This could easily be a long running series for your channel. I would love to see more seed type comparisons! This kind of experiment really helped my son learn to like vegetables by trying different cultivars.
@@REDGardens idk if you know chillichump you could maybe do a collab or ask him for information on pepper varieties. (if you like to do peppers ofcourse) i could send you some seeds aswel if you like.
Dear Sir, A very interesting, informative, and thoughtful video on different climbing beans. Thank you for carrying out this experiment and your careful analysis of the results. I enjoyed it very much. Sincerely, Larry Clarence Lewis London, Ontario, Canada.
I grow Cobra for eating green and Borlotti for storage for winter use, either as dried beans if the autumn is sunny enough, or simply shelled and frozen if not. I can recommend 'Lazy Housewife' as a delicious, very late variety that comes into season just as Cobra is winding down - here in West Wales, that'll be in about two weeks.
I really appreciate your in depth analysis of the variables. I've always grown bush green beans. Blue Lake was a standard when I lived in Tennessee. I found they didn't stand up to Florida conditions as well as Provider, an heirloom variety. But then my mother-in-law grows Provider in Maine. I think some varieties have gained their popularity growing under very specific conditions. In Florida, I'm always on the lookout for local heirloom varieties, things grown by the indigenous peoples or brought in by the Spanish 500 years ago. What I've collected so far grows well without the attention that non native varieties require.
In our central Maine (zone 5) garden, we grow Early Riser (sold as Northeaster here) and it has done very well for us - typically it is the earliest out of all the beans we grow. We have also had good luck with a variety sold as Purple Podded, but if I could only choose one i would choose the Early Riser. Thank you for the great analysis!
@@REDGardens no.. thank you.. ALOT of my ‘useless’ knowledge I spout off to friends asking questions is in part from you! Your trials have inspired me to do the same.
I grew blue lake climbers for many years. Saved the seed and was quite happy with them. One year I made the mistake of growing a yellow bush bean close the the blue lakes and the seed I collected from the blue lake beans got crossed up and the next year my blue lake were messed up. I quit growing the climber in favor of bush beans. Four years ago I bought some Isabel climbing beans. I like climbers for the extended harvest and ease of picking. Isabel are a french type very similar to fasold that you grew. Long, usually straight round pencil like. Very nice flavor and masses of beans you can pick by the handful. Then as a trial I bought some blue lake beans but when compared to the Isabel the blue lake fell short. I suspect the breeder of the blue lake was not keeping the line up by selective breeding as they were not nearly as good as the ones I had grown years before. All my beans are grown outside and direct planted.
I used to grow Cobra but switched to Fassold about 7 years ago as they were so prolific and they freeze reasonably well and dont go mushy like most beans when frozed. Everyone I have given spare plants to has been impressed with them and bought their own seed the next year.
Great work, much appreciated! Big fan of RED gardens, always interesting content. Kudos from Canada~ Here in SK in 2018, I did variety trials of 7 bush beans. This year carrots. It's always good to test & evaluate, something I appreciate about what you do. Keep up the good work!
I grow Blue Lake and really like them and I think they are productive. I live in South East Australia and so grow them outside and our summer is hot and dry.
I'm jealous of your bean crop. I have a limited space on the east side of my house, right up against the house, which means my single row of beans only get a few hours of morning sun each day. My past crops look anemic compared to yours. So I kind of gave up growing them for awhile. But to my point, I have planted my usual variety, known as rattle snake beans around here, in the same spot, this year for the first time in 7 years, using seeds that have been in the refrigerator for those entire 7 years, and so far almost everyone of them has sprouted. I can't wait to see how they do.
I grew both blue lake and cobra last year in identical soil and lighting conditions. The cobra mostly died before even producing beans but of the few that survived they were pathetic weak plants that produced very poorly compared to even the black turtle bush beans I had in a different bed. The blue lake on the other hand were all very healthy strong plants but they were still about fourth place in production compared to a few other varieties of beans I had growing. The King of the Blues and Scarlet Runner varieties I grew made everything else look like complete rubbish and made me take a bucket out to harvest because my hands and pockets simply weren't big enough to hold them.
Most enjoyable, thank-you. Along with bush French beans, I grew some French Purple climbing beans here in West Sussex, outside in a hit dry summer, watering each day (along-side some Red Knight runner beans). These purple beans look good, taste good but, surprisingly, turned green in cooking.
Have you tried Broad Beens? They just grow straight up the only support they need is from the wind. Young pods can be eaten whole. Then later the pods can be opened and beans eaten fresh or cooked. After that the beans need have the outer case peeled for the seed inside. After that they can dry off on the plant for next season. Also the best part is the top leaves of the plant can be eaten or in salads and tastes fantastic. Mike
All my beans grow outside (Runner, French and shelling) and yes I save my own seed, but not for ever, I will buy fresh after about 5 years, I live on the isle of wight (South UK)
a great video! I’ll try Fasold next year. BTW, I highly recommend you to try blue lake again. it’s super productive and tastes soooo good. I’m growing 2 seedlings this year outside in Michigan (zone 6a). and my family enjoys them every other day for more than two months! so impressive.
