The National Garden Bureau has declared 2003 The Year of the
Bean. Two weeks ago, this column centered around The Year of the
Poppy, and this week we concern the vegetable that will be honored.
The National Garden Bureau is a non-profit organization that
recognizes seed company members. Each year it designates both a
flower and vegetable.
The National Garden Bureau has declared 2003 The Year of the Bean. Two weeks ago, this column centered around The Year of the Poppy, and this week we concern the vegetable that will be honored. The National Garden Bureau is a non-profit organization that recognizes seed company members. Each year it designates both a flower and vegetable.
Few vegetables are as varied as the bean. Young snap peas can be eaten fresh from the garden. Colorful, green, purple and yellow beans. Bush beans that grow on compact plants, or pole beans that climb up trellises or homemade tepees. All these factors went into the reasons beans are being so honored in 2003.
Beans are warm-weather vegetables. This means you can plant them when all danger of frost is past, then nighttime temperatures remain at 55 degrees or higher. So you still have a little while to think about planting these versatile, nutritious veggies!
There are basically three types of beans: snap, green shelling and dry shell. Don’t let the names scare you away. Snap beans are simply named after the sound they make when the pods are broken. We eat snap beans to eat the pods fresh or frozen. Green shelling beans, such as limas, feature green seeds inside the pods. Dry shell beans offer mature seeds that dry inside the pod.
Besides the types of beans, I’ve already touched a bit on the differences in plant size. You can choose from bush beans or pole beans. Some gardeners like bush beans better because they produce a lot of pods in a short time frame and grow on short plants that don’t need staking.
However, bush beans do take up more space in the garden since they spread. Pole beans offer great use of vertical space since they climb up poles, trellises or tepees. They also have a longer growing season, which is both good and bad. It’s good because you’ll be harvesting beans longer, but bad because there’s more time for pests or diseases to hit.
Don’t let the latter scare you away, though. Modern bean varieties are resistant to many plant diseases. Bean rust may sometimes affect the underside of leaves, but you can spray against that. The normal problem with snails may be prevalent, but they can be controlled by bait or picking.
Beans are easily grown by seed, so there’s little need to pay more to buy already-started transplants. Seeds should be sown an inch or two deep. You don’t need to sow very thickly because bean seeds germinate well. Sow one to two bush beans every three inches. A traditional method is to set up double rows, 18 to 24 inches apart. If you plant in single rows, allow 18 inches between rows. Pole beans should be planted so they’ll climb up supports. Sow six to eight seeds in a circle around each pole of a tepee, or one pole bean seed every three inches along a trellis.
Beans can also be planted in containers. A half wine barrel or other large container is best. However, you can grow both bush or pole beans in large containers. Large containers cut down on the frequency of watering. Figure on around nine plants per 12-inches of space in the container.
Beans require at least an inch of water weekly. Beans do not need extra fertilizing as long as you plant in an enriched soil. Of course, a little fertilizer wouldn’t hurt either.
You can extend the harvest of bush beans by making repeated sowings every two to three weeks all through summer. Pole beans take longer to mature, so you probably can get only two plantings of pole beans if you space them around a month apart.
