Dang, I was going to rattle off a whole list of snap bean varieties that I've grown and loved, but now I can't seem to remember what most of them were! Blue Lake (both bush and pole) is a sure thing. I've grown Buff Valentine (bush) and Kentucky Wonder (pole) and liked both of those as well. I've grown more from Baker Creek Seeds, but like I said, I can't quite remember what. This year I'm only growing Dragon Tongue beans, which are yellow with splashes of purple, but they're not ready to harvest yet.

No offense to your mother, but her beans were seedy because she left them on the vine too long. To avoid seed bumps just pick them earlier. You may find you need to check the bean patch every day or two to keep up.

Blue Lake would be a good one to try, if you like a more slender pod with less seed in it. Like Lelia mentioned, you can pick any bean earlier and have less seed. But some varieties, like Blue Lake, simply don't have seeds which get as large.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Bluelake and Kentucky Wonder sounds good. I'll try both. Thanks for the help, much appreciated. BTW, you're right, my mother was much better at growing flowers than vegetables, god bless her, lol.

If you want tender bright green bush beans don't grow the green ones at all. Grow royal burgandy. They are a deep purple on the vine but turn a bright green when cooked or blanched. They are tender like yellow beabs but have the flavor of green beans--they are the only (green) beans we grow

I'm extremely fond of Royal Burgundy myself -- they are one of my two essential beans to grow. But I have to admit that their seeds are not small by any standard of comparison.

Wonderful flavor, stringless, beautiful enough to put into a flowerbed, good for freezing, less appealing to Mexican Bean Beetles, easy to see so that you don't miss them and let some get too big, and a number of other virtues cause me to sing their praises.

But I have to concede the seed issue. LOL

Any suggestions for a good yellow bean?

For a yellow (wax) bean, I recommend the pole variety "Goldmarie". It has very long (up to 10") flat pods, with a sweet flavor. It also matures very quickly for a pole bean, in about 60 days.

Neckargold is another yellow bean that is worth growing. It is vigorous, productive, and good flavored.

DarJones

meraviglia di venezia (marvel of venice) is another good, long yellow pole bean that is fairly early.
and, if you want to try another nice italian pole bean thats pretty good, how about uncle steves. you could be the only person in korea growing it. that would be pretty neat. i'll let other people tell you about it. my opinion would be biased.

keith

When people say a bean is 'good' how many beans per plant or pounds per foot of planting can I expect?

>>Bluelake and Kentucky Wonder sounds good

a "hill" of beans composed of 3 plants of a good pole bean variety will produce about a gallon of beans weighing about 5 pounds. This presumes excellent soil and growing conditions. Considered on a square foot basis, this would take about 4 square feet of soil so one bean plant for each square foot is a close approximation. I do not grow nor do I recommend growing beans in a high density square foot garden. The density promotes diseases and reduced sunlight cuts yields. Pole beans do best when cultured with lots of room to expose leaves to sunlight. A teepee arrangement or a long row with poles or strings to grow on work best IMO.

DarJones

Kieth said
"you could be the only person in korea growing it."

lol, believe me, I am the only person in Korea growing most of what I grow. Folks here couldn't believe the 1 pound beefsteak I picked 2 weeks ago. Wait til my brussel sprouts start producing, that's gonna draw some curious looks lol.

Anyway, thanks to all for your very helpful suggestions.

This is my 1st time growing green beans and I went with blue lake bush. I put the seeds in the ground May 13th. I have 2 rows of 8 plants but I didn't leave quite enough space between the plants or rows so they're all touching. No signs of any disease though. I've been picking beans everyday since the beginning of July. Everyday more are ready to pick. They just keep coming and coming. I highly recommend blue lakes!

Hi everyone,

Is there anybody here growing yard long beans?
I am, of course! But they have no fruits or even flowers yet. Some of the vines are about 10 feet long and keep climbing and growing without any signs of fruits.
I am gardening in Georgia, zone 8. WE have had a pretty warm sumer so far. Isn't that what the beans like?

Thanks in advance for your input.
Cyrus

I have yardlongs and they are doing quite nicely.

The flowers show up for only a few hours in the morning -- beautiful, lavender, orchid-like things. Then the beans develop rapidly and mature in only a few days.

They had paused in their production but restarted after we finally got some rain.