This beautiful burgundy and tan bean is from the Paula Dubeski Bean Collection.
King of the Early is a fantastic bean for short growing seasons. The large, plumb beans dry down before the first frost, and the yields are high. This is a compact bush bean, so no staking in required.
Alberta seed saver Paula Dubeski notes that this variety has good cold tolerance and disease resistance and can be as early as 70 days for dry beans.
King of the Early traces its history to Maine where it is traditionally used as a dry bean in baked bean recipes. The young green beans can also be eaten fresh.
Our original seedstock came from Paula Dubeski (Alberta).
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About the Paula Dubeski Bean Collection:
Paula is a long-time seed saver in Lacombe, Alberta who has kindly shared her bean collection with us! We are so grateful to Paula. Over the years, Paula has sought out hardy, early season varieties and then trialed and stewarded these beans in her Zone 3b garden. Paula, along with her growing partner Amy, have helped make these early season beans even better through their efforts to adapt these varieties to the challenges of her Zone 3b gardens.
Paula has taken the guesswork out of which beans will do well in a short season garden. We currently offer King of the Early, Maine Sunset, Tiger’s Eye & White Cloud Cannellini from her collection. Over time we will continue to add more of her beans to our lineup.
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How to Plant
Sowing: Plant bean seeds in the spring when the soil warms up — usually the end of May/early June. Keep soil moist until seedlings emerge (1 week or so).
Spacing: Space seeds 3 inches or so apart and sow 1 inch or so deep.
Thinning: Thin to 6 inches apart once seedlings are up (3 to 4 inches tall).
How to Pick Dry Beans: Pick beans when the pods are dry on the plant. All of our dry bean varieties have to reliably dry down by around Sept 15 (when we risk getting frost) and this one does. However, if there is a frost threatening and your beans still need time to dry, pick the pods and bring them inside to dry. They are ready as dry beans when the pods are ‘crunchy’ dry. Shell and use.
Within Canada only shipping on beans, thank you.
