Crop of Purplee Teepee french beans

Purple Teepee beans

I picked these beans this morning. They are a variety of french bean called Purple Teepee, and as you can see they are mostly purple. These come from a couple of plants that have been growing in part shade, and the parts of the beans that were more in shade are more green and less purple. To get really dark purple beans I think you need to grow them in full sun (that's one for the allotment next year). But I'm quite pleased with this crop, it will make a meal for two and I didn't do much for the plants. I planted the seed back in spring, then planted it outside and let the plants get on with life. Lately they were attacked by slugs and snails that ate all of the leaves, but luckily left the pods. I had three plants, and one of them still has a few leaves and flowers, so I left it to see if I get a smaller crop next month, but the other two plants were completely gone and I had to pull them up. Still, I like this bean and I think I'll grow it again next year. It's a low-growing bean (it doesn't climb) and the flowers are purple too, very pretty!

Estas judias moradas son una variedad que se llama Purple Teepee, y como veis son moradas. Las plantas estaban en semisombra, y a las que les dio mas sombra estan mas verdes que moradas. Para conseguir el color morado oscuro tienen que crecer en mas sol, el ano que viene las plantare en la huerta municipal. Es el segundo ano que planto estas judias y la verdad es que me encantan. La planta es de mata baja y las flores son tambien entre rosa y violeta, muy bonitas. Son faciles de cultivar, yo sembre la semilla en primavera, las plante en el jardin en mayo y no las he vuelto a tocar hasta ahora. Los caracoles las atacaron este ultimo mes y se comieron casi todas las hojas, pero por suerte las judias no. Una de las plantas (tenia tres) aun tiene unas pocas hojas y un par de flores, asi que la he dejado a ver si me dan una segunda mini cosecha el mes que viene, pero las otras dos plantas las he tenido que levantar - no quedaba mas que los tallos pelados!