Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Pole Bean

I got this cultivar from Southern Exposure:
RATTLESNAKE: 73 days. Especially good for sandysoil. Rattlesnake is a heavy producer in the hot, humid areas ofthe coastal Mid-Atlantic and South coastal areas where sandysoil prevails. Steamed snaps are sweet, rich, and full flavored. Stringless when pods are small to medium size. Vines are vigorous climbers which bear 7” round pods containing buff-coloredseeds splashed with brown. #13508 Pkt. $2.50
These beans are growing up ten-gauge wire that I ran from stakes to the top of a twelve-foot piece of conduit. (I bent a coat hanger into a question-mark with a long tail, and fed the tail into the top of the conduit, giving me a loop anchored deep into the conduit.) Not only is it really beautiful and takes up next to no room in the garden, the setup makes harvesting easy. I've been harvesting a big handful of beans every day, and it looks ready to produce a lot more in the near term. I don't think they took 72 days. I'm pretty sure I planted them mid-May, so more like thirty days to begin bearing.

I'm going to let them fill out while I'm out of town and pick them for as canellini beans (which are nothing but green beans harvested for the bean, rather than the pod.)
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4 comments:

Alan said...

Ah, very good. I'd considered ordering those before now I am for sure.

.....Alan.

Anonymous said...

Sadly the Urban Deer have already gotten at my bean poles this year.

Erin said...

Is this still a variety you like and use? I'm looking for a good pole bean for central florida that is high yield with good flavor.

Michael said...

yes when i can remember to order it! i encourage you to think in terms of multiple bean crops: an early one with determinant/bush beans (anything, i use a hardware store mix) followed by pole beans then crowders and limas (willow-leaf is a favorite of mine). there are some cool tropicals i've tried, too, like yardlongs. these can all be inter-sown/successively sown... in the spring we don't need to worry about rust, and the late-summer beans like crowder, fields, limas, etc aren't affected. i've planted beans in the same stretch for years without pest or disease buildup. beans are TOUGH!