[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by carbking

We grow Early Contender and Blue Lake. The Early Contender are about 10 days quicker to harvest than the Blue Lake. By planting two varieties, we can stagger harvest. Canning 20 quarts of beans at one time is not as much fun as it was 55 years ago; canning 40 quarts at the same time is that much less fun!

We normally get two good pickings, but in a good year we will get three from the Blue Lake.

The final picking, generally pull the vines, throw them in the Gator, and head for a shade tree to pick and snap. On occasion, have had the Gator piled as high as possible, and a 2 wheel garden trailer behind the Gator also running over.

I have tried other varieties, but these two seem to be best for us in central Missouri.

I don't remember ever trying a Half Runner.

We did have decent results with Top Crop, but not as good as the other two.

70 years ago, when I was a kid; my folks grew pole beans to get me involved. Lots of fun! Go to the woods and cut poles; then make four-corner "tepees" with overhead connectors to strengthen the tepees. These were lima beans, and of course we got to shell the beans when ripe.

As I grew older, these grew to be less fun, and a lot of work; and the folks switched to bush beans. We did grow pole beans one year when our kids were young, but WAY too much work unless you are trying to involve the kids!

Jon

My maternal grandfather grew KY Wonders, which are a pole bean. He would dry the last beans of the season in his shed, then would have my maternal grandmother rehydrate the beans and cook them with salt pork. He called them “Leather Britches”; my MIL called them “shuck beans”. I call both disgusting because that taste like mildew smells. There isn’t enough salt pork or jowl bacon in the world to cover up that taste. My paternal grandfather( a REAL farmer) grew beans for dry beans and for canning.