Not from the allotment, but these are our first beans – EVER! They’re poetically named Mrs Fearne’s Purple Flowering Beans, and they come from the Heritage Seed Library, which conserves varieties of vegetable from the history books. We’ve grown them in a large terracotta pot on the patio – they were planted in April but are positively soaring upwards at the moment. I am watching the little babes carefully so I can pick and steam them the very second they’re ready.
The plants (two out of three germinated) are obviously late bloomers, so I’m hoping for a few months of cropping, and will try to take a note of the weight of beans we pick. These and the sweetpeas have done exceptionally well for us in the garden, so they will be emigrating to the plot next year – where we can grow more and worry less about ugly brown seedpods. Our cottage garden is too small to be swamped with beans!
