trisha I'd love to take you up on your offer, please, I'll pm you my address. 8 would be grand I grew haricots one year and they were a great success and you're right, it's good to grow something that will see you through the winter months.
For the second year since moving away from my large house and even larger veg. Patch and greenhouse, I've been successful in growing in tubs on my SW facing terrace. Have already harvested French beans, both green and purple, green and yellow courgettes, and have Swiss chard as a cut and come again crop which will see me through the winter. My runner beans will be ready to crop in a week or so. My chillies (Apache) were a qualified success, tho. (Qualified by the number (2 in total) and size - small!) definitely need the heat of a greenhouse, I reckon..
Can offer you the flat climbing bean, Goldfield, in exchange? Beautiful golden colour, grow to about 10" long, stringless. Let me know. Thanks again.