Do you still have any of those Taylor Horticultural bean seeds? I am hunting some up. Thanks, Phil Bunch

Pommes, the problem with cool soil for beans is that it often causes poor germination. The 18 degree C. soil temperature is a good baseline recommendation for planting bean seeds, although I prefer it a little warmer. Once germination has already occurred though - such as with transplants - the soil temperature is less critical. You can put transplants into the ground earlier than seeds. Some bean seeds are more cool soil tolerant than others, such as the pole beans "Emerite" (black-seeded) and "Fortex" (brown-seeded). There seems to be a relationship between dark seed coats & good cool-soil tolerance. I grow mainly pole beans, but there should be bush beans with similar tolerance. These might offer an alternative to transplants. My Wisconsin weather sounds much like yours. June 1st is my target date for direct-seeding beans, soybeans, okra, and other heat-loving crops. In the event that the soil is too cool or damp at that time (as often happens) I just plant them indoors instead, transfer them to a solar greenhouse as soon as they germinate, and transplant them as soon as conditions allow. The only beans I actually start early are long-season beans (such as limas) which would otherwise be a challenge for my climate. In recent years, I've compared the days-to-maturity of the same beans, both direct-seeded and started as transplants. Provided that the transplants are given full sun immediately following germination, and not kept in the pots long enough to stunt their growth, the days-to-maturity are comparable. If slugs are a major problem, I understand why you would want to use transplants. There might be other options that would be helpful. I'm not sure what chemical products are available where you live, but here there are iron-based slug killing formulations that are very effective, and are even certified for organic agriculture. You might also try sprinkling diatomaceous earth around young seedlings to protect them from slugs.

Same here, lotsa flowers, no beans last year till cooler weather came. Then they went crazy and made so many beans, I still have over a full quart jar of the dried beans! A few of the beans that fell to the ground wintered over and came up this spring. I was kinda surprised about that! But if you dry them, be sure to give them a LONG time to dry. I tried cooking some and I thought they were just OK. I mean, if I was really, really hungry I'd eat the cooked dried bean. DH is annoyingly picky about food and he ate a little bitty bowl and then didn't eat any more. So I had the rest of the pot to do something with and I didn't want to eat them every day for a week. So I poured off the liquid and saved it to add to soup, then pureed the beans in the Cuisinart, added chili seasoning, cooked ground beef, onion and green pepper and rolled them up in flour tortillas. Poured chili sauce over all and topped with sharp cheddar cheese and baked. LOL, DH had two helpings. I haven't tried 'em as green beans because I was a little put off by how hairy the pods were. I have Insuk's planted this year and they are blooming profusely. BTW, is there a difference, tastewise, between Insuks and Scarlet Runner? They look the same to me. --Ilene

Nearly at the end of the season before I popped my snoot in. You might want to try 'diggers.au' - they do heritage seeds and have a reasonably active network. I believe that Yates was bought by an Australian company so it may help to ask in Oz first.