simy1 said:

I am growing the Borlotti "Fire Tongue" type, which have fabulous
taste, but every year in early october (first frost) I have big vines
covered in green pods, with more pods on the vine than in the freezer.
This heirloom is perhaps best for a gardener 200 miles to the south.

I mostly fresh-freeze them for the winter. Next year I will be looking
for an earlier type. I still want a pole bean because cabbage and other
greens like the shade and nitrogen that these plants provide. I am well
aware that scarlet runner beans are precocious, but I don't know about
taste and productivity. The Borlotti have great taste but I never met a
fresh bean that I did not like, so I will be looking for a productive
early pole shelling bean. Suggestions anyone?

Johnny's 'Garden of Eden' is a lot like the bean I've been growing from
saved seed for many years from seed given to be by a co-worker. (I
bought seeds once to grow side by side for comparison.) Their
'Northeaster' is also a pretty good bean.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com

Once you do get a pole bean you really like, be sure to save your own
seeds.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)