George's Fowler Pole Green Garden Bean
George's Fowler Pole Green Garden Bean
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75 days — 'George's Fowler' beans require a trellis, poles, or other form of structure to support their heavy eight to ten foot tall vines. As with other pole-type beans, productivity tends to increase if the pods are kept harvested throughout the season. Like one of its parents, the 'Fowler' bush bean, one thing that sets this variety apart from other bean varieties is its apparent lack of the typical odor of green beans.
'George's Fowler' bean was sent to us by seed saver Jeff Fleming (MI FL J), who had received a sample of an F1 cross from seed saver George McLaughlin (OK MC G) who noticed that it had attributes of the original 'Fowler' bush bean, but as a pole-type variant. Its seeds had the characteristic "coffee bean" color and as noted above, Jeff noticed that it lacked the typical, strong scent of most green beans. Jeff also observed that Japanese beetles basically ignore this variety, especially when other, more attractive plants are planted nearby.
For many years, Jeff did the hard work of stabilizing the hybrid and selecting for a pole habit, dark brown seed coats, and stringless pods. After the eighth generation (F8), he felt it was stable, named it to honor George McLaughlin, "... for astutely observing that he had a fortuitous cross that might be of value," and sent it to us in 2018 for evaluation. Our trial confirmed that this now open-pollinated variety was quite stable. We scheduled a limited production grow-out during the summer of 2019 for introduction to gardeners for the 2020 gardening season. Each packet contains one ounce, which is about 90 seeds.
Don’t bother trying to get an early start with beans – you’ll waste a lot of seed! Beans are a tender vegetable and you should not plant them until all danger of frost has passed and the soil remains above 65ºF. Sow seeds 1½ inches deep, every two to three inches. As they make efficient use of vertical space, provide a trellis. Use string or twine as wire will heat and burn the tender vines.
Pick the pods while young as they are more tender and succulent and less likely to be stringy. For seed saving, allow the pods to fully mature and dry completely out on the vines. In an effort to keep this variety available to home gardeners, 'George's Fowler' pole green bean has been released by Jeff Fleming (the breeder) to the public under the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI). You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, if you save seeds or use 'George's Fowler' pole green bean to breed a new variety, you pledge not to restrict others' use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives. To learn more about this program, click here.
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