Frech beans - Blue Lake and the end of the beans

Baby blue lake beans forming nicely

This summer we have been experiencing a bean glut, and the last player in my bean bounty where my climbing french beans. I feel like I have covered much of why the beans were so successful in my runner bean posts, and the story behind the french is no different. They enjoyed the spot and produced a great quantity of beans.  More than we really needed so the freezer is groaning.

I don't remember these being particularly covered in flowers, there were definitely more blooms on the runner beans but this didn't seem to prevent the production of beans, they kept appearing.

Fully formed french beans

One thing that was different about these to the runner beans is boy did they spread!  I found french beans amongst both the runner bean wigwams on either side, not even just on the side facing the frenchies, but right on the other side miles away from where they started out. I ended up picking a real mixture in certain areas, very odd when you suddenly come across a patch of french in what should be exclusively runner bean territory.

The variety Blue Lake that I grew was very tasty, stringless, everything you would want in a bean.  I would definitely grow it again, if I wasn't the type of person who always likes to grow different things every year.  I have already bought some cobra climbing beans ready for next year and no doubt I will branch out into other varieties when I see some offers at some point.

I do love a good whirly-twirly vine

I really like french beans because they are tasty and they are also distinctly easier and quicker to cut up than runner beans.  However everybody else in my family much prefers the runner bean.  Because of this I have eaten the lions share of french beans, which is fine with me.  The mother however turned to me the other day and said we shouldn't bother to grow french beans again.  Last time I looked I wasn't growing them for her exclusive enjoyment! Needless to say I will be ignoring her and growing them again next year.

Some of these beans are a little big but I struggled to keep up with the necessary level of picking

The beans have just finally come to an end and were unceremoniously ripped out the moment I thought it was acceptable. Time waits for no bean as they say! I need the space for all my winter veg which is coming along nicely.  Just like I predicted getting the wigwams apart took ages, I think the mother thought she was constructing a sea-worthy vessel rather than a bit of support for beans.  No wind would ever have taken that apart.

The final bean hedge before I ripped them down

I had already whipped out the first of the runner beans when I discovered you're meant to leave the roots in the ground to let the nitrogen the beans have collected disappate back into the soil.  Woops. I have left the other two in so hopefully this bit of earth will turn into very nice soil at some point.

This is the top of the wigwams after about half an hour of chiselling and hacking
at the vines.  Who needed string round the top to hold it together!  

The front garden is looking a bit sad now my three soldiers of green are gone but you can now see all the gladiolus and annuals all at once, which is still pretty despite the lack of green backdrop.

Dwarf beans - productive and tasty, the perfect bean!

A killer on the back but well worth the effort.  Luckily Im young and resilient

I wish dwarf beans had come into my life earlier.  There is nothing not to like; quick to produce, economical on space needs, no wigwam construction required.  Perfect.  Although I will admit that they will do your back in when it comes to picking, but so will the bottom tiers of a wigwam, so thats totally forgivable.

The electric purple flowers, obviously not very big and in-your-face
but nobody is going to say no to a little dot of colour here and there

I would like to say that I saw these beans through from sowing to harvest, but I cheated and bought these as seedlings.  In my defence it was like mid May when the garden space opened up, and always better to cheat and make use of the opportunity than stick to principles and not.  I bought dwarf french beans and the best thing about them, other than the fact that they have produced a veritable hoard of beans, is that the flowers were purple.  A pretty bean is always a bonus in my book.  It was a really nice purple as well, very very pale but quite electric at the same time.  It sung out, one might say, above a sea of green leaves.  The popped into flower around early July, and were out of it and into bean production before I could turn round.

Beans forming on the plant

Im totally sold on french beans, stuff broad beans with their months of development only to find the tiniest beans ever snuggled in those fluffy casings.  Dwarf beans produce and they produce fast.  No sooner had I spotted a few thin beans beginning to form, than a quick rootle in the undergrowth revealed fully formed beans.  How they grow so quick is beyond me, but I like these short turnaround times.  Im all about an investment of time, but lets get some edible results!  They were by far the earliest out of all my french and runner beans this year, and while the others are just getting going I am sadly beginning to near the end of the dwarf crop.

The beans in question

Not only do they produce fast, but they produce a lot.  They require picking every couple of days and my fridge has been stuffed out for a couple of weeks with them now.  We have had several meals off them, and if there wasn't currently four adults living at home, im sure I could have exclusively lived off them for vegetables for several weeks.  Considering how few plants I have, I think this is really impressive.  And very satisfying!  At last a vegetable that has performed just as it should and given bountiful reward.

Nothing better than a good bean pick on a sunny day.  Less so like it was tonight - hammering down with rain

Obviously volume is always welcome, but they also need to taste good as well, and these really do.  We tend to top and tail them, cut them into two centimetre sections and steam them, although they also got thrown into a stirfry the other night as well. Delicious.  Obviously it helps to pick them before they get old and touch, which I try my best at, but try as one might you always come across a huge old fat bean and think, how, how did did I miss you?!  As clear as the nose on my face.

Some of the beans early on, they are good and tasty, and as long as they are picked early enough, tender too

Dwarf beans will definitely be featuring in my garden again next year.  They are just such a handy productive bean.  In fact two varieties for next year are already in my possession.  I bought a packet of purple queen, which is unsurprisingly purple, and ferrari which is your standard fillet type green bean.  I have also seen a strange yellow one which grows in containers which I wouldn't be sad to have in my possession.

We had some in a nice stir-fry, it added a bit of green to the mix, but normally we just steam them