Hey Bruce tks for video. From last years outside bean harvest I would estimate that our fasoid plants produced double what Slovenian and goldfield produced so similar results to what you have on those 3. I’ll will give early riser a go next year also. Nice one cheers
Nice video, 16 varieties would've been an even bigger heap of work.Try bush beans, probably best on tiered staging, in a poly tunnel, as quite a small plant, but very quick and productive. I grow them outdoors, near my spuds. Spuds I find, usually have a ready source of ladybirds.
Yeah, it would have been even more work. But then I also grew 54 varieties of tomatoes, so apparently I am a glutton for punishment! I would like to try a few varieties of dwarf beans next year. Interesting what you say about the spuds.
@@REDGardens Thanks! If you make the videos longer I might have time for a second glass. However you have to keep that to the weekends. Really enjoy your work, your climate is similar to the coastal climate of Jutland (Denmark). So much of your stuff I can use directly. Keep up the fine work!
Don't give up on those varieties. Some varieties will just quit setting pods if too warm. A few varieties, as little as 90°F will halt all production until cooler weather. Many stop by 95°.
The reason your borlotto harvest seemed to be less could be that there is much less water in dry beans for the same amount of food. Even if you weighed them while they were still plump, the pod still dries out considerably for harvest. I would probably weigh after soaking overnight if you want a more comparable figure, though dry and green beans are not really comparable in the first place. I will definitely try early rise and limka. I'm moving from an area with hot summers to an area with cool summers, so I don't suspect my miami ohio pole beans will do as well.
I used to grow a climbing french bean in my polytunnel but, as it's a small one, I found the beans took over and stopped the airflow and they suffered with moulds alot. I also found the beans were not good for freezing. So I changed to grow a dwarf french bean - Cupidon from brownenvelopeseeds.com - just a small patch. They produce quite early and are just like the little haricot verts you get in France. Very delicious fresh, not for freezing, and last till the outdoor peas are ready. Then the runner beans usually take off outside and they are much better for freezing and good for fresh consumption too. I'm not growing to sell, just for my own needs. I save the bean and pea seeds every year. Do you grow runner beans outside? If so perhaps you have some varieties you can recommend? With the change in climate during summer, I don't get the big yields I used to get and think another variety might help.
I think I should try some dwarf beans next year, both inside the polytunnel and outside. Thanks for the recommendation of variety. I do grow Runner Beans outside, and usually get a good crop. I don't have any experience with varieties, but have had good success with 'Enorma'.
It's January, and I'm listening carefully to your commentary. I'm trying to decide which climbing varieties of green, yellow and purple beans to grow as part of this year's sustainability garden effort. I'm also interested in which variety of 'small white beans' might have the highest yield for drying and Winter storage. Here in South Central British Columbia in Zone 5B (and warming), we have a fairly short-window to plant and grow in: April to September. Our first frost of 2020 was on September 2nd, which is early. It wasn't a killing frost, but it stung the few beans I'd planted quite hard.
Hi there. I really like your videos. I have a question for you. Have you ever tried to grow black eye beans or peas ? It is grown widely in the states and in the Middle East, I live in England St Helens it is between Liverpool and Manchester. I tried few times in my greenhouses but with no luck. The taste of these beans or peas, eaten green, are much more better than French beans. I don’t know if it is the humidity or they need more heat to grow properly? I think it would be a very interesting plant to try and share your experience with us. Thank you again.
We've grown bush style beans for as long as I can remember, but this year we also tried climbing beans hoping they would be easier on my back. But the deer broke down the fence and ate most of the climbing ones. We have the parts for a stronger fence, so we'll try again next year.
I've grown the north eastern pole been in Maine for several years(your early riser). It produces for several months in a high tunnel, and the bean pods do not get tough even when they get quite large ( if you miss some ,they are still tender when you pick them next time). I tried other varieties this year as my usual seed supplier was closed for covid , they were productive, but got stringy and tough unpredictably, often ruining a cooked batch of been with a few bad beans. The tough beans were hard to identify so I just stopped harvesting, perhaps I can use them as shell beans.
@@REDGardens I forgot to thank you for all the hard work that goes into doing garden trials and posting results, afew hours of your time saves thousands of hours for your followers.
Lovely bean trial. I've had just horrible luck with blue lake here in the us. It does make a decent pod but flavor wise it was just meh. And the plants have never ever been vigorous for me over the years and were a Japanese beetle magnet. If I could I'd say try Rattlesnake pole beans or purple podded pole bean and last Cherokee Trail of Tears. But I'm not sure they would be available to you in Ireland. I've wanted to try borlotti dry beans but decided to trial 2 types of yard long Asian beans this year instead. Thank you for the very informative video.
It is interesting to hear about your experience with the Blue Lake variety, and thanks for the recommendations, not sure if any of them are available here in Ireland, but I will keep an eye out for them. I haven't tried the yard long varieties yet, they sound so fascinating!
