Cabrita, I'm growing that for the first time this year and can tell you it is a very vigorous pole bean. Haven't tasted it yet but will try a pod tomorrow and let you know.

Looked at my Mongetes del Ganxet today and, despite being so overgrown that the trellis sagged and had to be restaked, there is not a single bean on it that I can see. All my other varieties have beans, even King of the Garden lima has pods set. Why not this one? Is it day length sensitive? I sprayed it with 10-55-10 three weeks ago and with 16-19-29 one week ago, could have sworn I saw flowers on it, nothing now. I may spray it with 10-55-10 again or, I have some triple phosphate that I might water in around the roots.

I was able to find a pdf about the region that mentioned that the beans are picked in November. I hope they produce sooner than that here.

Here is a link that might be useful: info

This my first year growing these beans too and I have huge sprawling pole beans. I don't have beans yet either but I'm not that concerned. I'm assuming that they are just late and need a long growing season. I'm in Massachusetts and we're having the best summer weather-wise that I can remember. It's been almost unlimited sun and warmth. I can't imagine that these conditions are that different from those in Catalonia. I think we'll just have to be patient. I've translated some things that I found on the internet about these beans. (Copy and paste text in www.translate.google.com from Catalan to English. The translation is not always that great, but you can get the general idea.) My impression is that they're not that productive which along with the taste, partly explains why they are considered so precious. I haven't found anything that mentions the snaps, but I'm waiting to see what they're like. By the way, I'm not sure spraying will make much difference. I hope we'll check back with each other as the season goes on to see how these beans turn out. If it goes well, I'm hoping to be able to offer them in next years Seed Savers Yearbook.

Lou

Thanks for the nice pdf Happy! November picking? so they are either long season or day length sensitive? I did see lots of t-pees in the community gardens there, I am so glad they are a pole!

Lou, most of Catalonia is in zone 9. A little cooler in general than Southern California, a bit more humid and the day/night day length difference is greater in the summer, as it is much further north. If you need anything translated about these beans I would be happy to do it! I don't have perfect Catalan grammar but I am better than babelfish....LOL.

I think I will keep seeing how your mongetes del ganxet are doing and plan on putting them in the ground next spring. I should try sprouting a few to see if they are even viable though.

Cabrita, how many beans were you able bring home? I wouldn't sprout them unless you have to for some reason, especially if they have been treated or damaged by radiation, unless you then plant them and let them grow. You may only have a few good seeds and risk losing them.

I'm trying out several Purcell Mtn beans this year and of their $16 a pound Tarbais, supposedly imported from France, I planted/sprouted well over 70 beans and only two were viable. They are growing and setting beans now, so I'll get seed, but I wonder if they were the only two good seeds in the whole pound.

Hope both of you have good luck with the Mongetes. Lou, I may try direct application of phosphorus watered in at the roots instead of spraying.

I think I brought almost a whole pound! No telling if they will sprout though. I guess I better wait until spring and pre-sprout them, then plant them outside. If they don't sprout I'll just eat them, not such a bad thing but I would like to grow them.

The price of those beans is about 4 times the price of other beans in Catalonia. Maybe picking them as pole beans is time consuming and this makes them pricier? Maybe the productivity is also a factor? I was not there to observe them growing (went in June) so I'll have to make a fall trip next time.

I hope you and Lou get some to pod soon!

Wow, a whole pound? How did you get so many, did you buy them dried for eating in a grocery store, in Catalonia? And customs even let you bring them in? That's great, I hope they do grow for you! Before you eat them would you consider letting a few go for trades? You have the authentic item there!

Well I have 11 vines about a foot apart and I just put about a tablespoon of Espoma's triple phosphate, 0-46-0, in a depression around the roots and watered it in, and if I don't see any signs of flowering by Saturday, they'll get sprayed with 10-55-10 with the rest of the garden. They have to finish before November, in fact they have to finish by the first week of October, as that's when we usually get the first frost.

I bought a kilo but now we only have 100 grams (sorry, not a pound). I guess we ate them twice and saved enough seed. If the germination is decent we should have enough and grow out some more for seeds. Still a big IF on the germination.

What did you think of the taste?

The taste is like many other white beans, very delicate, and the skins are barely noticeable. Similar to cannelini in flavor, and you could use them interchangeably, IMO.

