Exotic bean mix?

[Snadger]

I've just bought a packet of mixed beans from Tesco's for just over a quid!
In it there are supposedly dried black eyed beans, alubia beans, red kidney beans, Dutch brown beans, baby lima beans, butter beans and haricot beans.

For a bit of daftness I intend planting some of these but was wondering what height these various beans grow to, whether they need staking and whether they are reasonably hardy or not?

[gojiberry]

I've done the same with culinary beans, mine was very old seed and not very high germination rate. Because I wasn't expecting to get any to germinate I started mine off on damp kitchen roll in the propagator. I did blackeye beans and flagollet beans. Don't know how big they will grow but will start off by treating as dwarf beans with canes ready if needed,

[smallblueplanet]

How did your beans grow Snadge? I've seen stuff about Dutch brown beans and they sound tasty! Also I've some bush Lima beans I'm gonna try.

[Two_Sheds]

I've done this before, with mixed success. Some of them (butter beans) need warmer temps than we have here in UK.
Kidney beans I was surprised to discover were dwarf, not pole beans.
Haricot just means dry bean, it's not a variety.

[Snadger]

I've done this before, with mixed success. Some of them (butter beans) need warmer temps than we have here in UK.
Kidney beans I was surprised to discover were dwarf, not pole beans.
Haricot just means dry bean, it's not a variety.

I'l agree with 'mixed success'! Last year was a horrible cold damp year and for some reason I didn't have much success at all with beans. Finished up with an inextricable tangle of foliage and very few beans.

Undeterred I've got myself a runner been trench and posts set up. I don't like runner beans and have grown butter beans in the past with reasonable success. This year I've procured a 500gm packet of dried butter beans from Tesco's and intend growing those.
If I only get a lot of foliage and white flowers, THAT will do me as my ornamental kitchen garden will benefit. Any beans will be a bonus!

[Two_Sheds]

I had a really wet summer too, but I harvested tons of French beans (I use them dried, not fresh).

Snadger, butter beans don't do so well in UK ... if you want some of my White Emergo runners (eaten as a dried butter bean) I will send you some. PM me.

[Snadger]

...................Snadger, butter beans don't do so well in UK ... if you want some of my White Emergo runners (eaten as a dried butter bean) I will send you some. PM me.

Thanks, but I'll decline your kind offer TS. I have grown the butter beans before, a couple of years ago at the same time as I grew climbing Borlotti beans. If I remember rightly we had an 'Indain summer' which allowed the beans to ripen right up to the first frost. I seem to remember they grew about 10 foot high on a wigwam!
This year I will have 2 X 10 foot rows growing in specially prepared area with concreted posts art each end and 8 foot canes joined to a crosswire. I might even nip the tops out of the plants when they are small in an effort to make more stems and mature lower and earlier!

[smallblueplanet]

...This year I will have 2 X 10 foot rows growing in specially prepared area with concreted posts art each end and 8 foot canes joined to a crosswire. I might even nip the tops out of the plants when they are small in an effort to make more stems and mature lower and earlier!

Lol! Have to hope they're not the bush variety then Snadger! I've some of the 'Henderson' lima bean and they're the bush type! At least your borlotti should climb - or are they nani?!

[lynda66]

ok i'm confused, i thought haricot beans were the ones in baked beans ...... so what are they then?? i quite fancy making my own baked beans instead of using tinned ones.

[Snadger]

Lol! Have to hope they're not the bush variety then Snadger! I've some of the 'Henderson' lima bean and they're the bush type! At least your borlotti should climb - or are they nani?!

Trust you to put the kybosh on things SBP! I bought some butter beans off ebay a few years ago which grew very tall. Methinks " This guys just bought a pound from Tesco's for buttons and is flogging them on eBay for two squid for ten "!!!!

Deciding to cut out the middle man I've been to Tesco's and bought a pound of butter beans for buttons! Now you tell me they may be dwarf beans????

btw I've grown dwarf and undwarf? borlotti beans before........impressed with the tall ones but unimpressed with the dwarf ones.

[Snadger]

ok i'm confused, i thought haricot beans were the ones in baked beans ...... so what are they then?? i quite fancy making my own baked beans instead of using tinned ones.

Apparently you can grow them in this country.........but they are BLACK!

[lynda66]

black baked beans don't sound great lol .... so what sort are the ones in beans that aren't black?

[Two_Sheds]

ok i'm confused, i thought haricot beans were the ones in baked beans ...... so what are they then?

Heinz beans are made from Canadian Navy beans aka Navy Beans aka Boston bean
Heinz - Talk to us - Your Letters - Heinz Replies

I'm finding it really difficult to find a supplier of them

"Navy – A very famous variety that is used in soups and for baking. It takes its name from the United States Navy who used this bean as a staple food for its sailors in the early 20th century. Bush type plants give loads of small, white dry beans that hold their shape when cooked. Very heavy yielding"

This is also from Heinz: http://journals.cambridge.org/downlo...3a1a9fe14560df
In Great Britain... over 80,000 tons of dry beans are processed annually, to produce ‘baked beans’. Originally a product of North American origin, ‘baked beans’ are thought to have been initially produced by the firm of Burnham and Merrill in 1875 (Potter, 1959) to supply their fishing fleet, which could account for the beans being known as Navy beans.

The first official record of this product, however, dates back to 1877 when W. K. Lewis of Boston registered a patent for the process (Bitting, 1973).

These beans which are also referred to as Pea beans are currently produced in the state of Michigan in the USA, in the province of Ontario in Canada and in minor quantities in South America and Africa.

All major varieties within this class of dry beans are derived from Robust, a
disease resistant selection from a local Michigan land race released in 1915

Curiouser and curiouser !

[zazen999]

Confused.com

Anyhow - to add my penneth - I did the same with a packet of Pinto beans and we're still using them in chillis stews etc. I've got two_sheds loads of beans for this year, and can't wait to start growing all the different varieties.

[lynda66]

Heinz beans are made from Canadian Navy beans aka Navy Beans aka Boston bean
Heinz - Talk to us - Your Letters - Heinz Replies

thanks TS i might see if i can find some of them then