@@REDGardens I'm hoping they do well as in Michigan we do get some heat in the summer. The youtube lady asiangarden2table sells the seeds and has many videos on how to grow them so I'm hoping they do well. I'm sure you'd need to put them in your hoop house for heat. But she says that you really need to pinch the top growth once it hits the top of the trellis to encourage the long beans to set more fruit. And by an accident last year one small stretch of my climbing beans got topped by a branch that came down in a storm and those beans on that stretch actually made more pods than my other stretch of pole beans.(I have over 132 feet of trellises) so I am going to try to prune this year too. I love experimenting in the garden. My family and neighbors used to all say. Well, what is that? and oh boy, thats not going to work, and while occasionally I have fails or its too fussy to repeat many of the things I've tried actually work. This year its pruning the growing tips of the pole beans and long beans and I'm trying a new way(to me) of propagation with potatoes. I had a few potato vines that got broken last June. I rooted them like a cutting to see if I would get potatoes. It was late June but those 2 buckets actually had a few decent sized potatoes in them. So I've got a few potatoes sprouting now under lights and I'm going to make cuttings to grow from the start and compare them to the seed potato buckets. I have 4 big led lights that I start seeds under so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I've been growing Cobra for years. I've tried other varieties but found no noticeable benefits so keep coming back to Cobra which I've always found reliable and to do well most years. Not this year though, very hot May resulting in poor germination, Pigeons attacking the young plants, a lackluster July and strong cold winds through August has resulted in a very poor harvest. This time last we had a freezer full to last us through the winter. Do you freeze any beans Red Garden? If so have you found any better than others?
Glad o hear you have had good success with Cobra. I do freeze a lot of beans, but don't have any experience with the different varieties. That would be another factor to test.
I have found blue Lake or Kentucky blue are my favorites. My Filipino wife likes the yard long beans, and I have very good too. Where I live I have luck with a broad bean (for producing seeds to eat).
Really interesting :) Would you consider a shelling bean trial as well? I'm trying to persevere with borlotti for something to keep dried, but want to try more.
@@ciaranosullivan7791 Interesting, might have to look that one up. I'm based in SW Scotland, so similar from the sounds of things. Wet and windy a lot of the time.
I tried the black-eyed peas once and was really surprised by the amount of the green pods produced. They are thin but extremely long and very easy to harvest and proceed. But it was in completely different conditions than this.
I do find it remarkable that the yield split between "High" and "Low" is so wide. A gap of at minimum 2kgs is a big difference and I would really want to know what caused it. While I am very much limited by currently usable garden space as I have to amend a lot of soil and clean a large ammount of land still and the climate here in germany is different to yours in Ireland, I am kind of inspired to maybe try a comparable trial, as beans in all kinds of varieties are a semi-stable in this household.
It is a big difference, and defiantly made the trial worthwhile. I think some of the yield difference could have been uneven competition, I suspect a lot of it is simply the differences in the varieties.
@@REDGardens :O I honestly did not expect an answer from the Garden Master himself! Well I am sitting on very sandy soil and lately very dry summers and comparatively warm winters. I have to amend the soil quite a bit, which i sadly only really started in 2018, but since I do seem to have quite some spare time in 2021 I might very well try to replicate your experiment in a more continental climate, albeit all outside, since I will only get around to set up a greenhouse this year. Since I am not really on a self-reliance path, I am more after rarer varieties that are harder to get at the local markets, but comparisons in yield and efficiency do have merit too. Thanks again for your time and effort!
@@RamdomGuy1337 Haha, I try to respond to most comments! Have fun with your explorations and experimentation, and good to hear that you have decent local markets to rely on. If I didn't grow my own food they would only be the crappy vegetables available in the mass market shops!
Very interesting. As a grower in the US I looked around for your Fasold bean and it only seems to appear on European seed seller sites. I wonder if it would even do well in my very different climate which has a very hot summer but a long cool fall. I tried some new beans this year, though not as scientifically set up as your variety trial and discovered a very interesting new variety of green beans (for me anyway). :) Always glad to see variety reviews no matter the climate or area.
I have heard that the same variety is occasionally sold under a different name in different markets, so Fasold beans might be there but just with a different name.
Most Mediterranean country’s grow climbing beans because they tolerate the heat well runner beans prefer cooler conditions, do not let them dry out and they love rich soil don’t forget to pick them regularly and feed.
I am a little disappointed that you didn't trial a fillet style bean, my staple for some years now. Bred for the French gourmet market, they are very long and thin when they are first harvested, and tender! If you happen to miss some they are still good at half an inch diameter. The yield is amazing, and just keeps going and going. I noticed yesterday (somewhat to my dismay!) that there is a whole new crop, and I just cleared the last one three days ago. The climate here is not that different from yours, although much drier in summertime. I use drip irrigation. I have transplanted from the greenhouse for years without difficulty.
