Stanley is both white flowered and white seeded.  This AGM winner is quick to grow and so you can get some lovely early beans with this variety and squeeze in a late crop in September/October from a July (August in milder areas) sowing.  A reliable and prolific variety with a good flavour: the pods are held high on the plants making them easy to harvest too

Price for 50 seeds

Tendergreen has gorgeous pencil pods that are produced in profusion.  You may see a speckling of purple that disappears when cooked – the flavour remains excellent.  Should you be in a hurry to enjoy these you can start with protection under cloches and they will crop earlier than almost any other variety                         

Price for 50 seeds

Try as an early variety – starting in pots and planting out with protection from late April/early May (as soon as you think you have had your last frost).

The Prince has long, slender, stringless pods that can be cropped continuously over a very long period if picked regularly.  Their excellent flavour is one reason why they have an AGM, we think the flat pods are delicious and as we can’t wait they all get picked young!                   

Price for 50 seeds

This heirloom variety is the true red kidney bean that everyone knows from chilli con carne.  To enjoy these you will need to leave the pods on the plants however you don’t need to wait for the end of the season.  Pick them when they start to yellow (and your plants will keep cropping), shell them and leave them overnight and the beans will turn from pink to deep ‘kidney bean red’; now pop them in the freezer and these can then be cooked from frozen.  If you want to dry your beans then the pods will need to be left on the plants to dry naturally and then the dried beans can be stored in airtight jars.  Dried Kidney Beans need to be soaked overnight before cooking.

Of course you can grow these to use as a French bean: pick the heavy crops of attractive bright green pods when they are small and young, they are just packed with excellent flavour. Gorwn for either crop your plants will reach 30-50cm tall and ought not need supporting.

Price for 40 seeds.