French Beans: varieties suitable for UK and in which seasons?

[paqon]

I'm having a nightmare of a time trying to get a grip on French Beans. Not growing them, more trying to find all the varieties. On the RHS site I read that there are two main varieties "Dwarf Bush" and "Climbing", so I decided to do a little more research.

Visiting Seed To Plate their site offered the "Tendergreen" variety as their choice, but it wasn't until I got to Thompson & Morgan seed suppliers that I really hit the skids.

T&M have, as you'd expect, a sizeable range to choose from. Under their Bean section they have both bush and climber in abundance, while listing French Bean once as "Prince", I don't understand that - I thought they were all the same thing.

I've not inspected too closely but imagine that only some of these varieties make it to the shops in season. I'm interested in knowing which ones those are, if indeed they are not the ones mention on the RHS' website.

I'm interested in those which can be grown in the UK, which I imagine to be any of them if in the right season, which leads me to my second point. The seasons for French Beans are listed as July only on the Red Tractor's website, surely one month a year cannot be right... does anybody know about the seasons for each variety grown in the UK?


When I read on this site that there was a top 10 list of French Beans grown, it makes me think I should concentrate on those.

Thanks.

[Hammer]

Paqon, "French Beans can be harvested for about five months by making successional sowings from late Spring to midsummer. After the initial cropping, water and feed plants well for secondary crop" qote from RHS Allotment Handbook. The Prince is a popular Dwarf variety.
Regards Hammer

[Ian240356]

I have tendercrop on the go. They are about 2 foot high with lilac flowers. They give pencil thin beans about4-5 inches long, at this point they are stringless. I only have a few as a friend likes them. I'm a runner bean man myself.