APPEARANCE, TASTE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TENDERGREEN FRENCH BEAN
The beans are best for eating when they are 15cm / 6in long. They are coloured mid-green and as the pods develop they have splashes of purple on them which fade when cooked. The pods are stringless which makes them ideal when cooked or when sliced raw into a salad. The flavour is fresh and very tasty. The flowers are an attractive light purple colour.
Tendergreen French Beans are self-fertile and grow a good crop of beans even from a single plant. This variety is open-pollinated which means saved bean seeds will grow true to type when planted in subsequent years. Different varieties of French Beans can cross-pollinate each other so keep them well apart if you want to produce beans of exactly the same variety. Beans of this variety will keep for 3 years when stored in cool, dark and dry conditions.
POSITIVE POINTS FOR TENDERGREEN
A very reliable variety which can produce an early crop.
NEGATIVE POINTS FOR TENDERGREEN
No significant negative points. The planting and harvest dates used below are correct for the UK average. If you want them to be even more accurate and adjusted for your area of the UK click here. It only takes a minute and the adjustment affects every date in this site and lasts for six months.
WHEN TO SOW TENDERGREEN FRENCH BEANS
Tendergreen is an early variety of French Bean and they are ready for harvest, if conditions are correct, 15 weeks after the seeds are sown. The key factor governing the time for sowing all French Beans is the date of the last frost in your area. Even a touch of frost can damage these plants if their foliage is above ground, an unexpected severe frost can kill them completely.
The date for sowing Tendergreen seed can be calculated on the basis that plants will take ten days before they appear above ground. Given also that you want them to appear above ground only when the danger of frost has fully passed and the ground has warmed up the third week of May 2015 (UK average) is about right time to plant them. Sow the seed a week or two earlier under cloches for an early crop.
WHEN TO HARVEST TENDERGREEN FRENCH BEANS
The harvest date for all French Beans is not only dependent on when you sow the seeds, it also depends on the weather conditions throughout the growing season. But on average you can expect your beans to begin to be ready for harvest some time around the fourth week of July in your area of the UK. This date can be considerably earlier if you sow seed indoors or sow the seeds under cloche protection. Click here for more details.
BUYING TENDERGREEN FRENCH BEAN SEEDS IN THE UK
Tendergreen is not commonly found in garden centres but it is available from several suppliers online.
Mr Fothergills are selling them at £2.59 for 125 seeds.
We recommend buying your seeds from certified suppliers. We would avoid buying them from online general retailers such as as Amazon or E-bay unless you know exactly who is supplying the seed.
SUMMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF TENDERGREEN
USE: Lightly boiled in salads or as a vegetable
TYPE: Early maturing variety
SKIN COLOUR / TEXTURE: Mid-green pod which develops purple marks as they grow. Good texture and taste, stringless.
STORAGE: Keeps in the fridge for five days or so, but tastes best if eaten fresh or within 24 hours. Freezes well
POD SIZE: Medium sized, 15cm / 6in
REGULARITY OF CROPPING: Regularly produces a good yield
AWARDS: None
SPECIAL FEATURES: Very reliable even in variable conditions.
TENDERGREEN FRENCH BEAN
When, Where and How to Sow French Beans
Ongoing French Bean Care
French Beans in Containers / Raised Beds
French Bean Pest and Disease
French Bean Recipes
Recommended French Bean Varieties
Tendergreen is one of the older varieties of French Bean which has stood the test of time. This variety is self-supporting and rarely grows taller than 40cm / 16in. Sow seeds 8cm / 3in apart and the plants will support each other.It’s particularly good at producing a slightly earlier than normal crop when grown in warm parts of the UK and will do the same if grown initially under cloches in cooler areas.