Recommended veg in unconventional colours

[Penellype]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My requirements for beans are very precise because in general I don't like beans. The varieties I grow must therefore be absolutely stringless, tasty, easy to grow and not take up too much space. Upto this year I have grown Purple Teepee, which are nice until they get beyond about 3 inches long, and then they become too "beany" for me. Sonesta is nice, probably because the beans don't get too big.

As example of my fussiness in this department with the runner beans - I grow Stardust (exceptional) and Firestorm (passable) and decided to try the dwarf variety Hestia which has pretty red and white flowers as a decorative veg for my front fence. It is described as stringless and tasty with long, straight pods. I ate 3 small beans (which were anything but straight) and found that, having removed the worst of the strings they were coarse, unpleasantly flavoured (to my taste) and had a texture resembling cardboard. Others may like them, but mine went in the hotbin and I won't be growing them again.

This post probably gives more insight than most as to why I spend so much time and effort growing my own veg. I simply won't eat most of the stuff sold in the shops.

[Thelma Sanders]

Haha! I'm a bean lover and even I thought the dwarf runner Hestia was absolute cr@p..

[Snoop Puss]

I have difficulty growing climbing beans and had no luck with Marvel of Venice. Next year, I'm thinking of trying a dwarf bean called Merveille de Piemonte. I ate a huge plate of beans once in France, many, many years ago, and I've been trying to find the same bean ever since. I think it could be this:
https://www.seedsofitaly.com/Dwarf_F...5_8313716.aspx

Quite a pronounced buttery bean flavour, I'm afraid, Penellype, but I loved them.

[Zelenina]

Those beans look interesting, Snoop. But have you tried Beurre de Rocquencourt which actually have butter in their name? I can send you seeds of those if you want. They are a couple of years old but should still germinate. Maybe I should test them first.

Yellow beans are very popular here in central Europe, but nearly all the varieties available are dwarfs, Penellype. Sonesta has been a popular one here for a long time but I don't know if it's actually a Czech or Slovak variety. I'll look out for any climbing ones that fit your description and aren't Neckar Gold.

[Snoop Puss]

^^ I once grew Rocquencourt, Zelenina, but they were extremely coarse. So I've never grown them since. Maybe I was just unlucky and the seeds were Rocquencourt crossed with something else.

Anyway, I'd love to try some. I'll get the Merveille de Piemonte and maybe we could do a swap?

[Zelenina]

I'd love to do a swap, Snoop

I don't remember my Rocquencourts being particularly course. Normal French beany texture I think. I grew them and some Royalty purple dwarf beans the same year and they seemed equally good to eat. But I hadn't grown a lot of french beans before them, so I'm not really a connoisseur yet.

[Alison]

Oh, and yellow courgettes. I've tried a few. Definitely do not recommend Jemmer. I got them from More Veg and usually always get on well with their seeds. But Jemmer were rubbish. Not a nice flavour and one plant produced green courgettes, while the other one produced green ones with yellow splodges.

My personal favourite of all the ones I've tried is Soleil.

Sounds like you had duff seeds for Jenner, they're definitely bright yellow and very productive and tasty. I like a mix of different coloured / shaped courgettes as it adds interest to the plate

[Chris11]

Jungle Seeds is a good source for exotic and unusual varieties. Worth a look

The Vegetable Seed Store from JungleSeeds

[Jimmy]

Normal veg plus food colouring ?
Jimmy