After a very slow start, all of mine are doing fine. The three rice beans I'm growing will be ready for the green bean taste test in a couple of days.

The Chinese Red Noodles in the greenhouse, (not a hope in hades growing these outside especially this year) are starting to flower and the Pretzel planted at the same time have just been sitting there sulking, this morning I noticed one of them has decided it might try climbing a pole, we'll see.

My Italians, Uncle Steve's, Tennessee Cutshorts, Insuk Wang Kong, Bosnian Pole, Zelma Zesta, Signora della Campagna, Garafal Oro, Oregon Giant and Barksdale are all starting to flower some have beans forming. Blue Jays were planted late but are looking good.

We'll only get a taste of most of these beans, I want to leave most of them for seed. I'll still bag some of the flowers but don't think there would be much crossing if I didn't. This is the first year in all the years I've grown tomatoes I've had to go out and shake flowers to set fruit. No bees, just a few paper wasps that I can see.

Annette

aftermidnight,

I see we are growing many of the same beans.

How are going to use the rice beans you mentioned?

"The three rice beans I'm growing will be ready for the green bean taste test in a couple of days."

thanks,
Dean

Dean, I'm just going to steam them, slather them in butter and chow down, I grew all three in containers which spent a lot of time in the greenhouse, that's why they're ahead of the rest. I have Little White Rice, Ritz Escoffier and Comtesse de Chambord. I think rice beans are usually used in the dried stage but thought I would try them at the green bean stage. CdeC is said to be quite sweet at this stage I don't know about the others.

I never heard of rice beans. These forums are an education.

Dean, how do you rate your beans on flavor?

I'm growing four kinds of bush beans in containers: Black Valentine, Provider, Royal Burgundy, and Tenderpod. Provider was the earliest (didn't count days) and the most prolific. Black Valentine was the second earliest. Royal Burgundy and Tenderpod have been lagging behind, and I picked the first of them today.

This is my first time growing any of these particular varieties. I had been thinking Tenderpod sounded a tad gimmicky, and since it hasn't impressed me with earliness or yield, I wasn't feeling all that positive about it . . . until I tasted it. Not beany, which is what I usually like, but definitely delicious.

I was prepared to love Royal Burgundy, which people have raved about. I liked it, but I liked Tenderpod better. I'll have to compare Tenderpod to Black Valentine, which I also liked a lot. As for Provider, the flavor is decent I award them a lot of points for "early and prolific."

I have Kentucky Wonder and Fortex growing on an 8' arch. Some of the KWs have reached the top, but none of the plants have blossoms yet.

alisande asked, "Dean, how do you rate your beans on flavor?"

I guess I read that question in two different ways. :)

First, if you are asking my methods, then I like to taste a couple beans raw in the garden, steam a couple and then cook some either in cheese oor with bacon and compare all of the taste. The taste like most things in the world is totally subjective to me.

Second, if you are asking how I rate the individual beans I listed above, then I would say the Empress, Cherokee wax and Roma II are the winners, in no particular order, each with their own tastes.

I really like Rattlesnake pole beans as well.

Dean

Thanks, Dean. I can see that I worded that a little ambiguously. I was looking for the second answer, but the first one was interesting, too--although I can't imagine eating green beans with cheese or bacon. (No criticism implied......it's a regional thing, plus my diet tends to be healthy in the extreme.) :-)

Someone else said good things about Roma II. I'll have to look into them next year.

Mmmmm, fresh steamed beans, crispy bacon bits with just a tad of bacon drippings and lots of fresh ground pepper, don't do it very often but oh so good.
I also like steamed beans with a pat of butter and parmesan cheese sprinkled on them. Haven't cooked any of the rice beans yet but have sampled one or two raw and they were quite sweet. I think I will be growing a couple of rows of these next year.

Dean how do you cook your beans in cheese, do you make a cheese sauce or?

Annette