I read about these last year in the FAQ
(http://www.nugget.demon.co.uk/MetaFAQ/beans.html) and decided to give
them a go. Basically, they're a primitive broad bean and usually sold as
green manure but I decided to eat them!

- Appear to be much more hardy. Shrugged off frosts in the open that had
winter hardy "proper" broad beans reeling in their cloches.
- Pleasant if not outstanding flavour
- I found it easier to tell when the pods were ripe than with standard
varieties. (Pods go stiff and look like they are about to burst)
- Early and productive over a long period. Started before "The Sutton"
and continued long after.
- They're narrower than standard BB so you could probably crowd them a
bit more.
- Beans about 1/3rd the size of standard BB
- Seed is cheap. (EG: Organic Gardening Catalogue has them at 1.55 for
112g which is easily over 100 seeds)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

In article , Steve
Harris writes
I read about these last year in the FAQ
(http://www.nugget.demon.co.uk/MetaFAQ/beans.html) and decided to give
them a go. Basically, they're a primitive broad bean and usually sold as
green manure but I decided to eat them!

- Appear to be much more hardy. Shrugged off frosts in the open that had
winter hardy "proper" broad beans reeling in their cloches.
- Pleasant if not outstanding flavour
- I found it easier to tell when the pods were ripe than with standard
varieties. (Pods go stiff and look like they are about to burst)
- Early and productive over a long period. Started before "The Sutton"
and continued long after.
- They're narrower than standard BB so you could probably crowd them a
bit more.
- Beans about 1/3rd the size of standard BB
- Seed is cheap. (EG: Organic Gardening Catalogue has them at 1.55 for
112g which is easily over 100 seeds)

We often grow a crop of field beans, though not this year, and we find
them a very useful veg. to have. The pods can be eaten whole if they are
taken very young, or they can be picked before full maturity and the
beans used as a fresh veg. If they are left to fully ripen, the beans
are excellent for soaking and using or for storing.

Field bean plants are very hardy, so they can be sown earlier, or even
over-wintered and they have a high resistance to disease. They are often
grown as a green manure and they are very popular with cereal farmers
for a break crop, or for stock feed and straw production.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.