Vegetable Review: Beans

If I could only plant three edibles in my garden each summer, they would be tomatoes, basil and beans. Beans from the garden taste nothing like beans from the grocery store - they are a revelation to anyone who has never eaten garden-fresh produce before. In 2006, I planted two varieties of pole beans: Kentucky Blue and Purple Podded Pole. For the first time, I also planted two varieties of beans meant for drying: Vermont Cranberry and Indian Woman Yellow.

Beans, 2006
Pond Ice Out: Wednesday, April 5
Planted: Sunday, May 21
First Harvest: July 18 (Kentucky Blue)

Kentucky Blue    Drying Beans   Vermont Crnbry Purple Podded

July 13              August 20        August 20      September 11

(click photos to enlarge)

Varieties Planted

• Kentucky Blue Pole: I purchased seed from Harris, but didn't use it because it was treated. I ended up buying a packet at Mills Fleet Farm, but I don't remember who the seeds were from. These were planted around a tepee in the center of the upper garden, and first harvested, on July 13. I've always liked this variety and have planted it for several years as my standard green bean. However, this year I may try something different, just to shake things up a bit.
• Purple Podded Pole from Seed Savers Exchange: I had grown these several years ago, but could never find the seed again. Last year I found them at Seed Savers, and had to grow them again. I wrote an homage to these beens back in September. These are great beans - wonderful taste, very productive, pretty flowers - an overall good bean. I will plant these again in 2007.
• Vermont Cranberry from Johnny's Selected Seeds and Indian Woman Yellow from Seeds of Change: I've never grown beans for drying, so these were my first attempt. I grew one row of each variety, with each row being about 5 feet long. They were very late to mature - I ended up bringing them in the house to finish drying. I plan to post on the efficacy of growing beans for drying in the home garden, but haven't done it yet. Let's just say my harvest was 1.5 cups between the two varieties. Not exactly what I'd call productive. I'm still not sure if I'll grow beans for drying this year.

Growing Methods

• Raised bed with window screen fence  The rabbits love sprouting bean plants, so they must be protected. In 2005 we almost didn't have beans because the rabbits kept nipping off the growing tips. I resolved that wouldn't happen again in 2006. Near the end of the summer, I think the deer got into the garden and ate some leaves from the Kentucky Blue vines. However, I don't think they ate any leaves from any other beans.
• Potatoes + Beans: I planted the drying beans with the fingerling potatoes, as suggested by Sally Jean Cunningham in her book Great Garden Companions. I didn't have any problems with insects, but then I haven't in the past either, so I'm not sure if the companion planting did the trick or if I've just been lucky so far. As I mentioned in my post reviewing the potatoes, I wouldn't plant the drying beans with the potatoes again, as the bean vines get in the way of harvesting early potatoes.
• July Heat Wave  We had a heat wave in mid-July where the temperatures hovered near 100. I noticed that all the beans stopped flowering during this period. We didnt' have any pole beans for a few weeks in August, and I think this also delayed the maturation of the drying beans. I've never encountered this before, and I'm not sure what could be done about it if it happens again.
• Next Year  I'll definitely grow some sort of green pole and the Purple Podded Pole beans. I'm thinking that I might try some fresh bush varieties and do more freezing. I'm still not sure about the drying beans. I like the idea of them, but I don't have the space to grow a lot and keep them protected from rabbits. I still need to kick this around before I place my seed orders. Also, a friend of ours gave me some Romano beans he saved from his garden, so I'll have to find a place for them, too.
• Insect Pests  None (fingers crossed).
• Other Pests  Rabbits eating the new vines, possibly deer eating the Kentucky Blue leaves.
• Diseases  No.

Overall Impressions

2006 was a pretty good year for beans in my garden. Although the plants stopped flowering during a heat wave resulting in a lack of fresh beans for at least half of August, we had good yields until frost. This year I want to have enough for freezing, so I will either plant some bush beans or more pole beans. The jury's still out on dry beans - I just didn't get enough to make it seem worthwhile. However, I like the idea of having jars of dried beans for making warm winter soups, so maybe I'll try again.

Comments

[Ali]

Thanks for the review. Reading those sexy seed catalogs I almost talked myself into trying some drying beans, but this review saved me. As for pests, we fenced the garden last summer, so that should save us from our plague of woodchucks, however, we discovered that Fishy the retriever likes green beans!

[M Sinclair Stevens (Texas)]

I've enjoyed your three posts summing up last season a lot. Reading all those catalogs is a bit overwhelming because everything always sounds so interesting and I don't have very much room in my garden. (Well I have a lot of room but it's all in the shade.) It's great to find blogs like yours where you've taken the time to look back and reflect and try to figure out what went right and what went wrong.

[Talbin]

Ali: I'm still hemming and hawing about the drying beans. There's something about the idea of them - so old-fashioned and thrifty - that I like. It's just that garden space is precious and I'm constantly juggling what I want versus what will actually fit.

M: Thanks for reading the blog! My original purpose with this blog was to use it as a garden journal, and the reviews are part of that. I've never been very good at keeping notes, so I'm hoping to remind myself of mistakes along the way.