I just harvested 3 pounds of these beans from 5 feet of row, all as good as the ones that I harvested on July 14th. I have lost count of the number of pickings since then. Not bad for the 19th of September. I had to compost some that had become over mature owing to my not being able to go outside for about a week, owing to a huge inundation of wood smoke from the benighted country to the south of us.
Watching your videos for a while, but this one is very interesting since I do similar tests with different varieties and beans are my favorite, this year got lots of dwarf types to test, next year gonna do climbing ones. Got already my favorite dwarfs :) If you interested in some seeds we could do exchange :) Regards from Poland.
Do you have any guess as to the cause for the poor leaf color and growth on some of the varieties? Could that be a symptom of the problem that effected the production?
Yeah, that is most likely used by nutrient deficiencies, and could definitely have affected the production. This deficiency could have been caused by lack of fertility in the soil, lack of water or it could be because the that variety couldn't compete as well with the courgettes for those soil resources.
Do you cook the pods? In latinamerica we wait for the pods to mature and dry then use the dried beans to cook. I'll have to try your way of cooking beans. As always great video.
I dont know about Ireland but in E. Europe boiled whole Young pods are really populár:-) Boiled in sweet cream sauce, maybe little bit of dill, add hardboiled Egg, few potatoes, Fast and good summer dish:-)
I’m in the U.K. and I’d generally boil or steam them, or blanche them then fry in butter or oil with some herbs/spices, or maybe just salt and pepper. Generally eaten as a side dish. Jakob’ suggestion sounds delicious too.
Red Garden University, I love how you sometimes include the Ontario temp differences in some of your videos. Im just north of Ottawa. Thanks for the amazing video
Yeah, I grew up NW of Toronto, and I always like to compare weather there to weather over there, as it is what I know, and also as a 'hello' to people in that area like yourself who are watching!
This could easily be a long running series for your channel. I would love to see more seed type comparisons! This kind of experiment really helped my son learn to like vegetables by trying different cultivars.
Agreed
Yeah, I think I should do more of these.
@@REDGardens idk if you know chillichump you could maybe do a collab or ask him for information on pepper varieties. (if you like to do peppers ofcourse) i could send you some seeds aswel if you like.
Yep completely agree.
Very good analysis, as well as conclusions. I really like your open-mindness and insight. Thank you for sharing
Glad you appreciate my approach to these videos.
Dear Sir,
A very interesting, informative, and thoughtful video on different climbing beans. Thank you for carrying out this experiment and your careful analysis of the results. I enjoyed it very much.
Sincerely,
Larry Clarence Lewis
London, Ontario, Canada.
I grow Cobra for eating green and Borlotti for storage for winter use, either as dried beans if the autumn is sunny enough, or simply shelled and frozen if not. I can recommend 'Lazy Housewife' as a delicious, very late variety that comes into season just as Cobra is winding down - here in West Wales, that'll be in about two weeks.
Thanks for the pointer to 'Lazy Housewife'.
I really appreciate your in depth analysis of the variables. I've always grown bush green beans. Blue Lake was a standard when I lived in Tennessee. I found they didn't stand up to Florida conditions as well as Provider, an heirloom variety. But then my mother-in-law grows Provider in Maine. I think some varieties have gained their popularity growing under very specific conditions.
In Florida, I'm always on the lookout for local heirloom varieties, things grown by the indigenous peoples or brought in by the Spanish 500 years ago. What I've collected so far grows well without the attention that non native varieties require.
Brilliant as usual. Thank you for sharing this video with us.
In our central Maine (zone 5) garden, we grow Early Riser (sold as Northeaster here) and it has done very well for us - typically it is the earliest out of all the beans we grow. We have also had good luck with a variety sold as Purple Podded, but if I could only choose one i would choose the Early Riser. Thank you for the great analysis!
Blue Lake/ Kentucky Gold are my go to for a huge harvests. (Ontario/Canada) Best gardening UA-cam channel! Keep ‘em coming!
Wow thanks! And thanks for the suggestions.
@@REDGardens no.. thank you.. ALOT of my ‘useless’ knowledge I spout off to friends asking questions is in part from you! Your trials have inspired me to do the same.
I am grateful for your idea to sieve the soil / compost by dragging the bucket over the steel wire mesh
Cool. It is a method that works well for me in a lot of situations.
I grew blue lake climbers for many years. Saved the seed and was quite happy with them. One year I made the mistake of growing a yellow bush bean close the the blue lakes and the seed I collected from the blue lake beans got crossed up and the next year my blue lake were messed up. I quit growing the climber in favor of bush beans. Four years ago I bought some Isabel climbing beans. I like climbers for the extended harvest and ease of picking. Isabel are a french type very similar to fasold that you grew. Long, usually straight round pencil like. Very nice flavor and masses of beans you can pick by the handful. Then as a trial I bought some blue lake beans but when compared to the Isabel the blue lake fell short. I suspect the breeder of the blue lake was not keeping the line up by selective breeding as they were not nearly as good as the ones I had grown years before. All my beans are grown outside and direct planted.
