Beans Glorious Beans

Posted on 13. Jul, 2009 by Tracey in Veg Plot

My bean and pea vegetable raised bed plot is looking packed and fabulous with mange tout and two types of dwarf french beans ready for harvest. Last week I planted out my two types of runner beans in the centre of my plot, they took over the space from the overwintered broad beans. Note for next year leave the gap at the edge of the raised bed, then I won’t have to wade into the bean forest and spider webs to plant out the runner beans!

Bean Forest in Plot 1

This year I decided to try grow yellow french beans as last year we went to the Rocky Mountains in Canada and in a restaurant they served up green and yellow beans. This was the first time I had tried them, they were lovely and have a slightly sweeter taste to green beans.

Dwarf French Beans are easy to grow, please see my How to Guide to Growing Dwarf and Runner Beans for more tips. Its your last chance to Sow Dwarf and Runner Beans in the month of July in the UK so get sowing! Dwarf Beans take 9 weeks from seed to harvest.

Hoverfly in Bean Plot

Whilst I was out harvesting the beans with my camera, a photo opportunity presented itself in the form of a hoverfly. Here’s the picture, it was sitting on a mange tout stem. If you would like to know more about Hoverflies please read my post: Beneficial Insects in the Vegetable Garden.

Organic Bean Varieties grown this year:-
Seeds from the Organic Catalogue:

Dwarf French Bean – Major (Yellow)

I would highly recommend this variety for striking colour in the vegetable garden and on the dinner plate, sweeter taste to green beans, very fresh taste.

Dwarf French Bean – Maxi (Green)

This variety has the beans growing above the leaves so they are easy to harvest, they are susceptible to snail attack so try to remove the slugs and snails lurking under the leaves on the ground. The beans tasted fresh and lovely.

Mange Tout – Weggisser

I would highly recommend this variety for the absolutely beautiful coloured flowers, see them here: Mange Tout Rodney Mange Tout and the heavy cropping. The taste is fresh, sweet and crunchy. I will definitely be growing these next year.

Runner Beans – Scarlet Emperor – haven’t grown this variety before, so stay tuned!
Runner Beans – White Emergo – haven’t grown this variety before, so stay tuned!