IME, climbing beans planted very close to tomatoes overwhelm them - the vines climb all over the toms and do a better job of getting the sunlight. Maybe behind (by that you mean to the north of?) would work better, and planted after the toms are fairly large. This would be somewhat like corn/beans, where the beans are planted later and tolerate the shade of the corn until the corn starts to dry out and the beans come into their own in late summer.

Hi Drew. There are a lot of GW threads on this with a lot of information. Basically, when pods change color and get rubbery, seeds are fully mature. If possible, let pods dry on the vine. If frost or excessive rain threaten, pick the pods and dry them in a warm place with a fan or good air circulation. When pods are dry, shell them and let the beans further dry in a warm dry place on a paper plate or in an open paper bag. I put them in a plastic bags about the end of the year. At that time they can be frozen for 48 hours to kill bug eggs. Store them in a cool place. They can be stored in a freezer in at least two layers of Zip Lock freezer bags.

I can't say that what I did was right according to people who know what they are doing in saving seed, but I put mine in the refrigerator crisper last year. It worked ok for me. I also did this with onion sets purchased this spring. I have kept unsprouted sets in the crisper to plant thoughout this growing season for the green onion tops. I got some pole bean seeds from a friend over 10 years ago and grew and saved some each year. Then for a number of years didn't have any place to grow them. Last year I was only able to sprout a few and grew those only for seed. (For those years that I couldn't plant I saved them in a paper bag in a closet, which may explain why few sprouted). I put last years seed in the crisper over the winter and they sprouted just fine this year. A long with left over kolrabi, peas, several lettuces, zucchini, summer squash, sweet basil and swiss chard. There was some skips on some things, but that was true of seeds purchased this year as well. I planted a new package of golden beets and only 3 came up. The red beets planted in the same bed at the same time germinated very well. Go figure. I didn't expect the old seed to germinate as well so I just saved a few of each to fill in those areas. I haven't seen any sales around here either. The demand has been very high for seed, so what little is on the shelves is there at the same price. Buying for next year is an interesting idea though. No doubt the high demand will raise the price next year as it usually does. Got to give that some real thought. As my next way of figuring out how to save money I am looking for more things like my pole beans that I can save my own seeds from. Johnnys seed packet for parsnips said that the seed doesn't keep well. Thanks for the idea lroberge. Something to think about.

If you like the beans, it is worth a try using the seed that you have. I was able to grow pole beans from seed that had experienced many winter days with sub freezing temperatuers. I performed a germination test for viability first.