i just wanted to post about borlotti beans in the garden. As i have been very impressed with this years crop. Last year i grew a dwarf variety which was ok, but a small harvest. This year i grew full vine variety and had major success. What do i class as success? beans are available on the vine within a few months so ready for summer. then have continued to produce beans through summer and into fall. you can eat the young beans whole as you would pole beans. Or wait for the beans to form inside and eat then as a borlotti bean in soups, sauces etc. or wait for the shell to dry and save the dry beans for the winter, to rehydrate in soups etc. I build a typical bean wig wam of poles and have grown three plants per pole, so great crop quantity for area of garden. Looks amazing, bright red seed pods. good for the soil fixing nitrogen into the soil like all beans. Very flexible bean for eating. Just wanted to share this with you guys, as i find it is a far better bean than the usual runner beans, and a good alternative to the pole bean. both of which you have to check daily so the beans don't get old.
Dan, thanks for the great info. I'm going to write the name down for my garden next year. The pods sound pretty and the bean itself a good choice for productivity and good food.
This is a really good posting, Dan. Congrats on your bean success. Beans are something that I just cannot live without. haha. Of course I like eating them, but I also like reading about them. ----Food for me, as well as food for thought.
What seed company carries the seeds for these beans?,, I have spent an hour+ trying to locate them with no success.. Thanks in advance for info.. Hank .. EDIT:- Never mind, I found them at Thompson & Morgan!
thanks guys i had hoped to post pics today but it has been raining all day must admit the seeds are hard to find. mine were berton seeds borlotto fiamma
I've never heard of this bean. Thanks to Henry Johnson, I know I can find seed at Thomson and Morgan. I'll be looking these up to see what's what with them. I'll guesstimate whether they are worthy of an experimental planting in my garden. I know you are in Montreal but gardening in the Southwester USA desert is weird sometimes. Example: Pole beans are not supposed to work in the desert. And generally that's true but my neighbor, who didn't know any better, planted half-runners last year. She got a decent harvest. That's why I'm trying them this year. I'm on bean mission for spring. I'm not getting my usual good harvest this year--it's a desert heat thing. Fortunately, I'm not gonna be totally bean-rupt which was what I've feared. I have learned a few things. It was too hot and buggy in the garden to do more than turn the water on and run back indoors. I really wanted to pull the sick looking half runner vines and compost them. Along comes September 15th and they start perking up. I've got three meals worth so far. We'll see. If I could find space for another 20 feet of half runners, then I can declare this a desert tolerating veggie. We had daytime temperatures over 100 for weeks without a break.
Well, I'll be darned. I just learned that borlotti beans are what I know as cranberry beans. They are also called French horticulture beans. I've heard that term French horticulture beans. I have eaten these beans (dried ones). They are good. I haven't tasted them as a green bean--or at least I don't think so. I have never grown them. You have me thinking I should try some.
sounds good prickly pear, i think with beans you need to get as much organic matter under them as possible to hold the moisture, then possibly use a drip hose and mulch the lot. Everything you can to keep the moisture in the roots. yep cranberry beans is another name, I call them Borlotti, as the main place i have eaten them and seen them grow is italy. They do have a dwarf variety which grows real quick, you might want to try these and see if you can get a harvest before it gets too hot.
I was sitting here, envious of those of you who could plant Borlottis, and here Danjensen comes up with a bush variety that just might make it in Texas. Another variety to experiment with--if this keeps up, we'll have to expand our gardens!
Thanks, a bush bean would be my first choice. Here in the Southwestern desert, I usually put my beans out with the monsoon rains. That's always worked in the past. This was just an odd year. You are so right about the deep watering and mulch. It's the difference between success and failure here. I have my garden on drip. I also plant most things in filtered sun. The mesquite trees help keep me out of trouble with the desert sun. There's sunshine then there's desert sunshine. It's something else.
Was in the garden this morning and it wasn't raining so took some pictures for you guys. Borlotti Bean 2011 ( photo / image / picture from Danjensen's Garden ) here you can see just how big they get, currently at 10ft, hence the ladder to get up there to harvest the other thing of note, is how densely you can plant them. i did three plants per bean pole. Borlotti bean close up ( photo / image / picture from Danjensen's Garden ) the finished product , picture doesn't do the redness justice, but its one of my favorite things to look at when in the garden patch
These pics look very good, Dan---Those beans are really good looking plants and pods too! These beans are dried and saved by some folks here for use during the winter and also for planting next year. I like the looks of those pods also. You know, Dan--I am getting the impression that you had a good season there, all-round.
thanks sjoerd as you know gardening is about the small victories. I have to admit 2nd full year of veg gardening so very happy with the results. More with what i have learn't than anything else. Each year i'm narrowing down what works in the garden and what doesn't. So i'm looking forward to next year as i think it will be the best harvest yet.
