Ideal Market Bean
Item Details
Flawless. An early-producing, stringless pole bean with vines that bear 5"-long snap beans all along its 6'-tall vines. This variety has a fine texture and excellent taste and is suitable for eating fresh or freezing. Introduced to the seed trade in 1914 as Black Creaseback by Van Antwerp’s Seed Store of Mobile, Alabama, it was reintroduced in 1924 by Chris Reuter Seed Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, as Reuter’s Ideal Market.
- 65-70 days
- Conventional
- Pole bean
- Snap bean
- Stringless pods
- Excellent quality
- Early and productive
This variety works for:
- Fresh eating
- Steaming
- Roasting
- Canning
- Freezing
When preparing your snap beans, clean off the ends and wash before lightly braising them with garlic and tossing with bacon. You can also add them to salads or serve them with dip or hummus as an appetizer.
Try using them for spicy refrigerator pickled beans or canning them in the summer for a winter treat. Their uniform, straight pods make for easing packing in canning jars.
Growing Instructions
Instructions - Sow seeds outdoors after danger of frost has passed and soil and air temperatures have warmed. Harvest frequently for increased yields.
- Direct Seed: 2" Apart
- Seed Depth: 1"
- Support: Trellis, tepee, or fencing
- Light: Full Sun
Ratings & Reviews
8 reviews
The perfect green bean
by Natalie
Totally recommend! Productive and beautiful green bean. Grew with no pest issues, and kept producing even during a slight drought
Amazingly productive beans!
by MARJORIE
They kept right on producing until we had a heavy frost.
Great Producer, Vigorous!
by Brenton
Very Prolific. Long vines and big bean pods. Tender when young, tougher and more fibrous when older. Super filling, great in sir fry or on it's own. I'll plant this again next year.
Barely productive. Outproduced even by my bush beans. Disappointed.
by Will
Pole beans are supposed to produce a steady supply of beans over an entire season. These beans barely produced more than ten bean pods per plant before giving up, to the point where they were vastly outproduced by my bush beans in identical soil. A few of these plants also turned out purple and mottle-colored bean pods, so I know some of the seeds I got in the package weren't the cultivar advertised.
I'll be sticking with basic Burpee Kentucky Blue pole beans from now on.
Seed Savers Response: I’m sorry to hear this variety didn’t do well in your garden. Please reach out to our customer service team for variety and planting suggestions and tips.
Ideal Indeed!
by Vicki
These are wonderful green pole beans that I will plant again next year. The plants have strong vines, and the beans have a good flavor and are stringless when picked young. They do get quite tough quickly, so be sure to pick early before the pods bulge.
Great Bean, but has strings.
by Jack Bee Nimble
I've grown these for years. They are a tough bean for fresh eating, but once canned, they are perfect. They are still somewhat firm - not mushy at all. I'd argue that they do have strings. Then again, I sometimes harvest them a tad late. I always let the crop go to seed around frost and save the seed for next year. I live in zone 4b and they do great here.
Best bean I have ever tried!!!!!!
by Tim
Bought these for the first time and these beans are awesome. They are producing great, easy to snap and the flavor is off the chart.
Great bean
by Jessica
I have two varieties of pole beans and this one is by far better than my other beans. It’s similar to a bush bean in flavor. It’s sweet, not stringy, and produces long pods. I barely water or take care of them. I don’t fertilize.