I used to grow Cobra but switched to Fassold about 7 years ago as they were so prolific and they freeze reasonably well and dont go mushy like most beans when frozed. Everyone I have given spare plants to has been impressed with them and bought their own seed the next year.
they heirloom?
Great information, love the trial/comparison and thank you for sharing.
:)
Great analisys, great results.
Thanks.
Great work, much appreciated!
Big fan of RED gardens, always interesting content. Kudos from Canada~
Here in SK in 2018, I did variety trials of 7 bush beans. This year carrots. It's always good to test & evaluate, something I appreciate about what you do. Keep up the good work!
Great trial Bruce 👍 thanks for sharing 😃
I grow Blue Lake and really like them and I think they are productive. I live in South East Australia and so grow them outside and our summer is hot and dry.
I'm jealous of your bean crop. I have a limited space on the east side of my house, right up against the house, which means my single row of beans only get a few hours of morning sun each day. My past crops look anemic compared to yours. So I kind of gave up growing them for awhile.
But to my point, I have planted my usual variety, known as rattle snake beans around here, in the same spot, this year for the first time in 7 years, using seeds that have been in the refrigerator for those entire 7 years, and so far almost everyone of them has sprouted. I can't wait to see how they do.
I am not surprised that these seeds have lasted so long in the freezer. They seem to store so much longer there.
I love the big flat green ones. They go fantastically in a tomato, olive oil and garlic braise. Very interesting video.
That is a dish I need to try!
Thanks for the good info. I will try Fasold next year.
Excellent! Thank you. I took notes.
Glad it was helpful!
I did as well! I love green beans, and climbing varieties are generally easier to pick than bush types.
I grew both blue lake and cobra last year in identical soil and lighting conditions.
The cobra mostly died before even producing beans but of the few that survived they were pathetic weak plants that produced very poorly compared to even the black turtle bush beans I had in a different bed.
The blue lake on the other hand were all very healthy strong plants but they were still about fourth place in production compared to a few other varieties of beans I had growing.
The King of the Blues and Scarlet Runner varieties I grew made everything else look like complete rubbish and made me take a bucket out to harvest because my hands and pockets simply weren't big enough to hold them.
Most enjoyable, thank-you.
Along with bush French beans, I grew some French Purple climbing beans here in West Sussex, outside in a hit dry summer, watering each day (along-side some Red Knight runner beans). These purple beans look good, taste good but, surprisingly, turned green in cooking.
Yeah, it is a shame that the purple ocular does not keep through the cooking. i have found the same with purple sprouting broccoli.
They do, but it's darker green than the normal green bean :)
I like how you Solent
🙂
Have you tried Broad Beens? They just grow straight up the only support they need is from the wind. Young pods can be eaten whole. Then later the pods can be opened and beans eaten fresh or cooked. After that the beans need have the outer case peeled for the seed inside. After that they can dry off on the plant for next season. Also the best part is the top leaves of the plant can be eaten or in salads and tastes fantastic. Mike
I grow broad beans outside mostly, and do enjoy them.
It seemed like a good idea at the time , famous last words
All my beans grow outside (Runner, French and shelling) and yes I save my own seed, but not for ever, I will buy fresh after about 5 years, I live on the isle of wight (South UK)
Cool. Why do you only save for 5 years?
Because they seem to "revert" to a not so good bean, more stringy and woody
Graham R Dyer Hmmm, that is interesting. I wonder why that would happen?
@@REDGardens I thought beans were quite susceptible to cross-pollination?
@@REDGardens I think its cross pollination as I grow about 4 different runner beans and three French beans.
a great video! I’ll try Fasold next year. BTW, I highly recommend you to try blue lake again. it’s super productive and tastes soooo good. I’m growing 2 seedlings this year outside in Michigan (zone 6a). and my family enjoys them every other day for more than two months! so impressive.
Hey Bruce tks for video. From last years outside bean harvest I would estimate that our fasoid plants produced double what Slovenian and goldfield produced so similar results to what you have on those 3. I’ll will give early riser a go next year also. Nice one cheers
Nice video, 16 varieties would've been an even bigger heap of work.Try bush beans, probably best on tiered staging, in a poly tunnel, as quite a small plant, but very quick and productive. I grow them outdoors, near my spuds. Spuds I find, usually have a ready source of ladybirds.
Yeah, it would have been even more work. But then I also grew 54 varieties of tomatoes, so apparently I am a glutton for punishment! I would like to try a few varieties of dwarf beans next year. Interesting what you say about the spuds.
Fortex is the workhorse bean on my farm. High yield, germinates in cool soil, disease resistance and incredible flavor.
Wow, that does sound like an ideal bean variety. I live in zone 5a and the soil here is often quite cool well into May.
Even though borlotto was low on your list they are so beautiful I’m tempted to try them
They are so beautiful!
Thank you to partage your connaissance with ous, I really appreciate
I let the bean dry and put in winter soup its is a nice green proteine
Thai is something I’d like to do more of.
I've been told beans dont transplant well. That might have been the variable cuasing inconsistent results....
