No contest, Cherokee Trail of Tears, in fact they're still producing. Next the beans (the seed came from Italy) that I've been growing for over 40 years, Mr. Tung's Beans came in a close third. I had a couple Gold Marie seeds given to me so these have just been grown for seed.

Annette

uncle steve is nearly always at the top for me.
meraviglia di venezia has been good, but now fizzling.
neckar gold planted late is producing well.

that would be the top 3 for me this year.

keith

I grew a couple of dozen varieties but the top producers were
1. Yellow Indian Woman (actually from Sweden)
2. Hidatsa Shield Figure (pole)
3. Scarlet Runner (2nd year roots) always produce huge crops the second year

Yard-long bean from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds catalog called Orient Wonder. They gave a prolific harvest then began to "regrow" from the base of the plants and are giving a second prolific harvest which is still going and going and going........ The plants are so vigorous that they are using the trellis, the beans and anything that stands still to wind around!

According to the catalog this is a Japanese long bean. All I can say is WOW!!

DL

Helda's been my best so far. But I've never tried any of these wild and exotic varieties I keep hearing about in this forum.

I heard a lot of talk about the trail of tears. Are there any bush type in this variety? I would like to try them.

Cherokee Trail of Tears is a pole bean that can be harvested as a snap bean and also as a dry bean for soup. It doesn't come in a bush form.
You might consider "Black Valentine" for a suitable black seeded bush bean.

My best snap this year was "Emerite". It didn't perform that well the first time I grew it in the early 90's... but that was a bad year, and I've learned a lot more about bean culture since then. Glad I tried it again. So are my neighbors and co-workers, I've literally been giving buckets full away from two 24-foot rows. Also saved several pounds of seed so far, from an additional 24-foot row let go for seed.

Despite the wet start & a very cool summer, had an exceptionally good bean year, especially for dry seed. "Bosnian Pole" (from a GW trade) in its second year (only had 3 plants last year) has produced 9 pounds of dry seed from a 20 foot row, with a tray of pods yet to shell. "Striped Cornfield" (from an SSE member) from 7 plants, produced almost 5 pounds of dry seed & two meals of shellies! "Tetovac" (from a really great GW trade) with 12 plants, has produced over 3 pounds of dry seed, and is about half done. "Ma Williams" (a.k.a. "Goose") produced 20 pints of shellies from a 24-foot row, plus a pound of dry seed.

Guess you can see why I grow mostly pole beans... you gotta love that "bean math". ;-) I'll describe all of these beans in greater detail on another thread, once the frost puts the garden to bed.

Actually had one cowpea produce really well, "Green Dixie". A real surprise, given the weather. The other cowpeas haven't done badly either; but yardlongs are duds this year.

Runner beans, of course, loved the cool weather. I grew two this year, "Apricot Runner" and "Tucomares Chocolate". TC, with the same 30-foot row I used last year, has produced almost twice as much seed this year.

Likewise, had a really good year for two peas grown for seed, "Purple Pod Parsley" (shelling pea) and "Sandy" (snow pea). Both failed last year, when rain destroyed most of the drying seed. Was able to get them in almost a month earlier this year, with great results.

"King of the Garden" limas, after several failed attempts in the 90's, are producing heavily for me this year. Given this summer's near-record cool temperatures, it's convincing proof of the effectiveness of transplanting limas in short-season areas. Just as with "Emerite", glad I gave them one more try.

I couldn't say that variety seemed to have much to do with how well a bean did for me this year. TIMING was everything. Beans planted early in the year didn't do well, as we had too much cool wet weather. Beans planted right around the end July have done better, as conditions have been better.

Childers Cutshort has been my top producer (planted in July) I'm almost certain that Childers and Tennessee Cutshort are identical. Yet Tennessee Cutshort didn't do well. It was planted early.

For the first time in three years of trials Insuk's Wang Kong has actually flourished here. Still, I wouldn't call it a heavy producer in our conditions.

The only cowpea I got in the ground this year was Zongozotla Pintitos, a mix from Mexico, which we brought back with us in 2001. I planted these on April 27 and they have produced all summer and now, into the fall. This one is okay for snaps, but we don't use them for that. We prefer our other beans for that.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Medium production of very good flavored snaps was Tobacco Worm.
High production of good quality canning snaps was Blue Marbutt.

I had several other beans that were grown mostly to increase seed for a large growout next year.

White Whipporwill has produced heavily again in the cowpea section.
I have a heavy crop of 3 or 4 other cowpeas that need to be picked in the next few days.

One special note re Philippine Purple which is a yardlong or liana type bean, I planted the 8 seed I had and one of them germinated. From that one plant, I have a few hundred seed saved and have several beans still on the plant. I might just grow this one out as an entire row on trellis next year to multiply the seed. They are very pretty and make nice snaps.

DarJones