Best dry beans?

[habitat_gardener]

I eat a lot of beans, and I'm thinking about growing a variety of dry beans this year.
The soil in the backyard is pretty good, so one plan is to grow them outside the raised beds ( in a couple of rows amended with compost, in the sunniest areas), or else at one of the community garden plots.
I know there are a lot of interesting beans! I'd like to grow beans that aren't commonly available in the store.
What have you grown that you can recommend for taste, production, and ease of growing?
How many plants does it take to get a pound of dry beans?

[ChiliPeppa]

Yeah I'm interested too. I plan to grow rattlesnake this year but not sure if they are good as dry beans or just snap.

[Fred Hempel]

These are my favorite.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

I eat a lot of beans, and I'm thinking about growing a variety of dry beans this year.
The soil in the backyard is pretty good, so one plan is to grow them outside the raised beds ( in a couple of rows amended with compost, in the sunniest areas), or else at one of the community garden plots.
I know there are a lot of interesting beans! I'd like to grow beans that aren't commonly available in the store.
What have you grown that you can recommend for taste, production, and ease of growing?
How many plants does it take to get a pound of dry beans?

Canberry or roman beans many types.

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

Yeah I'm interested too. I plan to grow rattlesnake this year but not sure if they are good as dry beans or just snap.

Anasazi beans for you.

[ChiliPeppa]

Maybe I should just make some soup first and then decide

[spacetogrow]

I've got so many bean varieties to try that I've only grown most varieties one year so far, and productivity seems very dependent on growing conditions. In 2014, I'd hoped to grow a lot of varieties that were new to me, but the spring was so cold and wet, I threw out all my plans for the beans, and instead planted more common varieties that had a track record for doing OK in a bad year. They did well.

For flavor of dry bean, the bush bean I've liked most that was also productive for me was:

-Kenearly Yellow Eye - earlier than regular Yellow Eye & with a distinct New England - read "Boston" - flavor.

For half-runners (vining but not usually as tall as a pole bean):

-Indian Woman Yellow
-Marrowfat White - mild but "compelling" flavor
-Mountaineer Half-Runner - dry beans seem to keep their shape well; also good as a snap (if you don't mind strings).

For pole beans:

-Jennings - I don't do refried but think that these and Missouri Wonder might get soft enough with a little extra cooking
-Missouri Wonder - ditto
-Rattlesnake - my go-to pole bean when the season looks to be cold & short or hot & dry. Dry bean taste is much like a pinto bean but, (if you don't mind strings) it also offers snap beans as well.

I keep hearing that Hutterite has fantastic flavor but I've only had poor productivity here...so poor that I can't vouch for the flavor.

For what it's worth, I prefer my beans to have richer, rather than milder, flavor.

Also, I have a hard time growing out very many beans for seeding purposes, so can't offer any of the above types right now.

[Worth1]

Many of these beans like the Anasazi beans are not hybrids if you can find a bag of them and they will sprout they will grow true.
The Anasazi is a very good desert dry climate type bean.
Many of the cranberry and roman type beans will grow true too.
My entire crop of beans last year was grown from grocery store dried beans meant to eat.

Worth

[Zeedman]

In California, there are a lot of options for dry beans. The question is, bush or pole?

I concur with those who mentioned the Cranberry / Horticultural / Borlotto beans. Those are (mostly) similar in appearance, with pods that develop red stripes when mature, and medium-large to large dry seeds that are red striped over buff or white. They are good both as shellies and as dry beans, and usually have a pretty decent yield. Most are pole in habit, or bush with short runners.

Most commercial dry beans are bush, but since I grow mostly heirlooms, I can't offer any observations on them. My favorite bush bean for both shelly & dry is Giant Red Tarka. Vigorous bushes, a high yield, and large, attractive beans that resemble Jacob's Cattle, but larger & with deeper red coloration.

Giant Red Tarka shellies

For pole varieties, the heirlooms Brita's Foot Long (white seeded) and Soissons Vert (green seeded) are both high-quality dry beans. Both prefer cooler temperatures (Brita's is originally from Salt Spring Seeds in Vancouver, B.C.) so they should do well in the Bay area. Brita's can also be eaten young as snaps.

There are two pole dry beans I've grown that require a long season... a challenge for me, but obviously not for Cali. One is Chicklet, an heirloom originally from Sicily. It has white seeds with squared ends (hence the name), and delicious rich flavor. The other is Isla, a Cranberry-like variety originally from Chile. The beans resemble True Red Cranberry in size & shape, but are more purplish than maroon. I've previously sent it to someone in SoCal, and it performed exceptionally well.

Both of those beans have another trait you might find useful - the young pods are too fibrous to be used as snaps. While I would not usually consider that to be a good characteristic, it might discourage theft if planted in a community garden. Send me a PM if you might be interested in them.

How many plants does it take to get a pound of dry beans?

That will vary greatly, depending upon spacing, fertility, conditions, and variety. I grow bush beans about 6" apart in rows (or 2 @ 12"), and get an average of about 2 ounces per plant, so 4-5 row feet of row should produce a pound. Pole beans, with the same spacing, are more productive, averaging about 6 ounces per plant for me... but that advantage is lost if multiple rows are grown adjacent, due to shading. For single rows, I've had as high as 10+ ounces per plant (@ 12" between plants) for some pole varieties, so the yield potential can be very high. Pole beans would be the best choice for single rows on the North side of a bed, where their shade would not fall on other crops. When I gardened in San Diego, though, I sometimes ran rows of pole beans N-S (or climbing limas or yardlong beans) and planted tomatoes on the East side of the pole beans, to protect the tomatoes from the hot afternoon sun. For multiple rows, wide beds, windy areas, or if shade would be an issue, then bush beans would be the better choice.