I finally have flowers and am expecting pods soon! I bought my beans from a culinary source in Catalonia through the mail. For some reason, I haven't had a problem importing beans from culinary sources, but have had some confiscated at customs when I bought them through seed suppliers. Go figure! I presoaked them for about 24 hours and got essentially 100% germination. I haven't used any sprays or supplements. I have some amazing compost that I have trucked down from Vermont every year (www.vermontcompost.com). It's truly amazing stuff and organic too.

Good news, Llaz! Hopefully I'll get flowers soon too. None yet, and no phosphate burn, just the leaves look darker and the vines are growing about a foot a day. These vines need a hoop trellis, they could go 10-12 feet easy. I also got very good germination with these beans when direct planted.

Llaz, did you buy it from here?

Lou, this was the most difficult and late spring on record here in the Seattle area. Our first 75F day was weeks later than ever before. So it is not going to be a fair trial of Monteges del Gaxnet. So far, I have huge 10 foot vines but no blossoms. Not looking good as we can have frost in early October.

Happyday, I grew Tarbais last year also using seed from Purcell. Germination was very good and I was able to save seed.

Found the first white bloom on the Mangetes today.

DrLoyd, I got good germination on all the Purcell Mtn I planted except for the Tarbais. Wonder why. Anyway hope you get blooms on your Mongetes soon too.

happyday That is not where I got my mongetes from, but it looks like a good source for the future. I'd have to dig through my disorganized files to find out where I actually did get them from. I got such a big supply I didn't pay too much attention to it after I got them. I had read, though, that because they are expensive to buy in Spain that sometimes what you get there is not the real article. I remember feeling confident that I got the genuine item. As far as the tarbais go, I got my original seeds from the official ("label rouge") source in France (www.haricot-tarbais.com). They sell beans intended specifically for growing and I got essentially 100% germination. And besides it was fun to get the from them source.
Lou

Checking notes I see that I did not plant this until June 23! Am now getting lots of flowers at 70 days. Maybe if I'd planted a month earlier I'd have beans by now. Llaz, what date did you plant your Mongetes? And how do you pay on a website that takes euros?

Meanwhile the Mennonite Purple Stripe pole has huge shellies at 70 days. It is the fastest variety I have, but the leaves are turning yellow. It's the only one that looks like the vines are dying back already.

Hi. I planted my beans the first week in June. This has been the best growing season here anybody I know can remember for a very long time - pretty much unlimited sun and heat - so this year's experience may not end up being typical.

Here are some pictures of the mongetes del ganxet. I am unsure about the seed germination, but I am sure these are the real item. As you can see, they have a pretty distinctive shape. I have just sprouted some cauliflower seeds that underwent the same radiation abuse form customs, so I am hopeful for next spring.

[img src="

[img src="

The second pile of beans (brown/tan color) is another type I brought, unknown to me but it was very tasty. I am curious so I will start a a thread with a close up.

Unlike other parts of North America, this has been the shortest and most difficult summer ever recorded.

The MDG finally has some tiny 1 inch long beans. Looks like a failure for this year and not likely to do real great even in a normal year. - Dick

My mongetes del ganxet are now at 91 days, 21 days from the appearance of many flowers. The vines are now festooned with many 5+ inch beans. A few beans are older, to 7 inches, and are swelling with seeds, but not ready to pick as shelly yet. No dried seed pods at 91 days. This variety may need to 110 days or more, or, treatment with phosphate early on.

The beans are flat and very narrow, only about 1/4 inch wide as snaps and only about 3/8 to 1/2 inch wide as they become shelly. They share this narrow characteristic with both of the Tarbais I'm growing. Wonder if they may be related.

The Soissons Verts are also narrow flat beans, but shorter, 4-5 inches dry. The pods do not change color as they dry. Both pods and beans stay green from snap to dry. They have tough hulls that barely show bean swell, so you can only see dried pods by the very slight shrinkage.

Happy to report that I am also getting some seeds from the Birds Egg #3 at 91 days. Picking them at the shelly stage, not dry, in case of an unexpected frost, and drying inside. Many are malformed, possibly because of fertilizer use, but they might still be viable.

DrLoyd, I just noticed your homepage. If that wand really works, why not attach a couple to your bean trellis, maybe you'd get beans. Don't you still have a month or so of growing time? When did you plant? I didn't plant till June 23, and I still have half a chance at getting beans.

For chilly springs, you can make or buy greenhouse row covers. For chilly summers, a greenhouse cover could be made to fit over a trellis, or even a clear plastic sheet thrown over the trellis might make a difference.

