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Beans, Peas & Legumes

Favorite "heirloom" beans for fresh snap beans?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Keep getting interested in old time "green beans", particularly in old string and types that can be eaten when the beans swell inside, while the hulls are still tender. Kind of confused by what I read online, seems to be different opinions on whether a bean has strings, or is used mostly for the seed,

Types I'm considering...

Mr. Tung's... inspired by the thread about these, ordered some seeds.

Turkey Craw... I was confused since they usually only show pictures of the seeds, but I guess these make really good green beans too? Bumpy string bean?

Tobacco Worm... bumpy, thin hulled string bean? Good for green beans? Supposed to have a strong beany flavor? Barnes Mountain is another option that Bill Best likes. I suppose there are many similar types from Appalachia.

Greasy beans are great, but I have trouble with production, always late, and small pods. Pink Tip Greasy is my favorite so far, with attractive plump pods. Want one dependably of a good size., maybe like this Western NC Long Greasy

Featured Answer

Macmex

4 years ago

I LOVE the old fashioned string bean types and grow a number of them. Old Timey Long Cut Greasy is a white seeded greasy bean which comes in pretty early, here in Oklahoma. Our family favorite is Tennessee Cutshort, which is a string bean (not greasy). It's not a true cutshort, but has the large, fat pods of some cutshorts, with seeds spaced a bit further apart.

Woods Mountain Crazy Bean is a bush, string variety which is extremely heat resistant and ever bearing. I believe this bean was first introduced, right here, when the forum was under Gardenweb.

I've grown Ruth Bible, which is a superb old Appalachian heirloom. I've been very pleased with it.

Anyway, there are hundreds of great stringed beans out there. One of my favorite places to go, to find them is Sustainable Mountain Agriculture.

The Sample Seed Shop has some great ones. I'm trying the Spangler pole bean this year.

Another place I love to look at the stringed types, though not all they carry are stringed beans, is Sandhill Preservation Center.

Here's a photo of a mess of Woods Mountain Crazy Beans.

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Comments (8)

kaleidoscope eyes
4 years ago
Macmex-I noticed in another thread, that is several years old, that you had Warsaw Buff pie pumpkin seeds. If you still have any, I would like to mail you a SASE for seeds.Thanks.
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Hmmmmmmm? All I know is what works for me, Jim. And, keeping in mind that I am, at best, semi-literate when it comes to computers, I actually maintain index cards. Computer-savvy folks probably would want a data base. For my cards, centered at the top is the class of veggie (i.e., "Bean"). Under that is the botanical name. On the left I put the month/year of acquistion. Under that the variety name. And under that who I acquired it from. The rest of the card is used to record any historical data I have, AKA names, specialized culturing info, description of the veggie, etc. I also try to maintain a history of my grow-outs of the variety, and what the results were. Here's an example. Keep in mind that the first two lines will be centered: Common Bean Phaseolus vulgaris Barnes Mtn. Corfield October, 2003 Bill Best A pole snap bean from the Barnes Mountain area of Estill Cty., KY. Collected by Ott McMaine more than 25 years ago, and still grown by his grandson, Carl McMaine. Medium-large pods have deep beany flavor, and do not become woody or fibrous. Almost equal to Tomacco Worm. Hope this helps.
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Macmex
4 years ago
Well, I went through a crisis about ten years ago and failed to plant my seed for a while. When I tried, it didn't germinate.

A couple years ago I got a fresh packet of seed from the Seed Savers Exchange, but their seed stock was crossed up. So that was a dead end.

I just so happen to have dug up one last packet of seed from 2009, and am about to try to get some to germinate. Been studying on how to germinate old seed. Hopefully I can jump start this seed and get a new supply, later this summer. Thanks for asking!
kaleidoscope eyes
4 years ago
Good luck!
Macmex
4 years ago
Thanks!
LoboGothic
3 years ago
Macmex, where do you study how to germinate old seeds? I am faced with this dilemma, have a lot of varieties that have been languishing for a while and I think it’s do or die this year. Good luck with your Warsaw Buff.
zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
3 years ago
"Macmex, where do you study how to germinate old seeds?"

OK, I'm not Macmex... but there are numerous threads throughout the Gardenweb forums on germinating old seeds. You can find many of them by searching for... "germinating old seeds".

This was a good thread on the topic here in the Bean Forum... old, but still relevant:

Need ideas to germinate old beans
Macmex
3 years ago
Thanks, Chris, for pinging me! My memory has been so bad lately. Yes, what Chris said. Here's a link to a thread that describes what I've done this year. Unfortunately Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin didn't respond.

Reviving old seed/ Cherokee Striped Cornhill Pole Bean

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