One of the easiest things I have ever grown is beans.
I grew them in my first year with a patch, and since then although I have experimented with a few varieties, but my heart is quite content with the good old lazy house wife. A fairly traditional flat bean, this beauty grows quite literally like a weed and once it starts producing, you will have a wonderfully hard time keeping up with your crop yield. In my second year with these beans, I started canning them just to ensure that I could harvest and actually use them all!
And when it comes to vegetables, beans are pretty fab not only because they are easy to grow and will give you a continuous harvest, but also because they give back to the soil. Beans plants are packed full of nitrogen, the stuff that plants crave, and so your bean plants can essentially become your cheapest fertilizer.
For the seasoned gardener, having beans in your veggie patch is a natural choice, and for those just getting started, these plants will keep you inspired and moving forward.
Types of Beans
If you thought tomatoes had never ending varieties, just wait until you read about beans! There are so many types that you can grow in your home garden that you will be spoiled for choice and flavour.
The more traditional varieties that you can grow include your bush beans, wintergreens, runner lazy housewife, climbing white emergo, butter beans, yellow beans and purple beans. If you are looking to really experience something different, you can look at the beans considered quite rare, at least in South Africa. Such varieties include Florida Speckled Lima beans, Fava Windsor beans, Canadian Cranberry beans, noodle beans, and Chinese Yard Long White beans.
When selecting your beans it helps to do a little research into whether or not the beans are for eating fresh, better when dried or purely ornamental. Since most bean flowers are quite beautiful, sometimes the plant is grown just for its flowers, in which case, if you were not in the know, you’d be wasting space.
There are a couple of varieties I have personally found easy to grow and delicious to eat. The Runner Lazy Housewife is my favourite, perhaps because it was my maiden journey into growing beans, and then I have also grown yellow beans and purple beans.
For South African conditions, we have the Malelane bean, the Timbavati bean, the Makatini bean, the Salima bean and the Sibaya bean, all of which have been bred in Africa and are able to withstand the harsh African growing conditions without suffering from stunted growth or disease.
The type of beans you grow is going to depend on your goals. If you want consistent beans, you will need to opt for the kind that grow fast and can be consumed fresh, cooked or preserved. If you want something a little slower, you can do the yellow bean or a more specialized variety, and if you want a limited number of beans the Malelane bean can be a great choice.
Here in the Lowveld, once that heat and humidity hits, you can expect your beans to go wild. And even during the winter months, you will be able to grow an abundance of glorious beans!
Another consideration to make is whether or not you are going for a runner bean or a bush bean.
Runner beans like to climb, in fact giving them room to climb is the only option. This kind of bean is perfect if you are working with a smaller space, because you can create a vertical garden for your beans. Bush beans are the exact opposite. They will grow into a bush and then start producing. Bush beans produce a lot faster than runner beans but they don’t produce as much as the runner beans. And besides, with a runner bean you can create a bean teepee for your children, or for yourself, because who doesn’t want a teepee?
Sowing
The reason why the humble bean is easy to grow starts with the sowing. You can grow them in a seedling pot, directly in the ground, or you can simply throw the bean on the ground and it will eventually grow, which is why if you leave some beans to dry on the plant, once they fall out of their pods it won’t be too long before you get those first shoots.
Ideally, you should sow directly, if only because it will save you some time.
Because you will be able to grow beans all year round here in the Lowveld, you can plant as soon as you notice one of your bean plants is coming to the end of its lifespan. This will provide you with a constant harvest and if you can keep up with the loads of produce you will be getting, your beans will become one of your most prolific crops.
If you have chosen to grow runner beans, you are going to be so chuffed with yourself when you realise just how many plants you can cram into a small space. 20+ plants will be sufficient for a family of 4.
Growing
It doesn’t take much skill or know how to grow a bean plant. And if you have direct planted the seed, you have even less to think about.
Beans are as versatile as they are hardy. If you have planted them in a seed tray, you can leave them in there until they get that first little climbing tendril before you plant it out. I have direct planted and used trays and both times I’ve had success.
When I first planted in a seed tray, I left them for a good long while, and I didn’t really notice all that much time delay from planting them out to seeing them start gaining new growth. This could have been because I planted in summer, and as you know, a Lowveld summer is fairly magical when it comes to plants. We are abundantly blessed here with our incredible weather and summer rain.
Depending on the temperatures, the rains and the amount of sunlight per day, your beans will grow fast and soon out grow their space if you haven’t given them enough room. When taking a vertical approach, you should take into account just where the plant will reach out to. I did a teepee one summer and eventually had to create more space for them to grow. I tried cutting them back, but that didn’t really help. So be prepared to make more room.
Within about 2 months, you should start getting some beans. You will know you are close to getting your first beans when the plant starts producing the most interesting looking little flowers. Each of these flowers will hopefully become a bean. The more you harvest, the more the plant will try to replace what you have taken, and that is the key to making sure you get an abundant crop. So just keep cutting!
After a couple of months the plant will slow down and at this point it is wise to leave a few of the beans on the vine. The pod will eventually go brown and when it is completely dried out and you can hear a rattle when shaking the pod, you can either gather the beans to plant them when you are ready to, or you can let the beans fall and grow where they land.
What to do with your harvest
Beans are tasty and versatile, and there are an extraordinary number of things you can do with your harvest.
Here’s some inspiration.
- Curry your beans and preserve them. Curry beans as a summer side dish is a South African staple, and you’ll find dozens of recipes online.
- Add them to stews. If you ever get stuck with what to do with your beans, chop them up and add them to a beef or venison stew. They also go well in a chicken curry.
- Blanche your crop and freeze it to be enjoyed later.
- Make a bean salad.
- Make traditional boere boontjies. The green beans, butter and mashed potatoes, is a simple recipe and a real South African treat.
Hallo Lee Anne
Waar kan ek van due nuwe Afrika bone saad koop? Asseblief. Ek woon buite Ermelo Mpumalanga
Hallo! Ek sal voorstel om na https://livingseeds.co.za/vegetable-seeds/beans te kyk. Hulle het ‘n groot keuse teen goeie pryse.