Filet-type French Beans

[veg4681]

I'm looking for this type of very fine/thin French beans and may also be described as Haricot Vert type beans. Have managed to find one that is close in Wilko called Ferrari which I may consider but thought I try out the swap option here first...just in case. I only need 3-4 seeds. I have good selection of seeds for swapping plus I shall be ordering French climbling beans called Cobra.

[smallblueplanet]

Hey 4681 - you should have said - we've some self-saved Andante if you would like to try them? They were very good in the rectangular plastice recycling boxes as an earlier crop.



johnsons-seeds dwarf french beans

I asked on another thread about your chinese veg.....


ps we grew Cobra last year, very tasty, but we're going to try Blue Lake again (it seems our soil just don't like 'em! )

[TonyF]

In the Uk they're also called bush beans or Kenya beans which may help.

[veg4681]

Hey 4681 - you should have said - we've some self-saved Andante if you would like to try them? They were very good in the rectangular plastice recycling boxes as an earlier crop.



johnsons-seeds dwarf french beans

I asked on another thread about your chinese veg.....

ps we grew Cobra last year, very tasty, but we're going to try Blue Lake again (it seems our soil just don't like 'em! )

Sorry but the Andante is described as round-podded, isn't that even fatter than pencil-podded, I'm so confused-dot-com . I think filet or Kenyan or Haricot vert beans are closer to what I'm looking for. What is wrong with your soil for growing Cobra?

Sorry about the Chinese veg (leafy veg mostly inclu Japanese), nothing special just that I think Moreveg.net and Alan Romans are the best for choice & price. Sometimes it's also cheaper to buy various Chinese leaves in mixed pack from T&M as opposed to buying individually (but stuffs like edible Amaranth you won't be able to buy individually though). For fruiting Chinese/Asian veg, they are only available from US/Canadian sites but yard long beans, okra, mangetout, babycorn, chinese artichoke, chinese celery, mooli, soya beans and bitter gourd (Jungle seeds) aren't uncommon from UK seeds suppliers these days.

For me this is a great deal pack, only 80p!
Alan Romans - Baby Leaf 'Stir Fry Supreme'

[smallblueplanet]

I know what you're looking for cos I was looking for the same thing (well still am). They are a type of 'fine' green bean aka Kenyan bean, filet bean, haricot. The ones you get in pkts at the supermarket that are about 4-5 inches long. Andante looked and tasted just like them, they're a type of haricot.

haricot

Check out nains filet extra fins (dwarf filet extra fine) and the two ramants (climbers). I got their catalogue last year, as did Pigletwillie. We've both ordered it again and PW did say he would be putting in an order, I'm sure he'd order some for you, he is very kind.

The Cobra grew fine, its the Blue Lake that 'struggled' is perhaps the best way of describing it. I've ordered some fresh seeds from Moreveg to see if that makes a difference as Blue Lake are pukka!

Re the chinese veg, I don't like mixed packs on the whole as you can't pick exactly what want. I've bought some pak choi and choy sum from Moreveg at 50p per pkt. As you say they had a good selection of chinese veggies.

Oriental

[veg4681]

The Cobra grew fine, its the Blue Lake that 'struggled' is perhaps the best way of describing it.

Re the chinese veg, I don't like mixed packs on the whole as you can't pick exactly what want. I've bought some pak choi and choy sum from Moreveg at 50p per pkt. As you say they had a good selection of chinese veggies.

I'm pleased to hear Cobra is the unproblematic one for you as I also want to grow that one as climbing beans.

I had no idea mixed pack means litterally mixed inside (a problem if you're not familiar with the leaves even when they've grown)! No wonder they're cheaper bought that way. I love green leafy veg, can eat them by the truck load and not feel ashamed, hardly fattening, are they? I can drop in a few seeds of Kailaan & Chinese cabbage if you like with the tommies.

[Chiana]

Hi, I have some Cupidon Dwarf French Beans from The Real Seed Catalogue if you're still looking. It says filet type on the packet, but I haven't tried them yet.

[TonyF]

Sorry, I'm loosing the thread here.

French beans, Kenya Beans, dwarf beans and bush beans are haricot vert. Haricot vert just means green beans and there's nothing special or magical about buying them or growing them, here they grow like a weed.

