Last winter I sourced 16 of the earliest varieties of runner beans / løpebønner (Phaseolus coccineus), a bean that is marginal in maturing (for seed) in my area. I decided therefore to try and create an earlier maturing landrace for my area. The varieties I grew can be found at the bottom. They were started indoors and transplanted out in the Væres Venner Community Garden in Trondheim in early June, all planted close to each other. Here they are in flower in mid-August:
Despite a very wet autumn there was quite a good yield of mature beans; a good start!
As with my broad bean grex, I will select for earliness and diversity of colour.
These varieties were used:
Polestar (Chiltern Seeds)
Celebration (Chiltern Seeds)
Jackpot (Chiltern Seeds)
Sunset
Ruusupapu (Finland)
Hammond’s Dwarf Scarlet
Preisewinner (PHAS 8592/ German) IPK Gatersleben
Bicolor (PHAS 212/ Slovakia) IPK Gatersleben
(PHAS 8106/ German) IPK Gatersleben
(PHAS 8158/ Slovakia) IPK Gatersleben
Albiflorus (PHAS 8121) IPK Gatersleben
Stengebohnen (PHAS 8143/ Netherlands) IPK Gatersleben
Albiflorus (PHAS 8117/ German) IPK Gatersleben
(PHAS 8124/ Austrian) IPK Gatersleben
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I’m doing a similar thing in Aberdeen, albeit with poorer record keeping – I can’t remember half the varieties I’ve thrown into my landrace, although Celebration certainly rings a bell. One thing I’ve noticed is that white beans seem less hardy than dark-coloured ones, in the sense of the seeds being affected worse by frost. This is a bit of a dilemma as I also like the colour diversity. Have you noticed this at all?
Not really, but then I only started this year. I found both early maturing white, red and bicoloured varieties in the genebank! Is it spring frosts you are thinking of or autumn, stopping ripening!
I meant autumn frosts. When you open pods that have suffered a bit of frost the white beans are much more likely to have suffered than any coloured ones.