what's your favorite bean?
we plan to focus on growing beans next year, as our hugelkulture will need the nitrogen for a year or 2. so we are looking for interesting and tasty beans that we can seed save.
will probably do a teenie bit of the three sisters thing and tuck in a couple melons and squash, but to run and shade out the weeds. suggestions for that welcome also.
xposted in cooking
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but I suppose it depends on where you live. Here is a little bit about the half-runner:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/39686/
You can definitely plant it "three sisters" style. My uncle used to plant it along with a field corn that he had milled into corn meal, and let the half runners trail up the cornstalks while they were both growing. My grandmother and aunt would "can" the beans in glass jars and we ate them all winter. I have nice memories of summer evenings on my granny's porch, helping to snap and de-string the beans. 
They are easy to grow, prolific producers, and I can easily freeze enough for the entire winter. (I buy new seeds every year.)
I don't know what the "three-sisters thing" means, though. I always plant cantaloupes and pumpkins near the beans... is that the same thing?
I never have any luck with corn, though. 
Lovely, slim delicious beans. Great for cooking, roasting or picked small and chopped raw in salads.
http://www.territorialseed.com/category/182
NRaleighLiberal grew PURPLE ones last year that I've got on my "must do" list for next. 
dense planting (aka eight plants to a pot) so that helps with getting enough in one picking for a meal.
Purple Hulls?.... BlackEyes?... Black Beans?
Every year, we devote more space to these delicious beans.
In late June, Starkraven surprised me with a package of "Field Peas" seeds she had found at the co-op. It turns out that "Field Peas" are a member of one of the largest family of peas called Southern/Cow Peas which has literally hundreds of varieties, some of which are Black Eyed Peas, Purple Hulled Peas, and Crowder Peas."
The plants are about two feet tall, and the pods are really cool. They grow from a little stalk above the plant body which makes them really easy to pick. They are perfect for the Late Summer transition to Fall. They seem to be very productive, and it looks like we will have plenty to dry for the Winter.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x9836
We don't plant them until July. They thrive in the heat of late Summer, and need only a little water.
They are called "Green Manure" because these plants actually take nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil.
Even if you don't like the beans, they make a great Cover Crop for late Summer.
Shelling the Peas takes some time, but after the shelling they can put on the shelf and used all Winter.
There is a modest difference in taste between the differing varieties, and we are now planting 3 - 4 different varieties every season.
Last season, after July, as we were cleaning up our garden from the Spring crops, we stagger planted a new section every two weeks to spread out the harvest.
The best tasting beans we grow here are regular old Green Beans.
We grow both the Pole and Bush types, but prefer the Bush.
They just seem to do a little better here lately.
We plant them in the Spring and grow enough the Can for the Winter,
but I had to tell you about the CowPeas.