Three French bean varieties for easy pickings

1 ‘Golden Gate’ This flat-podded climbing bean was prized with an RHS AGM in 2008. It offers an eye-catching alternative to all the standard green and round-podded varieties. Pods are stringless – again, pick young for the best yields.

2 ‘Amethyst’ Another eye-catching variety with purple flowers as well as pods. The colour fades to green on cooking, but steaming retains the best colour. Being a dwarf plant, it makes an excellent candidate for pot cultivation on a sunny patio.

3 ‘Cobra’ Given an RHS Award of Garden Merit in 2000, and my benchmark climbing variety. Healthy, vigorous plants have a truly phenomenal cropping ability – the secret to high quality and crop yield is to harvest the pods while they are young.