Maxibel beans
 

I've taken a liking to French/filet beans over what I call regular bush beans. I've been trying different varieties to find one that suits our climate down here and after 3 successful years with terrific production Maxibel has taken the main bean spot in my garden. They are prolific, fairly long for a filet bean and have a great flavor. They are also relatively easy to pick. They also make for an extended period unlike some of the French/filet beans I've tried in the past.
I still try a short row of a new variety of bush bean every spring and sometimes even in the fall but Maxibel is still my main cropper. I picked 4 gallons off a single 35 ft row this morning that was my 3rd picking and it looks like I'll have a good many more in the coming weeks. If anyone has any suggestions for a very tasty bush bean for me to try let me know. If you've never grown Maxibel, you might want to give it a try.

The filets are my favs now also and I've tried Delinel, Masai, Tavera, Nickel, Straight N' Narrow and Slenderette, as well as Golditio, but Maxibel is still my favorite of all and the only one I'm growing this year besides Fortex, which is a pole filet bean you might try if you haven't already.

I pulled mine up today after getting over 15 gallons off of that one 35ft row. My refrigerator is too full of beans and I have given them away like crazy and neither my wife nor I do any canning anymore. This may have been my best year ever with them and I could have left them for a few more weeks but spider mites were starting to show up in good numbers on them and I have tomatoes on each side of them. They were almost pest free this year. Had a few aphids which the ladybugs got rid of and kept off. I wish they had done the same for my tomatoes. I will try to grow a few in the fall; but that is always a chancy proposition due to the heat and the whiteflies.