By Faye

For the snap and crunch of a perfect green bean, nothing comes close to the bean you grow yourself. Those hollow, stringy supermarket beans should be banned!

Beans are one of the easiest vegetables to grow; the perfect crop for a beginner. They even make their own fertilizer! Beans are legumes, and all legumes convert nitrogen found in the air to a usable form, evident by small white nodules on their roots.  Legumes have a relationship with Rhizobia bacteria in the soil, which enables the nitrogen-fixing process. All they ask is regular moisture, warm sunshine, and a moderate amount of organic material in the soil. Don’t add manure, and don’t over fertilize. Excessive nitrogen in the soil will produce a large plant with poor pod set and delayed maturity. A bean crop that has lots of flowers but few pods may have a zinc deficiency, which can be remedied by foliar feeding with liquid seaweed. Because beans have a relatively light nutrient demand on the soil, crop rotation for fertility needs is less important than for some other crops. They grow happily with other veggies except for onions, which they dislike.

PLANTING:  Warmth is essential for germination; cold soil will result in rot and sporadic germination, so wait until at least mid-May if direct-sowing.  For this reason, pre-sprouting in a warm room in damp vermiculite has been my habit for both peas and beans, using a well-draining tray and dense sowing of seeds. They root in less than a week, with 100% germination and no critter predation. Harden off, and plant outside when weather permits.

Talk about the magic of the bean; look at those roots!

The vision of a bean seed’s emerging root at one end, and a leaf at the other end, is surely one of gardening’s wonders, and reason enough to try the vermiculite.

BEANS FOR EVERY GARDEN

POLE BEANS:

*Indeterminate: Will need tall poles to climb around.
*Produce over a longer period, yielding more beans in a smaller area.
*Can be grown in a large container, but keeping soil adequately moist can be difficult. Smaller yield.
*If using a ‘teepee’ of poles, plant 5-6 beans at each pole base.
*Limited sun? ‘Purple Peacock’ is a variety suitable for cooler areas with less than full sun.
*Pick often, don’t let the pods get old, tough and lumpy. Eat while young and tender. Once pods get full and start to ripen off, the plant shuts down production to make seed.

BUSH BEANS:

*Determinate, usually about 2 ½ feet tall.
*Produce a large crop quickly, within a couple of weeks or so.
*Successive sowing from mid-May to late June, every 2-3 weeks, will provide a longer yield.

SCARLET RUNNER BEANS:

*Botanically distinct from Bush and Pole beans. While all beans are legumes, these belong to a different species.
*Pollinated by bees and hummingbirds, a bonus! Other beans are self-fertile.
*Prefer cool summer weather, needing more moisture and cool roots.

BROAD BEANS:

*Shelling bean.
*Plant in October for early spring eating, or in February/March for summer eating.
*Allow bean to fill out and harden in the pod, then shell when dry.

SOYA BEAN:

*Edamame, the best known soya bean, has been cultivated in China and Korea since 5000 BC, and is now a staple in Japanese cuisine.
*Not suitable for containers.
*Never soak the seed before planting.
*Must be cooked, and pod not edible.

Whether eaten raw or cooked, the green bean has earned a place of honour at our summer table. For its high nutritional kick, beauty in the garden and ease of growing, this magical bean deserves a star.

 

Growing delicious vegetables at any time is satisfying, but planting now, with the knowledge that next winter you will have food in the garden, is nothing less than thrilling.  Yes, I realize the irony of talking about next winter’s harvest when we aren’t even out of this ‘winter’ yet.

These are a few seeds you can plant between now and late June:

Purple Sprouting Broccoli should be seeded from mid to late June for harvest next spring. There are several varieties, ensuring harvests from early February all the way to late May.

Brussels Sprouts should be seeded by the end of May, or first week in June at the latest. If planted later than that, the sprouts won’t be large enough by fall, and there will be little growth during the coldest months.

Swiss Chard can be direct seeded in May, with Cabbage and Kale following in mid-June. Here is my Lacinato (Black Tuscan) Kale, planted from nursery starts late last summer.  As I was a little late in planting, it didn’t do much until early this spring, but is now delicious and sweet, even raw.

Leeks for winter harvest should have been seeded in February or March (whoops, too late now), but we do sell the starts of winter-hardy leeks, which should be planted out in the garden now.

Be sure to check the variety when buying seeds, some are meant for winter harvest and some are just not hardy. Ideally, winter vegetables should be almost fully grown by Halloween if you expect to harvest in the coldest months. These winter veggies are always more delicious after being kissed by frost, so don’t worry about the cold.

The whole idea of growing vegetables to harvest in winter or early spring is a vast subject; we are fortunate to have not only West Coast Seeds, but Linda Gilkeson’s book Backyard Bounty for everything you need to know to be successful, and truly turn your garden into The Great Canadian Refrigerator.

Why is there so much fuss about seeding? Is it rocket science? Seeds have been grown since the beginning of time, yet we all dither and wring our hands about “is it time?” I have come to the conclusion that all one really needs is the West Coast Seed Catalogue, and Linda Gilkeson’s book Backyard Bounty .

Of course there are many other seed companies, and many delectable varieties only available from obscure sources, but you get my gist.

My honourable co-worker Lynne has stated the obvious, it’s still too cold and wet outside to direct seed, but in our short growing season most things seem to do better if started indoors anyway.

It’s April 2, and pouring rain. Music playing, and a cup of tea in hand, I seeded part of my summer crop today, in my dining room.

I’m learning so much in Linda’s class at Glendale, and one of the most surprising things is that while seeds need the heat to germinate, the seedlings actually grow more dense and bushy if grown on at cooler temperatures.   So once a crop is up and off to a good start, it’s time to start hardening off, weather permitting. An unheated greenhouse or cold frame is the best place to start.  At first, I was hauling all the trays in every night, but that was too much effort; I now give “tough love” to all my seed babies; they are now sleeping in the greenhouse at night.

For the potting medium I use a starter mix such as ‘Islands Finest Starter Mix’. (Confession: I do not sterilize my seeding trays. I do blast them clean outside with the hose, however.)

So far I’ve got beets, leeks, spinach and lettuce seedlings in the greenhouse, and today planted the warmer weather plants.

Tomatoes and basil are in the Jiffy Starter Trays from the nursery, this is a clean and complete way to start. Since the actual planting holes are quite small, it works well for my system of potting on into 4”, then larger pots. By late May my basil and tomato plants are in the greenhouse with large root masses, ready for their final transplant.

The Lemon Cucumber seeds go into larger pots or trays with huge planting holes, as cucumbers resent root disturbance, yet need to wait for the warmer weather.

Linda sent along her great idea for pea germination in her “Linda’s List” email, (which anyone can register for on her website) that is to start them in milk cartons with vermiculite for the planting medium.

It’s easy to remove the seedlings from the vermiculite without root damage, and they will be off to a good start when I plant them outside, probably within a week or two. It’s just for germination, remember. I’ll recycle the vermiculite in my container plantings, as it lightens the soil and retains moisture.

I love to grow seeds for friends, nurturing them (the seeds, not the friends) until ready to plant outside. I plant way too many seeds and love every tiny one of them.

Let me know how yours are doing— any tips?