Growing various types of delicious and nutritious beans
NATURE has provided us a world of protein-rich beans that come in various shapes, forms, and even colours. Today we take a quick look at several bean varieties, which can serve us well in the kitchen as well as nutritionally.
Whether adorning a trellis or a kitchen dish, French beans and long beans provide a heavy yield of nutritious and richly flavoured treats that delight.
French beans are available in two distinct forms – bush and climbing plants. Locally we mostly grow the climbing type. This actually has a richer flavour than bush bean varieties and they will also produce more beans.
Their tendrils need to cling to a tall support such as a trellis, stakes, or even nylon strings. The latter has become more popular as sticks are less available now. As they are grown vertically, they get better air circulation and are less prone to diseases and insect problems.
For the yard-long beans, which produce pods that are 60 centimetres or even one metre in length with nutty tasting beans, the vine can be three metres tall. Oriental Wonder comes with sweet beans packed in 15centimetre long slender strangle pods.
Then there are meaty and flavoursome lima beans, which thrive on higher ground and bear heavy yields of creamy buttery beans. These beans are packed in thick pods filled with plump rounded seeds that range from a creamy white to a pale green.
In terms of growth habit, they also come in two forms – bush or pole. The pole type can reach two metres in length, naturally needing a pole or trellis for support. Examples are Prima beige and Eastland, which have less beans inside the pods. They are picked early and will result in smaller and sweeter beans. We can get them from the vegetable markets as ready-packed items from China and elsewhere.
The pole varieties such as Madagascar and climbing lima have more seeds than the bush varieties – more than four beans per pod compared to just three or four beans per pod.
A definite favourite locally would be the winged bean, which is also called four-angled bean. This variety also grows as a vine and produces pods that are around 20 centimetres in length.
Not only are the beans edible, but the young leaves and pods can also be eaten either raw or cooked. We tend to eat the entire pod before the beans become fully mature. Growing tips
You can begin by buying seeds from a reputable nursery or get compact plants with long stems and deep green leaves. Avoid plants that have pale yellow or diseased leaves. Try several types to get a good variety in your garden, but do not try the temperate varieties as these would likely be a waste of your effort.
Sow the seeds after soaking them overnight in water to speed up sprouting generally. Sow them a few inches apart to allow enough space for each plant to grow.
Do not sow the seeds too deeply. Around two centimetres is good enough to prevent the seeds from drying up or being picked by birds before sprouting.
All beans need full sun. In areas with partial shade, they must have several hours of good sunlight or will not thrive.
Of the many varieties of beans, please remember that all leguminous plants have the ability to manufacture nitrogenous nutrients due to the nitrogenfixing bacteria living in their roots. So this naturally provides the plants with the required N fertiliser.
The soil should be well drained with low nitrogen content to improve flowering. Too much nitrogen will only promote excessive leaf growth.
It is good to add mulch to the ground to preserve moisture and prevent weeds. This is because beans tend to have shallow roots, and as such will not be able to compete once invaded by weeds.
Gently train new shoots of climbing beans onto trellises or stakes when they are still young. This way they will continue to grow well upwards.
Picking beans off early will actually encourage more flowering and you will be rewarded with better quality beans for the table.
Spraying with a foliar fertiliser is more efficient after the first harvest to ensure more nutrients are fed directly through the foliage to act fast.
If you find that the bean pods are curved and small, it could probably mean that the plant is water stressed and needs to be watered very regularly to revive the vine.
Watch out for bean pod borers that feed on the flowers, stems and pods. These can cause heavy damage when the attack is severe. The problem will need to be resolved using a light concentration of insecticide to kill the hungry feeders.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, do send me an email.
Happy gardening.