I told you before that the Chinese green long beans were somewhat of a late bloomer. Seriously late bloomer. I had despaired that we would get many beans from them at all and predicted that we wouldn't do the green ones again.
I was wrong.
Turns out, the Chinese red long beans love the heat, but the green long beans love the cool. As soon as the the weather cooled, the green ones took off. Took. Off.
In addition, the green long beans are reasonably frost hardy. We've had three nights of light frosts and the green long beans are doing better than ever. Here's a pic:
The red long beans got spots all over the leaves as soon as it frosted. The green ones keep right on going and bearing.
I got the original seeds from Baker Creek [www.rareseeds.com]. I saved seed from the red beans last year and planted them in the Spring. I had excellent germination. I'll save seed this year, too.
The red long beans are fabulous for mid season bearing. We love them - they are my favorite bean. I'll always have these. They do well in the heat and they bear like crazy.
The green ones are slower going. I planted them at the same time, but they didn't hit their stride until late in the season after the weather dropped from the100's and 90's to the 80s and lower. I'm guessing these would be wonderful for northern gardens. Since the green ones are so cold tolerant, I'm going to try to plant the green ones at the same time I plant peas next year to give them a head start in the cool. At the very least, I know that they're a fantastic fall bearing bean and I'll be saving some seed for late next season, too.
