Best French beans and Runner beans?

[Snow]

I plan to grow some beans next year. Never grown them before. I've read loads of posts on the forum and from what I can make out these look like gooduns?

French Beans - Cobra, Blue Lake, Cosse Violette, Blauhilde.
Runners - Pole Star or Scarlet Emperor.

I won't be able to grow them all, so will need to narrow things down a bit more. Availability in swaps might well dictate things a bit, but I thought I'd ask specifically about these varieties and what people think of them.

Predicting a bit of a 'well it depends' answer, I'm hoping for fleshy pods, as I know I can eat them but mature beans sometimes disagree with me. And something that's very productive as I only have a small amount of space. And importantly, no hybrids as I want to collect seed that hopefully will grow true and I like stuff with a bit of history and age about it too. (not too picky then!)

thanks!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Out of your French bean choices, Snow, I've grown Cosse Violette and Blauhilde - both purple podded varieties.

Out of the two, I'd go for Cosse Violette as they are nice fleshy pods and never stringy, no matter how big the pods get.

I've not collected my seed from the pods at the Hill yet from the climbers - but if you do decide to grow the Cosse Violette, I should think that I will have some spare seed which I'd be happy to send you.

[Nicos]

Which ever French beans you go for, do make sure they are a stringless variety....you'll enjoy them much more

[Noosner]

I'd like to put a shout out for Blauhilde as I've grown them these last three years - and really like them. I find them quite hardy and able to put up with my sometimes rough and ready gardening approach, unlike some others I've tried!

[muddled]

A vote here for cosse violet.
Absolutely love 'em I do...tender and juicy, thrive on neglect and really easy to see come picking time (an underestimated quality in my opinion....as production of any bean slows if you miss a couple and let them fully ripen)

For runners, of the ones you've listed I've only grown the scarlets. They were good, sulked a bit in the very hot and dropped some flowers but generally gave a pretty good crop.
I've been growing czar runner beans of late because a) I get a better crop and b) I like to eat the actual beans as much as the pods and white ones look nicer in recipes.

[Alison]

I don't rate Cobra but the others are all good with Blue Lake probably the mist productive. I'd marginally go for Blauhilde of the purple ones but make sure you steam not boil to keep the mist of the colour.

[Guest]

Can't really advise on which variety, but would advise trying to squeeze two variety in just in case something doesn't quite do what it should. I have grown cobra 3-4 times and one year it was fantastic lots of long, thin yummy pods, one year it was plain naff and the others so so.

[Thelma Sanders]

A vote for Cosse Violette here - but I prefer White Lady runner beans

[Kristen]

I think that variety is subjective - I've only grown two of the French beans that you mention, and I liked them both - but maybe I would like the other two more? My advice, assuming you can get the seed free/cheap, would be to grow half a dozen plants (enough to get a meal, rather than a mouthful) of several varieties and do a taste test within the family, then restrict the varieties in future years.

However, I don't recommend doing that with lots of vegetables all in the same year!

We grow our climbing beans on an outward-facing support structure (we use an X-frame, rather than a A-frame) so that beans, mostly, dangle free and clearly visible for picking. My beans are grown as part of my crop rotation, but if I mono-cropped them in the same place each year I would use a "Munti-frame". I see Wigwam as being the least picking-friendly structure

We pick all our beans young - keeps them cropping, they usually over-yield so picking them younger means we pick more, but smaller, and can then eat them all! and they are more succulent and need less preparation than Big'Uns.

I let one plant, at the end of the row, go to seed at the end of the season, as once it starts doing that the plant shuts down production of new beans, and I don't want the whole row doing that. Runners will cross pollinate, so I only grow one variety, but on an allotment I expect there would be the risk of cross pollination from a neighbour's plot ... perhaps grow one or two plants at home, in the ornamental garden, just for seed production? The flowers are attractive

[snakeshack]

For runners I grow st George and lady di as they both self pollinate very well in seasons when some others don't . For for French I always grow violette as they crop well and start early as well as being easy to spot . I also recommend victorianas collosal climbing peas,they grow as tall as runners and crop over a longer period than most

[Potstubsdustbins]

If you intend to save seed you will have to be careful with the runners as they cross pollinate very easily.

[Greenleaves]

As regards runners its Firestorm all the time for me, self pollinating and a tasty long cropper

[Potstubsdustbins]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Me to but I am not sure whether they are F1 or not.

[Snow]

Great replies everyone, thank you for sharing all your experience!

I need to see how much space I can spare but hopefully I'll have enough room for some french and some runners.

I'd be very grateful for some spare Cosse Violette seed, if you have it @Hazel at the Hill. Thanks for offering. I think what @muddled wrote clinched it: "tender and juicy, thrive on neglect" sounds ideal!

Judging by the replies, Scarlet Empire ought to be a good bet for the runners. Though if I can't get seed then some of the others also sounds very good.

Amazing how much variety there is.

[Chippy Minton]

Just one question from me..... you have all climbing beans, I grow cobra up a frame with some runners and then have a variety or 2 of bush ones along the front. Just a thought in terms of maximising space, although I usually get frustrated with bush ones and said 2 years ago that was it, never again....

They must have been (bean) listening, best crop I ever got