Drying beans

Dwarf beans are ready far earlier than climbing so I would grow a row of those. I do grow some climbing soisson for drying a well but they re always very late to mature even when sown early on and kept as long as possible under cover. Dwarf borletto should be good. I grow a dwarf been I bought in a supermarket last time I was in france in 2014. No idea of the variety but they are quite easy to pod. The beans I grow for eating fresh are difficult to get out of the pod when collecting seeds for the following year.

In the pictures you can see the dwarf beans just finishing off and the soissons just getting going.

         

I have had mixed results with the dwarf beans. one year some slugs took a liking to them and I barely saved enough for the next year and another, particularly wet they were hammered with moulds. I think I plant them 5" to 6" apart now. Last yer was a  good crop and this year is looking OK. Mice have never shown any interest in them.

I tend to pick them, ideally when the pods have dried but mainly when where they  attach to the plant goes soft. I then spread them on a table in the conservatory or in a dry shed.
A book said to pick he whole plant and hang to dry in a shed but when I tried that the whole lot just got mouldy and I think was a health hazard. Never tried that again.