Dry Pole Bean - Oregon Giant
This bean was shared with us by a Whatcom County local who has been growing it for a number of years here in northwest Washington. This bean is touted to be a good dual-purpose bean, good eaten as a small, mild flavored green bean, a more flavorful large string bean, as a fresh shelly, or as a dry bean. This matured well in our cool rainy summer of 2019 and before that in warmer, drier summers. Can grow as tall as 15 feet but for us the 8' trellis was just fine. Dried down fine in rainy weather. Can do well in partial shade.
Oregon Giant had been grown commercially for the canning industry from the 1930s through 1970s but folks thought it had been lost after that. Adaptive Seeds and others in Oregon recently revived it back into circulation thanks to a local seed saver who had been saving them for decades. We aren't sure if our strain has been grown in northwest Washington State long enough to have become even more adapted to cooler, wetter summers, but we appreciate the stewardship by local growers and will help to keep this version available.
Packets are 1/2 ounce and contain 20-30 beans.