Love your videos
Good point, it may be part of the issue.
Beans got delicate root system so yes there could be lots of problems with that, usually I got like 30% of transplant die during the process.
That has been my experience as well.
I did not plan to relax with a glass of whiskey this Wednesday..... but then you upload a video
Cheers!
@@REDGardens Thanks! If you make the videos longer I might have time for a second glass. However you have to keep that to the weekends. Really enjoy your work, your climate is similar to the coastal climate of Jutland (Denmark). So much of your stuff I can use directly. Keep up the fine work!
Don't give up on those varieties. Some varieties will just quit setting pods if too warm. A few varieties, as little as 90°F will halt all production until cooler weather. Many stop by 95°.
The reason your borlotto harvest seemed to be less could be that there is much less water in dry beans for the same amount of food. Even if you weighed them while they were still plump, the pod still dries out considerably for harvest. I would probably weigh after soaking overnight if you want a more comparable figure, though dry and green beans are not really comparable in the first place.
I will definitely try early rise and limka. I'm moving from an area with hot summers to an area with cool summers, so I don't suspect my miami ohio pole beans will do as well.
I used to grow a climbing french bean in my polytunnel but, as it's a small one, I found the beans took over and stopped the airflow and they suffered with moulds alot. I also found the beans were not good for freezing. So I changed to grow a dwarf french bean - Cupidon from brownenvelopeseeds.com - just a small patch. They produce quite early and are just like the little haricot verts you get in France. Very delicious fresh, not for freezing, and last till the outdoor peas are ready. Then the runner beans usually take off outside and they are much better for freezing and good for fresh consumption too. I'm not growing to sell, just for my own needs. I save the bean and pea seeds every year. Do you grow runner beans outside? If so perhaps you have some varieties you can recommend? With the change in climate during summer, I don't get the big yields I used to get and think another variety might help.
I think I should try some dwarf beans next year, both inside the polytunnel and outside. Thanks for the recommendation of variety.
I do grow Runner Beans outside, and usually get a good crop. I don't have any experience with varieties, but have had good success with 'Enorma'.
It's January, and I'm listening carefully to your commentary. I'm trying to decide which climbing varieties of green, yellow and purple beans to grow as part of this year's sustainability garden effort. I'm also interested in which variety of 'small white beans' might have the highest yield for drying and Winter storage. Here in South Central British Columbia in Zone 5B (and warming), we have a fairly short-window to plant and grow in: April to September. Our first frost of 2020 was on September 2nd, which is early. It wasn't a killing frost, but it stung the few beans I'd planted quite hard.
Keep testing, an excellent idea
Hi there. I really like your videos. I have a question for you. Have you ever tried to grow black eye beans or peas ? It is grown widely in the states and in the Middle East, I live in England St Helens it is between Liverpool and Manchester. I tried few times in my greenhouses but with no luck. The taste of these beans or peas, eaten green, are much more better than French beans. I don’t know if it is the humidity or they need more heat to grow properly? I think it would be a very interesting plant to try and share your experience with us. Thank you again.
The borlato looks like a great color on a spinach salad.
It does!
We've grown bush style beans for as long as I can remember, but this year we also tried climbing beans hoping they would be easier on my back. But the deer broke down the fence and ate most of the climbing ones. We have the parts for a stronger fence, so we'll try again next year.
Wow, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with deer in the gardens!
I've grown the north eastern pole been in Maine for several years(your early riser). It produces for several months in a high tunnel,
and the bean pods do not get tough even when they get quite large ( if you miss some ,they are still tender when you pick them next time).
I tried other varieties this year as my usual seed supplier was closed for covid , they were productive, but got stringy and tough unpredictably,
often ruining a cooked batch of been with a few bad beans. The tough beans were hard to identify so I just stopped harvesting, perhaps I
can use them as shell beans.
i noticed that they don't get tough, which is something I didn't mention in the videos dn would have been another point for comparison.
@@REDGardens I forgot to thank you for all the hard work that goes into doing garden trials and posting results, afew hours of your time
saves thousands of hours for your followers.
Lovely bean trial. I've had just horrible luck with blue lake here in the us. It does make a decent pod but flavor wise it was just meh. And the plants have never ever been vigorous for me over the years and were a Japanese beetle magnet.
If I could I'd say try Rattlesnake pole beans or purple podded pole bean and last Cherokee Trail of Tears. But I'm not sure they would be available to you in Ireland.
I've wanted to try borlotti dry beans but decided to trial 2 types of yard long Asian beans this year instead.
Thank you for the very informative video.
It is interesting to hear about your experience with the Blue Lake variety, and thanks for the recommendations, not sure if any of them are available here in Ireland, but I will keep an eye out for them. I haven't tried the yard long varieties yet, they sound so fascinating!
@@REDGardens I'm hoping they do well as in Michigan we do get some heat in the summer. The youtube lady asiangarden2table sells the seeds and has many videos on how to grow them so I'm hoping they do well. I'm sure you'd need to put them in your hoop house for heat.