Hi Happyday,

I did the main bean planting on May 30. The MDG were started in peat pots on May 16. Later plantings often do not have time to do much in our 75 degree summers. Normally the rains slack off and the land starts to dry out in April. This year we had record cold and wet weather that continued almost to the end of June. It was odd to see 80 degree weather all over the USA but the 60s here.

The wand works great on small areas but it would be a full time job to wand thousands of square feet. I have not yet tried it on plants.

I have a report from England of a farmer who placed orgone generators (similar technology?) in his garden and his produce grew much faster and larger than usual.

Some sort of row covers would have been a good idea this year. Historically the first killing frost has been in late October but it is come before mid October the last two years.

I am trialing 26 beans this summer with one goal being to find varieties that do well in our climate and in difficult years. There were some surprise winners this year but it looks like MDG needs a very warm summer. MDG made the largest and most aggressive vines of any variety, but it never showed any interest in making beans. I have never seen anything like it.

I have over 400 square feet of greenhouse space. Perhaps I should give it a try next summer in a greenhouse. I did that one summer with Bert Goodwin's and it loved the heat. - Dick

DrLoyd, your MDG are more than 3 weeks ahead of mine, but my bean production is ahead of yours. I wonder if it was your chill weather or my use of foliar fertilizer that made the difference. Day length should have been about the same. Did you get any sunny days, or was the sky overcast for most of the summer?

You have a 10x40 greenhouse? Lucky you! Yes I think you could grow the MDG in there. Even if it's not heated, a few black painted 55 gallon barrels full of water will act as heat sinks overnight and to extend the seasons.

If your summers continue cool and rainy, maybe you'd do better with those beans that do well in Great Britain. Did you grow a runner bean, snap pea or fava this summer?

Last night was cold here. Don't think it was a killing frost, but close. Northern parts of the state may have frosted. I may go out and throw a plastic sheet over my MDG. Would like to at least get seed from a few pods.

Happyday, June was called "Junuary" by the weather people but the last week of June, all of July and the first three weeks of August were pretty normal for here - clear and mid 70s in the daytime and 50ish at night. Some days in the 90s and some in the 60s. So our days and nights in mid summer are much cooler than most of the USA but still it is sunny and dry and very pleasant. So we can't grow Limas ever. But we can grow most common beans and all runners. This year we got out our long sleave shirts and fired up the woodstove again the last week of August when below normal conditions returned!

I grew one runner that matured a month later than in the past. I grow snap, snow and a number of shelling peas each year, generally putting out sprouted seed the first week in March. This year, most of the peas drowned. Certain varieties survived and did great.

I do have a small 8 X 14 commercial polycarbonate greenhouse and a homemade hoophouse that is 10 X 35. That is how I can grow any kind of tomato that I want.

I will comment on bean varieties this summer over on your "best bean" thread. - Dick

DrLoyd, I don't know about orgone generators but do believe in using metal stakes and trellis to attract ground and atmospheric electricity to help the plants grow.

Hope you West Coasters get a better summer next year. Could be worse, there is MidWest flooding in the news today, again.

For those of you complaining about lack of summer... Joust wanted to let you know that we are still at 105 temps here, nearly Octobrr. It was 100 at 10pm last night! My garden has not been happy except the eggplant ,okra, basil and sweet potatoes. I'm finally seeing a little life in the butter beans and limas that lay dormant at about 6 inches tall all summer. My yard longs seem to be coming back from the dead and I was able to eat a few crispy raw yard longs in the garden last week.
I just planted some varieties of poles and bush beans, a couple weeks later than recommended but I just couldn't see starting anything when it was still 110.
Anybody have land for sale in a cooler climate?

I found a couple of 6 inch snaps on the MDG today!

We have a first frost coming tonight so I picked most of the biggest MDG, hoping they might dry to viable seeds. The biggest were 7 inches long with bulges on alternate sides. There are still a lot of snaps on the vines so wrapped in plastic, hope they can make it for another week. They have been growing for 101 days. DrLoyd, are your snaps flat or do they show bulges?

Happyday I have quite a few snaps now that are about 6 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. They are flat with no bumps.

The funny thing is that the vines are huge with far more foliage than any of the other pole beans.

We dodged the bullet the last two nights with 35F. I have been busy shelling and freezing many buckets of Giant Red Tarka shellies. It looks like the Goose, Flagg, Borlotto Solista, Borlotto Stregonta and Striped Cornfield shellies also made it.

