Triffid
Deeply Rooted
I've just filled up my raised bed but will try and get a small poly tunnel in for beans. It will be a challenge because the winds we have here. I have grown these sort of beans before.
I was hoping to find a way to grow the haricot bean and other beans that are similar . Would you know if this possible in UK?
Oh I may have misunderstood you Marie, if you were referring to people growing drying beans in particular. If that's the case, I concur; I also know of very few that grow them for that purpose outside of seed-saving groups! But goodness knows why not, as it is indeed very possible. Folk normally end up with a glut of runner beans, but I've never known anyone to leave some to mature for the dry beans
If you want white haricot types exclusively, Real Seeds in Pembrokeshire stock Lazy Housewife and its sub-variety Coco Sophie. For butterbeans, they have the runners Czar and Gigantes.
In Vilmorin's The Vegetable Garden, the former are given the following descriptions:
White Coco, or Lazy Wife, Kidney Bean. - Stem green, about 6 1/2 ft. high; leaves of medium size, stiff, rather long and pointed, of a dark, rather dull, green, and slightly crimped; flowers white; pods of medium length, rather broad, green, each containing five or six white egg-shaped seeds, about 1/2 in. long, nearly 1/2 in. broad, and over 1/4 in. thick. This variety, although ranking amongst the Edible-podded kinds (especally when the pods are young), is more esteemed for its seeds, which are used in the dried state.
The Sophie Kidney Bean is considered to be only a sub-variety of the White Coco, from which it differs in having rather larger pods (which are sometimes tinged with red, like those of the Prague Kidney Beans) and somewhat larger leaves.
Thanks to a generous soul on the Continent, this year I'm growing the Dutch equivalent to Gigantes, known as Boerentenen - it's coping well with the non-summer we're experiencing. I believe a few people on this forum grow Piękny Jaś, which appears similar. You may be able to find some at your local Polish shop.
The Dutch have a number of landrace dwarf drying beans that are resistant to cold rains and winds. Blokkerder, Wieringer, Friese Woudboon, Groninger Strogele, etc.. Lekatt is from a recent cross with Wieringer, and it's the first bean to flower this year.
For outstanding flavour I must recommend Carol Deppe's Beefy Resilient Grex. Remarkably delicious umami and quick to ripen, taking less than 3 months here in Sussex.