But she says that you really need to pinch the top growth once it hits the top of the trellis to encourage the long beans to set more fruit.
And by an accident last year one small stretch of my climbing beans got topped by a branch that came down in a storm and those beans on that stretch actually made more pods than my other stretch of pole beans.(I have over 132 feet of trellises) so I am going to try to prune this year too.
I love experimenting in the garden. My family and neighbors used to all say. Well, what is that? and oh boy, thats not going to work, and while occasionally I have fails or its too fussy to repeat many of the things I've tried actually work.
This year its pruning the growing tips of the pole beans and long beans and I'm trying a new way(to me) of propagation with potatoes.
I had a few potato vines that got broken last June. I rooted them like a cutting to see if I would get potatoes. It was late June but those 2 buckets actually had a few decent sized potatoes in them.
So I've got a few potatoes sprouting now under lights and I'm going to make cuttings to grow from the start and compare them to the seed potato buckets. I have 4 big led lights that I start seeds under so I figured I'd give it a shot.
@@Emeraldwitch30 Interesting the yield by pinching the tip sounds interesting, as does growing potatoes from cuttings!
I've been growing Cobra for years. I've tried other varieties but found no noticeable benefits so keep coming back to Cobra which I've always found reliable and to do well most years. Not this year though, very hot May resulting in poor germination, Pigeons attacking the young plants, a lackluster July and strong cold winds through August has resulted in a very poor harvest. This time last we had a freezer full to last us through the winter. Do you freeze any beans Red Garden? If so have you found any better than others?
Glad o hear you have had good success with Cobra. I do freeze a lot of beans, but don't have any experience with the different varieties. That would be another factor to test.
4:41 Wow! Pixelated beans?! These things look terrific.
This was a great video.. I really enjoyed this topic.. I've just planted 2 varieties I have never tried before.. I'm hoping to be blew away🤞
Thanks, hope your trial produces lots of great beans for you.
I had the same issue with blue lake beans where base of stem rotter early
I would be interested in how each variety tasted and how they compared with eachother in flavor and ease of eating
Yeah. That is an aspect of the trial that I didn’t do very thoroughly at all. Perhaps next time.
I have found blue Lake or Kentucky blue are my favorites. My Filipino wife likes the yard long beans, and I have very good too. Where I live I have luck with a broad bean (for producing seeds to eat).
I also have good luck with broad bean. Do you eat the seeds fresh or as dried seeds?
@@REDGardens Mostly dried most now call them fava but when I was a kid it was broad beans. Guess we were broad minded back then.
Really interesting :) Would you consider a shelling bean trial as well? I'm trying to persevere with borlotti for something to keep dried, but want to try more.
I definitely would consider a shelling bean trial, and I'm thinking how I could fit it in next year.
Seed savers have a Siberian pole bean similar to the Borlotti that grows well here in Ireland.
@@ciaranosullivan7791 Interesting, might have to look that one up. I'm based in SW Scotland, so similar from the sounds of things. Wet and windy a lot of the time.
At least your soil is improved from trying out all those beans, you got that goin for ya.
That is true!
I tried the black-eyed peas once and was really surprised by the amount of the green pods produced. They are thin but extremely long and very easy to harvest and proceed. But it was in completely different conditions than this.
Interesting. Yeah, I don't know if they would do well here.
I notice some markets are grinding veggies up into tortillas, very good and cool.
Wow, that is interesting. What part of the world have you seen that from?
tradeer joe;s in Ca@@REDGardens
I would love to know how you could find out the nutritional value of each variety. Maybe a low yealed variety is more nutritious?
Good point. Taste is one option, but not sure how useful it is.
@@REDGardens love your scientific approach to the food garden. Thank you so much for your videos. Cheers J
I do find it remarkable that the yield split between "High" and "Low" is so wide. A gap of at minimum 2kgs is a big difference and I would really want to know what caused it. While I am very much limited by currently usable garden space as I have to amend a lot of soil and clean a large ammount of land still and the climate here in germany is different to yours in Ireland, I am kind of inspired to maybe try a comparable trial, as beans in all kinds of varieties are a semi-stable in this household.
It is a big difference, and defiantly made the trial worthwhile. I think some of the yield difference could have been uneven competition, I suspect a lot of it is simply the differences in the varieties.
@@REDGardens :O I honestly did not expect an answer from the Garden Master himself!
Well I am sitting on very sandy soil and lately very dry summers and comparatively warm winters. I have to amend the soil quite a bit, which i sadly only really started in 2018, but since I do seem to have quite some spare time in 2021 I might very well try to replicate your experiment in a more continental climate, albeit all outside, since I will only get around to set up a greenhouse this year. Since I am not really on a self-reliance path, I am more after rarer varieties that are harder to get at the local markets, but comparisons in yield and efficiency do have merit too.
Thanks again for your time and effort!
@@RamdomGuy1337 Haha, I try to respond to most comments! Have fun with your explorations and experimentation, and good to hear that you have decent local markets to rely on. If I didn't grow my own food they would only be the crappy vegetables available in the mass market shops!
