Tuesday 15 May 2012

Beans - an update

I can hardly wait to get my beans planted. This year I sowed them all (apart from the Broad Beans) in pots, mainly to assist with keeping them safe from soil-borne pests. Last year I had a lot of trouble with grubs of some sort eating their roots. This year, with the aid of a few million nematodes, I am hoping for a better result.

The Runner Beans are the most advanced. In fact they are almost ready for planting out now. I think maybe next weekend will be the time. These ones are "Scarlet Empire".


And these ones are "Red Rum". Not all of them germinated, which is a pity, but I still have enough for what I intend to plant. Probably no spares though.


The Dwarf French Beans "Speedy" are mostly looking OK, having been protected in their early days by my "green-bean-house" contraption, but one of them looks as if it will be a blind - in other words it isn't producing any leaves.(The one Bottom Right, nearest camera).


The "Mechelse Tros" aka Mushy Pea Bean is looking vigorous after a slow start. This is a climbing bean, so I may end up putting a few in amongst the Runners.


The next one is "Cherokee Trail of Tears", which is going to be the bean component of my Three Sisters. I grew some of these last year and they were very attractive to look at but didn't grow very big and only produced a modest crop. It will be interesting to see how they perform this year with less competition.


This pot contains "Polka" yellow-podded Dwarf French Beans. Curiously, two beans germinated about a week before the others. In this photo they are the "goalposts" framing the one which is just emerging:


I do also have a big pot full of "Amethyst" purple-podded Dwarf French Beans, but they haven't germinated yet (having been sown a bit later in order to extend the cropping period) and I didn't think a photo of bare compost would be very exciting!

My plan is to sow another batch of seeds for all the dwarf varieties in about a month's time, so that I will hopefully still be cropping beans in late Summer / early Autumn. I will grow them in big plastic pots which are portable enough to be shifted around the garden whenever necessary.

18 comments:

  1. Looking really good! The only one of yours that I've grown before is Trail of Tears though I'm attempting an interesting looking purple podded climbing bean this year as well.

    Now with your runner beans...how exactly do you recommend cooking them? I've seen them so many times at the allotment and in the shop but they look rather thick and stringy to me. Until now I've passed them by but they seem like such good growers that I'd like to give them a go sometime.

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    1. Hi Tanya; Runner Beans are deceptively rugged to look at, but believe me they are delicious when cooked, and very tender. Modern varieties do not even have stringy edges that need to be removed. I like them just plain boiled, served alongside roast chicken or some such. They are also good in tomato sauce, and also with chilli con carne. They freeze well if you end up with a glut.

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  2. It's inspiring this. I love bean plants. I like beans too . . . but the plants are special.

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  3. We have only planted brapd beans at the moment so you are flying

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  4. I am growing my beans in plastic pots too. I have three plants of french beans in a 20" diameter and 15" deep container. Since there is still so much room in the container and beans don't mind crowding a little I am planning to grow some runner beans along with them.

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  5. I like the way you sow them in pots first and then put them in the ground. I had never heard of anyone doing beans like that before. I will be very interested to see how all these varieties do.

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    1. Lots of people here grow beans in peat pots and plant the whole thing into the soil when they are ready. In due course the peat pot just disintegrates as the plant grows. This method minimises root disturbance and "transplant shock".

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    2. Yes, I have grown things in peat pots before but never beans which I always direct sow. I have really only ever started things like cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and peppers. I guess beans seem more delicate to me and harder to transplant but now that I see how you do it so much I may try it with some things I grow that get eaten when they are small but do better if they get a chance to grow larger.

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  6. i planted out my beans yesterady seems they have got to good seedling size, how often should i water them?! I mean do i water them even when its rains with a watering can or a mister.. I really want these to go well seems most things I've planted out seem to be looking a bit worst for wear!

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    1. You judge the need for watering by the state of the soil / compost. It should not be too dry or too wet. In present UK weather conditions, I'd be surprised if you needed to water anything growing outdoors!

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    2. You would be supprised I seem to be a micro climate in east yorkshire sure it rained once really heavy for 20 mins today but what sunny and bright.. I even got sunburnt out in the garden on sunday...

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  7. I have so much trouble thinking of Trail of Tears as being one that didn't grow big. I swear here it has world domination on its mind. I always wonder with something that has been around that long if there are different strains out there.

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  8. I'm giving runner beans a miss this year, and concentrating on French beans, which we all prefer, instead. I'm growing one climbing variety and two dwarf varieties. I've started mine off in pots too, still too cold to plant them out here.

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  9. They should produce a lovely lot of beans, I pulled my last plants (except one) last week so it seems only right you should be doing the reverse.

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  10. That's a bunch of beans! I know you eat many of them off the vine, and you did dry some last year(s). How many many it to the dried stage?

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  11. They look good. Our runners are planted out, and broad beans have been out for a while, but the French beans are ready to go out soon too. You're going to have ( hopefully) great harvests this year.

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  12. David; last year I grew too many varieties, considering how little space I have, so I ended up with only a few of each type to dry. I think I had only about 800 grams of dried beans - enough for a meal for two about 4 or 5 times. This time I'm going for greater quantity - especially of Runners.

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  13. Beans are the mainstay of the summer veg as far as I am concerned - love 'em all.

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