Dwarf French beans?

[smallblueplanet]

Me again! Looking to try new varieties - must be something to do with being cooped up!

Want to grow some 'fine' beans, love the French climbers like Blue Lake and Blauhilde, but want some early finer beans. Recommend me your favourite. Plus when do you start yours and when plant them out?

[ameno]

I've never really bothered with the dwarf french beans, to be honest. They're not actually that much quicker to crop than climbing ones, and the yield per plant and per square metre is much lower
To give you an idea, last year I sowed my climbing French beans in pots in my conservatory on the 16th April. I planted them out a month later, and by the 21st June I had my first picking. That's 66 days. Admittedly, it was a very warm spring last year, so in a normal year it would take a little longer, maybe closer to 75 days, but you get the idea.

Having said that, dwarf beans do have one advantage, and that's that they are good for putting into gaps where you don't want to cast any shade (which obviously climbing ones would do). I grew some dwarf beans for dry beans last year, put in after the potatoes came out, because I didn't dare plant anything tall in that patch or it would shade other crops.

If you are going to grow dwarf beans, just start them indoors the same as you would climbing ones: about a month before your last frost date.

[smallblueplanet]

To give you an idea, last year I sowed my climbing French beans in pots in my conservatory on the 16th April. I planted them out a month later, and by the 21st June I had my first picking. That's 66 days. Admittedly, it was a very warm spring last year, so in a normal year it would take a little longer, maybe closer to 75 days, but you get the idea.

If you are going to grow dwarf beans, just start them indoors the same as you would climbing ones: about a month before your last frost date.

Yeah, I think maybe trying to get them in from rootrainers by mid-April (nothing ventured...). They can be a finer bean than the French climbers, of which we grow a variety.

[ameno]

Dwarf beans are "finer" as in narrower. That's all. Both texture and taste are the same as climbing beans.

If you're lucky with frosts, or thorough with wrapping them in fleece, you can potentially plant French beans out earlier than your normal last frost date. I've done it before.
Unlike tender crops like squashes or tomatoes, which sulk if night temperatures are too low even when there is no risk of frost, beans don't actually mind the cold too much, they just can't stand any actual frost.

[SimpleSimon]

I like dwarf beans to get a late season crop under cover when my climbing beans are starting to give up. Got a great crop last year in a square metre from a sowing I made mid July in root trainers. They stayed in them for ages until a patch came free in the tunnel. I harvested a 15l bucket full of nice tender young beans pretty late on. Maybe end of September or possibly a bit later. My climbing beans ourside had given up fully by then. Will be doing the same again this year.

[Nicos]

I always grow Delinel as they are stringless and very tasty.
I also pick a yellow stringless variety too but not found one particularly outstanding....yet!

They aren’t frost hardy so are very late going in. Sometimes they just sit there and appear to do nothing and then suddenly take off.

I plant them 15cm apart having grown them in pots 3 to a hole. Any which die off or are eaten (voles)get replaced three to a hole.
That way they are self supporting. Rows are30cm apart...just enough to shuffle along!

They are also fairly hungry so need some muck in the soil weeks ahead of planting out.

[nick the grief]

these are the ones I've got. the dwarfs I tend to grow in pots in the greenhouse early and late and in the polytunnel.

Blue Lake - climbing Green)
Tendergreen - dwarf (Green)
Orinocco - dwarf (yellow)
Rocquencourt- dwarf ( yellow)

[burnie]

I have to sat I find the "dwarf " beans whether climbers or not are not very prolific, but I do like the taste, I haven't grown "runner" beans for a long time as they are too tough most of the time. last year I grew Contender, Rocquencourt and Borlotto di Vegevano nano, I still have seed for this year too.

[Snoop Puss]

I can only grow dwarf beans. The weather conditions are too hot and windy for climbers.

Have you tried Sonesta, Nicos? They're quite nice for yellow beans.

[Nicos]

^^^I’ll look out for them snoop - thanks.

[Snadger]

I grew Tendergreen last year and had a marvellous crop of tender beans. I also grew a climber (I think it was Blue lake.)

The climber was as tough as auld boots even though they were harvested young. I left the rest on the plants where they are still hanging to this day..

I've only purchased Tendergreen Dwarf French beans this year!

[smallblueplanet]

The climber was as tough as auld boots even though they were harvested young. I left the rest on the plants where they are still hanging to this day..

Blue Lake are very tasty for us - I think they can be choosy as to where they prefer to grow as I seem to remember we grew them in another part of the country and they were even better! They make great fresh beans, you should have podded them. The beans freeze well too.

[Contadino]

Previously, I've grown Ferrari dwarves and Cosse Violetta climbers. The climbers are ridiculously prolific, but aren't as good eating as the dwarves. In Italy we used to grow special thin varieties - like shoelaces. When in the markets they were selling for silly money but didn't seem such good flavour to me.

This year I'm just planning on doing the dwarves a go and use the space for some mange touts or somesuch.

[Snoop Puss]

^Years and years ago, I saw some string beans going at 15 euros a kilo in Boqueria Market in Barcelona. I can't imagine what they'd charge for them nowadays. But green beans are always really expensive here, for some reason. At this time of year, €7 a kilo isn't unusual even for fairly coarse looking beans.

[burnie]

I tried a few Blue Lake last year, I can't remember what they were like, so I guess I wasn't that impressed.