Very interesting. As a grower in the US I looked around for your Fasold bean and it only seems to appear on European seed seller sites. I wonder if it would even do well in my very different climate which has a very hot summer but a long cool fall. I tried some new beans this year, though not as scientifically set up as your variety trial and discovered a very interesting new variety of green beans (for me anyway). :) Always glad to see variety reviews no matter the climate or area.
I have heard that the same variety is occasionally sold under a different name in different markets, so Fasold beans might be there but just with a different name.
Most Mediterranean country’s grow climbing beans because they tolerate the heat well runner beans prefer cooler conditions, do not let them dry out and they love rich soil don’t forget to pick them regularly and feed.
Kia Ora & Good Evening from N.Z. …
Tēnā koe, e hoa
Deliciouly looking beans! Do the seed suppliers provide info on optimal grow conditions for the beans?
Some provide info about how too grow the beans in general, but generally not specific info for the variety.
I am a little disappointed that you didn't trial a fillet style bean, my staple for some years now. Bred for the French gourmet market, they are very long and thin when they are first harvested, and tender! If you happen to miss some they are still good at half an inch diameter. The yield is amazing, and just keeps going and going. I noticed yesterday (somewhat to my dismay!) that there is a whole new crop, and I just cleared the last one three days ago.
The climate here is not that different from yours, although much drier in summertime. I use drip irrigation. I have transplanted from the greenhouse for years without difficulty.
I’ll have to try them out next time.
@@REDGardens Happy to send you some seed.
I just harvested 3 pounds of these beans from 5 feet of row, all as good as the ones that I harvested on July 14th. I have lost count of the number of pickings since then. Not bad for the 19th of September. I had to compost some that had become over mature owing to my not being able to go outside for about a week, owing to a huge inundation of wood smoke from the benighted country to the south of us.
I am harvesting climbing beens or double beans specially grown in Kerala ,India
Love your video! I have been searching for different type of pole beans to plant. Yours really helped alot! Are they all heirloom seeds?
I need more of these. I am not a fan of bush beans. I also have tons of cattle panel tellis.
I also like the climbing beans, but I think next season I am going to try growing bush beans again.
You should find variety that grow outside imho.
Most of them they do, just need to plant them in June, in greenhouse you just got more time for harvest.
I'm trying Cherokee Trail of Tears this year.
I have heard good things about that variety.
Watching your videos for a while, but this one is very interesting since I do similar tests with different varieties and beans are my favorite, this year got lots of dwarf types to test, next year gonna do climbing ones. Got already my favorite dwarfs :) If you interested in some seeds we could do exchange :) Regards from Poland.
Hi....could I eat dried seeds from my bush beans in soups?thank you
I think so.
@@REDGardens thx
Do you have any guess as to the cause for the poor leaf color and growth on some of the varieties? Could that be a symptom of the problem that effected the production?
Yeah, that is most likely used by nutrient deficiencies, and could definitely have affected the production. This deficiency could have been caused by lack of fertility in the soil, lack of water or it could be because the that variety couldn't compete as well with the courgettes for those soil resources.
Try scarlet runner beans for a different taste, very tasty.
I grow a lot of those outside, and really enjoy them.
Anyone else notice the little bird? right next to the basket in the poly tunnel top right corner at 10:13? have to be quick but its there
That robin is often around when I am woking. A regular garden companion!
Do you cook the pods? In latinamerica we wait for the pods to mature and dry then use the dried beans to cook. I'll have to try your way of cooking beans. As always great video.
I dont know about Ireland but in E. Europe boiled whole Young pods are really populár:-) Boiled in sweet cream sauce, maybe little bit of dill, add hardboiled Egg, few potatoes, Fast and good summer dish:-)
@@oheebatch_algorytmu Sound really good. I''ll have to try that. Thanks.
I’m in the U.K. and I’d generally boil or steam them, or blanche them then fry in butter or oil with some herbs/spices, or maybe just salt and pepper. Generally eaten as a side dish. Jakob’ suggestion sounds delicious too.
@@peterdunlop7691 "fry in butter" -> Delicious. It's almost lunch time here and that description made me hungry. 😀
I tend to just boil them!
Red Garden University,
I love how you sometimes include the Ontario temp differences in some of your videos. Im just north of Ottawa.
Thanks for the amazing video
Yeah, I grew up NW of Toronto, and I always like to compare weather there to weather over there, as it is what I know, and also as a 'hello' to people in that area like yourself who are watching!
Are the leaves edible?
I don't know.
0:12 Really? I call em vine noodles
Ha, vine noodles. cool.
I am looking for fasold bean seeds in the USA , anyone who has them please help
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They're not climbing beans... they're GREEN BEANS!!!
different places ... different names
@@REDGardens I know, I meant my comment as a joke :) thank you so much for your wonderful content and videos!! Much respect to you sir.
@@TheBomb2012 all good!
Coirgettes are very very heavy feeders. They are bullies and need their own beds.
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