Beans, Beans, Beans

One of my first posts – in fact it was my first gardening related post – was on the subject of beans and green beans in particular.  I enjoy growing beans and I enjoy eating beans, particularly with tomato and garlic!  I am still looking for the perfect garden variety to grow though.  I love the flavour of Jade but have found the germination rates this year to be really really bad (about 10-20%), this is from both freshly bought seed and seed I saved from my own plants last year.  I don’t know why it is so bad but it has been and the plants that have germinated have been strangely stunted.

My other varieties are performing much better so far.

Other than the Jade I am also growing:

Tongues of Fire – a drying bean similar to Borlotti with a bush growing habit.

Majestic – a bush butter bean.

Royal Burgandy – a purple podded bush variety

Windsor Long Pod- Long flat pods on a dwarf bush plant.

Beanette- a small podded dwarf bean variety.

Purple King – a purple podded climbing variety

I hope to also plant some dwarf borlotti beans soon.  Aside from the Jade I have only grown Purple King before and I am only really planting it this year as my daughter sowed a couple of seeds at her birthday party.  She had a fairy tale theme and in true Jack and the Beanstalk style they all sowed bean seeds hence this lovely Purple King plant – I’ve since put in a couple more next to it so it doesn’t get too lonely.

I have planted beans in both large 45cm pots (probably too close together – but I am used to Jade’s poor germination rates) and in the ground so I am hoping for a reasonable crop.  I do love how beans grow at a decent rate, none of that waiting around for stuff to happen you get with some vegetables (are you listening onions?).  Below are the same tub of beans with 2 weeks between photos.