When the first bumps appear, you are still several weeks away from maturity. I picked the biggest bumpiest pods Oct 2, dried the pods 10 days and shelled last night and very few seeds were anywhere near big enough to be viable. Found a few pods on the vines that are now "puffing up" and turning whitish green. I'll leave those as long as possible, hopefully to dry on the vine, in hopes of getting viable seed.

This variety took 70 days to flower and are at 112 days today. Plan for 120 days at least with mongetes del ganxet, give them full sun and the longest trellis you have. My vines are 10-12 feet long.

My MDG's here in Massachusetts have performed very well. The vines have been vigorous growers, reaching across the nearest path to grab onto anything they can get a hold of. I've eaten the first two batches of the shellies this week. The flavor and consistency are excellent, everything I was hoping for. I can see why they are so prized in Spain! All said, this has been a very unusual growing season here in New England. We've had near perfect weather - warm, dry and sunny. I'm still harvesting cucumbers, chiles, eggplants and lots of beans here in mid-October. After several dismal years, I think we were due. In any case, I'm planning to add the mongetes del ganxet to my must-grow list and hope they'll also do well under less perfect conditions. I expect to have enough seed to offer them with Seed Savers Exchange this year. Lou

Lou I very much appreciate your generousity in providing seed. This was our most difficult summer and the MDG vines are by far the biggest and healthiest but the beans are just now forming some small bumps. I doubt that they would make it even in a our best summer. I did try them as snaps last night and they were interesting. A bit al dente even when the other varieties in the steamer were soft. Good flavor. The summer was a success in that I am learning which varieties will thrive even in more difficult summers.

Meanwhile, I am picking and freezing many quarts of Borlotto Stregonta, Borlotto Solista, Goose and others. Dick

Lou, I also thank you for the MDG seed.

I pulled the vines today after two nights of frost. There were more beans hiding under the leaves than I thought. They went 118 days and most pods look like they will have viable shelly seed.

Can anyone describe how to properly pronounce the name?

Hi Happyday. To hear it pronouned by a native Catalan speaker, go to YouTube.com and type "terra de sabors mongetas del ganxet". I wish I could understand what he's saying. The recipes look very good!
Lou

Lou, I have been having fun looking at utube for mongetes del ganxet. In the video you mentioned he spends some time telling people how to cook them from scratch. This is because in Catalonia folks buy their beans pre-cooked from the markets. You can buy chickpeas (sigrons), lentils (llenties), mongetes (usually white beans, and mongetes del ganxet which are pricier); and black eye peas (mongets) freshly cooked daily from the markets, you buy the cooked beans by weight like olives. So folks are intimidated about cooking beans from scratch because they feel they will come out hard and ruin them.

So the cook is saying soak them for at least 6 hours, drain the soaking water, cook in cold water without salt. Cook on a very low flame (simmer) for 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on the amount, the heat, so on. Interesting that they soak in mineral waters. He said soak in soft water, not hard water. Do not let too much water evaporate, or else the beans will split.

Then he makes a gazpacho using the mongetes, the cooking water, chopped peppers and tomatoes, and clams, garnished with chives. The dish is genius!

The information video shows one of the largest growers and how they are indeed pole beans. He has done some work in selecting, purity, so on. He just raves about the bean quality, softness, flavor, texture...

Other videos claim that they can only be grown in their region. Also, folks that grow them tell of how delicious they are as shellies.

This year I devoted a bed to the MDG seed I had. They grew vigorously, produced nicely, and the other day I had the chance to put aside my first dried seed, and also to taste them as shellies. I simply cooked them in a little olive oil, water, salt and pepper. It reminded me so much of the flavors of Catalonia, they are indeed delicious as shellies, as i would have expected. Never tasted them before though.

I suppose it is no surprise, from z9 to z9....but they seem to do really well here in Southern California and i will grow them again.

They can be a back up bean for green snaps, the snaps are straight podded and flattened. They get the string early, and are good, but not as good as KW or Fortex. They are a good all purpose bean this way though.

I planted Mongetes del Ganxet this year and they are finally starting to blossom. Having forgotten this thread, or maybe having never read it, I didn't realize it would take so long. Now I know.

The growing season here extends into late autumn, so I hope to get a crop. In the future though, I probably will opt for Tarbais, another fine white bean which has done well for me.

Jim