Beans - what variety do you grow?

By popular demand, a thread about the types of beans we grow.

It would help if people also say what type of soil they are growing them in, if they water them or not, feed them etc etc .

Varieties are definitely a good thing to put in your post, along with any positive or negative tasting notes. Seed saving notes would be good, as well.

Please though, can we have recipes in the cooking section, otherwise it will all get a bit confusing!

Kentucky Wonder --- an old variety from when there were "total yield" judging. Too variable to be good for show otherwise but a great pole bean for when you want them as green beans, shell beans, and dry beans all form the same planting. Good tasting and easy to destring.

We used to grow bush beans but then got hit by some sort of mold and rotating out of the garden went to pole beans. Penny prefers not having to bend down to pick.

Broad beans - The Sutton (from a friend). I lost the lot which were meant to over-winter, but got some more going in the spring. Small, and at the moment tender. Will grow again.
Runner beans - 'Best of All' and 'White Lady':hedging my bets with white and red flowering types. Have not harvested yet.
French beans - 'Jutta' (from a Dutch friend - the seeds were from Holland) Are cropping nicely; will try next week.
Flageolet beans - Flagrano. Haven't harvested yet, but they look fine. (Same height as french beans).They can be eaten in the pods when small, or podded like broad beans, or dried for winter use. I'm only growing a few plants to try them out - will grow more next year.
Grown in heavy clay with compost dug in and chicken manure pellets at planting time. Watered once or twice a week in dry/ hot weather. Fed fortnightly with seaweed spray. Also sprayed with soap solution because they're covered in black fly, but the sparrows have started to help in the battle!

Broad beans -
Super Aquadulce, Stereo and Witkem
Witkiem are more blackfly resistant, all are in a raised bed full of my home made soil/compost mixture.

Watered regularly, good harvest but the blackfly have finished them , now..

French beans
Aranesco and Negritos ditto same conditions as BB, just started picking them

Climbing French beans
Blue Lake, Blue Coco, Purple Giant, Canadian.

In soil, improved with compost, up teepees with a hole in the middle full of compostables. Watered regularly, beans setting now and should be ready in a week or so...

I normally dig a trench for my runners, and fill with not-quite-finished compost. (Some of my less than successful compost has gone into bean trenches in the past!). This year, for some reason I couldn't be bothered (can't remember why), so i just dug compost in to the soil. (Maybe my back was playing up). It'll be interesting to see what the results are, tho it won't be a proper trial as the weather is so different this year.

I have for several years grown "Cobra" climbing french beans, and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans.

Since I became an allotmenteer three years ago I've expanded my range to include Cherokee trail of tears (stronger beany flavour than Cobra, and the dried beans can be used as black beans in Mexican food), runner bean Czar (the big white beans, when dried, make a good substitute for Greek Gigandes if you, like me, are partial to Gigandes Plaki). This year I'm trying Soissons, Borlotti and some yellow dwarf beans from Seeds of Italy that Chilli-head Jnr chose.

My garden plot is sandy and very free draining, and the allotment is heavy clay, so I have a choice. I tend to put the beans I eat fresh in the garden (convenient for the kitchen). I prefer an overwintered broad bean so that it has time to get some root development before things get dry. At the lotty I grow the drying beans, which need less attention.