French beans are either bush beans (originally the American term for them) and are small and dumpy or climbing varieties.

My local brico sheds and gardening places sell hundreds - I mean that literally - of varieties and the size of the bean usually depends on the time of the year you pick them - the smaller, thinner pencil type will get larger and stringy if you let them grow on for haricots to dry and to keep for seeds or to eat.

Let me know what types you want and I'll cruise round trying to find them for you - as we buy them here by weight, there are always dozens left in the box so posting a few dozen to people isn't any great problem, you pay the postage cost and a proportion of the price of the box. Which is, without doubt, substantially cheaper than T&M or any other seed company I've seen.

[smallblueplanet]

Tony could I schmooze you for some climbing green flageolet? There's a type on Graines Baumaux called "HARICOT à ECOSSER SOISSONS VERT à RAMES (flageolet vert à rames), très ancienne variété, gousses de 17 cm, grains très verts, plats et de bonne qualité. Productif, hauteur 300 cm. 100 g.

[TonyF]

Baumaux is only available in a few places, usually bio (organic) shops but I know somewhere that sells them so I'll have a look for you. may take a few days tho cos it's about half an hour away and I'm not heading in that direction for a few days.

[veg4681]

Hi, I have some Cupidon Dwarf French Beans from The Real Seed Catalogue if you're still looking. It says filet type on the packet, but I haven't tried them yet.

Must be my luck, did you say Cupidon!!! I had looked at that bean but I never have enough to order from RS so pass them by. I'm interested, will PM you soon.

Sorry, I'm loosing the thread here.

French beans, Kenya Beans, dwarf beans and bush beans are haricot vert. Haricot vert just means green beans and there's nothing special or magical about buying them or growing them, here they grow like a weed.

French beans are either bush beans (originally the American term for them) and are small and dumpy or climbing varieties.

My local brico sheds and gardening places sell hundreds

Let me know what types you want and I'll cruise round trying to find them for you - as we buy them here by weight, there are always dozens left in the box so posting a few dozen to people isn't any great problem, you pay the postage cost and a proportion of the price of the box. Which is, without doubt, substantially cheaper than T&M or any other seed company I've seen.

Sorry for the confusion TonyF but I'm trying to look for clues to denote the kind of beans I'm looking for and I'm thinking words like filet type, Kenyan style, haricot, gourmet beans etc come to think of it, pencil podded might not be fine enough. The Ferrari from Wilko looks very close and isn't over £2 per pkt as these Kenyan-style beans seem to be retailed at everywhere else.

Thanks for the offer to find the seeds from France but I think I'm okay here. I'm sure there are other grapes who will be interested in your offer as has SBP done...guess I'll be knocking on her door in 2009 for her saved French beans seeds .

[TonyF]

Just to clarify, Kenya Beans are a marketing ploy brought in by supermarkets because they are, out of season, grown in ummmmmmmm ....... Kenya.

If they were called Kenya Beans here, people would think they were something else completely and not haricot vert.

[Snadger]

Just to clarify, Kenya Beans are a marketing ploy brought in by supermarkets because they are, out of season, grown in ummmmmmmm ....... Kenya.

If they were called Kenya Beans here, people would think they were something else completely and not haricot vert.

Wow........just a minute Tony!

Just to clarify your clarification, Are you saying that Kenyan beans such as Safari will not grow thinner shorter beans than other varieties?

[veg4681]

Wow........just a minute Tony!

Just to clarify your clarification, Are you saying that Kenyan beans such as Safari will not grow thinner shorter beans than other varieties?

I don't think he meant that way. Any beans described as Kenyan type should be much thinner, shorter to look like gourmet French beans and I believe there are actually loads of other French bush/dwarf beans than just the Safari that is Kenyan-type.

Obviously the name may have been coined from having sourced from Kenya when they're not growing in Europe out of season, the clue is also in 'Safari'. Given the choice, why not grow the best bean type for the supermarket if they have to be grown so far away (but I'm not here to make green judgement, that's another debate). I heard Tesco is the biggest employer for Kenyan Mangetout growers/also cut flowers.