I have quite a bit of experience when it comes to growing green beans. I have been gardening for over 30 years. Over the years, I have tried growing many different varieties of green beans. Since I like canning beans to keep in my cellar, I’ve narrowed down my favorites to the ones that taste best after going through the canning process. You might think that green beans are all the same, but they all have differences.

Tenderette Bush Beans are by far my favorite type of beans for canning. They are seedless white beans, have great flavor and hold their shape well when canned. They also produce very large crops. If the plants are kept well gathered, the plants will continue to produce a large harvest until frost.

Golden Wax Bush beans are also good for canning. The flavor is good, and since the beans are yellow, they taste slightly different than the usual green beans. They produce well, are stringless, and are easier to pick than green. They are easier to see in the bush since they are yellow. They also keep their yellow color when canned.

Since I’m getting older and don’t like having to bend down to pick bush beans, Tenderette and Golden Wax are the only types of bush beans I grow. All other strains I’ve tried in the past failed in comparison. I have never found any pole beans that I like as much as canned tenderette beans, but I plant them anyway. I grow them mainly because I don’t have to bend over as much when picking them. Pole beans take a little longer to start producing than bush beans.

Kentucky Wonder is a pole type bean that cans well and holds its shape quite well. It seems to lose some of its flavor during the canning process. It is a brown seeded bean and is stringless when picked young. Keep them well gathered and they will produce until frost kills them.

Blue Lake Pole beans are a white seeded variety that can grow quite well. Keeps its flavor and shape when canned. They are stringless when picked young and will produce until frost if kept well picked. Blue Lake pole beans are my favorite type of pole beans for canning.

White Half Runner Pole Beans are my least favorite due to the fact that they have heavy strings. Even when picked very young, they tend to have some threads. The only reason I plant them is for their unique bean flavor. They are a variety of white seeds. The vines do not grow as tall as most pole beans, so they can be grown along a waist-high fence instead of poles. They hold their flavor well when canned. Ripe bean seeds also dry well for winter use. If you’ve only eaten canned beans from the grocery store, you don’t know what you’re missing. Home canned green beans outshine store bought beans. There really is no comparison in quality and taste.