WANTED Mr Ferns Climbing French Bean

[King Carrot]

I grew a handful of these last summer but due to poor weather I ended up with only about 10 seeds for this summer. If anyone has any I'm only looking for about 10- 15 more to start again.

I can swap in return from a variety of peas, beans, tomatos, courgettes, and other things some of which are unusual/heritage varieties.

cheers,

KC

[hooraynana]

I have some climbing bean (fasold ) t&m if you would like ?

[King Carrot]

I have some climbing bean (fasold ) t&m if you would like ?

thanks alot for the offer but I'm really, really keen on getting a few more Mr Ferns - I suppose if they weren't so nice I'd have saved more seed myself

again thanks for the offer,

cheers,

KC

[Two_Sheds]

I had the same problem with my Black Croatian ... in 2007 I only had 6 seeds, as most of them failed.

So in 2008 I grew them all for seed only, not eating, and now I have 100s.

[Two_Sheds]

PS. I Googled Mr Ferns French Bean, but nothing came back ... is that a local name, or an actual variety?

[King Carrot]

As far as I know its a local name, I got it last year indirectly from the Irish seedsavers in Co Clare

http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/index.php

- they don't seem to have any mention of it this year on their website though I suppose it could be a bit early for them.

I grew a handful of these last year and they were early cropping, very tasty and , what with the poor weather in Summer and a wetter Autumn I guess I eat a few too many earlier on, as I only have 12 seeds that might be ok - it's enough to grow and save for seed this year as long as I don't eat too many, I just hoped someone out there had afew spare I could grow and eat

cheers KC

[Two_Sheds]

Ah, your seedsavers seeds are ones not available commercially. That'd be why Google can't find them.

I think you'll have to sow all of yours very carefully, for saving and not eating to build up your stock again.

[SarzWix]

There were some listed with the Heritage Seed Library last year called Mr Fearns Purple Flowered, is that the ones? Or were yours purple podded? I'm nowhere near my HSL catalogue at the mo, so I can't see if it was in this year. It might be worth Googling the alternative spelling anyway

[King Carrot]

When I originally searched the web I too came across "Mr Fearns" - I think they were mentioned on "the other side" as well.

My Mr Ferns are purple flowered, make a standard green pod and have black seeds, -the spelling difference would suggest they're different in some way though - the Irish variety that I have (had!), is probably acclimatised to the cooler damp summers we generally get.

I contacted Irish seed savers as well and they have none this year either, I'll just have to hope that the 10 seed (I recounted the other day!!) I have work out ok,(they are not all what I'd describe as A1 condition) and with a bit of luck I'll get enough seed to eat some of them next year.

We won't go short of French beans to eat as I have some "Co Co" climbing french beans which are absolutely divine as well as a dwarf variety my parents grew for many a year and I thought I'd try Cobra as well.

Cheers,

KC

[alldigging]

I've got a packet of these from the seed swap last night - I did assume they'd been collected by a Mr Fern rather than that being their name...