Sorry Ray, I have tried but I can't grow beans. But from memory I think the runner type beans are good for shelling. ie Scarlet Runner. They keep coming up each spring for 6 or 7 years as well.

how about broad beans?? we always picked them when they were quite small and would sit at the table and shell them like peas.....my brother wouldn't eat them so my dear old grandma would sit and take the outer skin off them and tell him they were French Peas!!! It worked!! He ate everyone of them.....Tina

Hi Ray

What about bortolli beans. I like cooking with them more than navy or cannellini beans.

helen

What time of year do you sow the bortolli Helen? Are they a summer or winter bean?

I should have said common beans, not broad beans. I grow those too but they come at a different time.
I have some runner bean seeds so I'll try those. I don't know bortolli beans but I have some called barlotti/borlotti, those speckled ones you get in soup mix packets at the supermarket. I'll try those too.
Thanks everyone.

Ray, I grew Borlotti once but never again. They twined everywhere and were a bit of a nuisance. I expect that you would need a lot of plants to get a good yield. At the end of the season I let the Banjo french beans seed for next year but I would imagine that the space the shell beans would take up would be too precious unless you had a big area. Eden have a good range of drying beans as I'm sure you already know.

oops my spelling leaves alot to be desired. I tried to grow a bush variety of borlotti bean last year. Grasshoppers got it.

Pepino it is a summer bean.

Helen

Hi Ray
If you want dried beans for winter cooking then you can't go past Tongue of Fire a bush var or for Black Beans there are Black Turtle or Canadian Black which tolerates cool conditions better and yields better too for French beans you can dry any of them for winter cooking and of course you can't go past Lazy Wife or you could try Cannelini Beans...al of wjhich I can send you...plus a few other climbing French types
cheers
peter

Just came on line to find out about Borlotti Beans and here you are !! I've been mega busy outside so nearly missed this thread. First question - do they need staking? I bought the Bush type, but from experience with Bush type tomatoes they might still need some support? I'm trying to cut down on work, because the greenhouse is nearly built - just the covers to put on when we finish the path into it. These are the only beans I can cook that don't make the old man f**t so worth giving them a try. What sort of yields would you expect from about 60-80 seeds or should I give some away? Even though some of you have had bad experiences with them I'm still game to have a go. Thanks guys - back to the concreting.............Linda

Can't help with yields Linda. Some bush beans are just that, and don't need support, others really should be described as semi-vining. Can't help with bush borlotti, sorry. And well-done on the green house. Piccies when finished, please?

Though I am looking for beans that will dry, I'm particularly interested in fresh-shelled beans (yummy), so I'm looking for ones that shell easily, and taste good of course.
I've heard that Barlotti/Borlotti make good fresh shelled beans for flavour, but I don't know about ease of shelling.

Okay, I have plenty of bean varieties so I'll just experiment and plant small quantities of a dozen or so, and report back at the end of the season.

Thanks for the offer Peter, but I think I'll go with the varieties I've got and see how they fare.