricot St

Doh! Now I want some yellow ones.

sorry, my quote thing is doin a funny again but you know what ya said

[Scarlet]

^^^^ I'm having quote problems too..I'll report it to admin.

[veggiechicken]

In regards to HSL info it just says Donor Sue Harris acquired these from a street market in Inca, Majorca that sold local produce so they had to come from somewhere at some point. Will be interesting to see how the plants compare next year.

Doesn't this mean that Inca is a made-up name? Its a pea bean that is grown in Majorca but couldn't it be the same as Monachelle?
I find the HSL names a bit vague sometimes. If I sent them some beans I'd grown for 30 years they'd probably call it VC's Big Bean - or the Cardiff Runner etc.

[veggiechicken]

I've had a rummage in my seed stash and found 2 lots of pea beans
One small lot of 5 beans is labelled, in my writing, as HSL pea bean. Not sure where they came from - might have been the VSP.

The others are more interesting as they came from a seed exchange from the Cottage Garden Society in 2004 ! They look more red/brown than the HSL ones.

Photos by flash so may not be true colours.

[sparrow100]

After a (lengthy) trawl of the internet I think there might be 2 strains of inca pea bean - one that is the orca-like one that is in the VSP and comes in red and black colours, and the one I have from HSL, which seems to be on some of the German bean saving sites. Thank you v much for all the photos and comments, it's really helped.

Norfolkgrey - there's a yellow soldier type bean called Alice Sunshine, Brittle Wax is a black soldier type, and there's a Dutch Yellow Forest bean which is a block yellow. Lekatt and Snowcap are both bicolour yellowy/brown and white - if that's of any interest to you?

[veggiechicken]

Alice Sunshine is in the post to you, NG, along with countless other beans
Have fun!

[sparrow100]

Alice Sunshine is in the post to you, NG, along with countless other beans
Have fun!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

[Scarlet]

I often grow snowcap, if you want to try I can send some.

[veggiechicken]

After finding my 2004 pea beans I'd better try to grow them next year!
Sounds like a pea bean challenge
Who else is playing?

[Scarlet]

Alice Sunshine is in the post to you, NG, along with countless other beans
Have fun!

My box arrived this morning!

[veggiechicken]

I often grow snowcap, if you want to try I can send some.

Snowcap's in the post to NG too

[Scarlet]

After finding my 2004 pea beans I'd better try to grow them next year!
Sounds like a pea bean challenge
Who else is playing?

Noooooo!.....

[veggiechicken]

Waddya mean - Noooooooooooo?
You can some of my 2004 ones or the 5 from the HSL.

[Scarlet]

I thought you may want us all rummaging in our seed boxes for old bean seeds to grow them next year ..

[veggiechicken]

Its a thought! I have rather a lot of old beans - all with interesting names