Dog Beans!
Buddy was out on the patch this afternoon inspecting the Dog Beans!
I was fortunate to do a seed swap with Alexandre from Jardim com Gatos in Portugal. He sent me some of his precious Dog Beans - I had been after them for quite a while.
Buddy does love eating green vegetables with his evening meal. His first preference is courgettes, but he does like spinach and cooked beans. These dog beans have a white flower and the beans are green.
My Yard Long Beans are only a foot tall at the moment. I have been assured by the seed company Dobies, that they do grow in our climate but most research I have done suggests they prefer a more tropical climate. Let's hope Summer comes soon! It has been miserable here.
My Runner Beans Enorma are not quite up to size yet. I have sown a few sweet peas amongst them to encourage bees to pollinate. I have been meaning to mention that here in England we refer to runner beans or climbing beans whereas in the USA I believe they are pole beans. We also refer to dwarf beans or French beans whereas in the USA they are bush beans.
Here below are some of my old heritage variety of climbing beans Lazy Housewife. They are not quite ready yet, but they have a wonderful cream to white flower and are already 7ft tall.
Another climbing bean on the plot is this flat bean, Eden. I love these because no matter how big they get they never get stringy! Of course it is best to pick them small and there are so many of them.
Growing with the flat beans I am growing the purple climbing bean Blauhilde. These purple beans cook to green, they are amazingly prolific and trouble free. These are one of my favourites.
How have your beans been?
posted by Matron @ 5:36 PM
12 Comments:
After seeing your red flowers on your runner beans (yes in the USA we call them pole!) I'm tempted to do that next year to encourage bees for pollination. Thanks for the pictures!
My beans are doing ok after a rough start! This year I have bush but will be going with climbing/pole next year.
Runner beans are a different species from climbing (pole) beans.
The difference is runner beans are cold weather beans (but don't tolerate frost). Runner beans do better in the spring and fall, while normal beans do better in the heat of mid summer.
What used to always confuse me was the British 'French Beans'. I hunted around for years looking for French beans, only to find out they were just another name for ordinary beans...
What discerning taste Buddy has, and a beautiful face too - but with tinges of grey around that muzzle, how old is he?
our runners and dwarf french beans are doing really well. We've had a good few of each (we growing enorma too) but it looks like we're going to end up with a huge glut, most are the same size! I'll have to do a bloggette about them, in the same vein as yours.
Hi Matron! Greetings from northern Wyoming!
Oh I am so envious of those purple beans! I've got to put those on my 2010 garden list!
I've got bush beans growing... and honestly they haven't done that well. I added more compost and they seem to have perked up. I do have a bean crop coming on... thank fully!
My beans have been fine so far but I will try and grow more of a variety next year. I like the look of those purple ones.
Great pictures ....I like the bean eating dog...I have one of those as well...His name is also Buddy and he would probably eat all my veggies if given a chance.
Happy Gardening from North Idaho!
I have pole beans, runner beans, AND bush beans. The bush beans (Jade) just started providing a harvest. The runner beans (Sunset) are flowering and the pole beans (Blue Lake) are fixin to floom so they will be right behind them. My pole beans did not germinate well, so this is a late second planting.
Love the purple Blauhilde bean!
All your beans are doing so well - and as some of the others have said, I am quite envious of your purple beans! I'll have to try bush beans next season - I don't think I have the space for runners. How much do they usually yield?
My beans are doing fine Matron. I always sow in root-trainers and transplant so that I know they will go ou after the last possible frost. My very favourite for eating green is Cherokee Trail of Tears which is a lovely tender, melt-in-the-mouth green bean. I'm growing Bird's Egg and True Red Cranebrry pole bean to eat as shellies (I newly discovered shelly beans last year - wonderful!)
I also have dwarf beans - Early Warwick and Soldier, and a climbing bean which should have been Soldier but wasn't! I saved the seeds and I'm going to try this as a shelly. I'll report back on my blog later in the year.
Good luck with the Yard Long.
Healthy looking beans... the only beans growing in our garden are winged beans... The first harvest will be very soon, within a week.
~ bangchik
good collection of beans! its good to have Buddy helping out with the overflow of courgettes, wonder if I could interest my cats in them......
Post a Comment
<< Home