Fasold first produces lovely mauve flowers, followed quickly by the delicious beans – about 60 days from sowing. It is a lovely black seeded variety and it is particularly long cropping, it can supply you from late May to September – a real boon if you find it hard to keep up with picking as the pods are slow to turn seedy thus staying slim and tender.
SOW: start these off in pots or modules placed in an unheated greenhouse or even on a window during April or May. You can sow directly into the sol but wait until mid as they really do not like cold soil. You can sow as late as July for a later harvest.
GROW: plant out after hardening off when about 15cm tall after all frost danger has passed. Fasold is happy climbing canes in a row or arranged as teepees, it can reach 1.8m tall. French Beans are self-pollinating. They also cope well with drier summers
ENJOY: pick young and cook whole or sliced. Leave the pods for a longer and shell them for flageolets (Fasold is slower to develop seeds than our other varieties). At the end of the season leave the pods for drying; the dried beans are super in winter casseroles. All of our French beans freeze well.
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