Discover Real Green Beans
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Easy-to-grow green beans ask only for abundant sun, warm soil and ample moisture to produce well.
WALTER CHANDOHA
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Issue #217 August/September 2006
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Experience the exceptional taste of garden-fresh green beans.
On any day of the year, you may find two types of fresh green beans at your local supermarket. The ones with round pods will be labeled “snap beans,” and those with flat pods will be sold as “pole beans.” With rare exceptions, these are poor excuses for green beans.
Bred to be tough enough for long-distance shipping, mass-produced green beans typically lack sweetness, have lost all hint of their inherent snap and often are tinged with off-flavors — eating them raw is a lot like chewing wet cardboard. But freshly harvested, garden-grown beans, or those purchased at your local farmers market, are wonderfully different — subtly sweet with a crisp, yet tender, texture.
“There aren’t that many people who have actually experienced a really good green bean,” says Ellen Polishuk, who manages 180 acres of sustainably grown vegetables at Potomac Vegetable Farms in Purcellville, Va.
Many people who don’t like vegetables do like green beans. Polishuk says her 9-year-old son prefers to eat them raw, while others love the meltingly rich flavor of pole beans cooked for hours or used in a savory casserole. Want to make a quick visit to green bean heaven? Sauté a freshly picked batch with olive oil, onions and garlic, then sprinkle chopped basil and parmesan cheese over the hot beans. One bite and you may never eat canned green beans again.
If you’re buying green beans from a local vendor, try to find one that sells them loose so you can handpick the best beans. Look for beans that snap when you bend them, are free of spots and bruises, and have a vivid color, velvety feel and firm texture.
Growing green beans provides endless opportunities to explore varieties with remarkable flavors, textures and colors that you’ll never find at the store. And while you might think it’s too late to grow your own crop this year, you can plant fast-growing beans eight to 10 weeks before your first fall frost. You’ll need a fast-maturing bush variety for fall planting, but fall-grown beans often are exceptionally sweet. Pest pressure on green beans declines in late summer too, and because green beans make only modest demands on the soil, they are a great follow-up crop to heavy feeders such as spinach, sweet corn or broccoli.
Easy-to-grow green beans ask only for abundant sun, warm soil and ample moisture to produce well. Check your seed packets for specific information on how deep to plant the seeds and how far apart to space them in your garden.
Green beans come in many shades of green, as well as yellow, purple and red. All are called “green” beans because they are picked and eaten at an immature stage, before the seeds have ripened completely. Nutritionally, green beans are a good source of fiber, as well as vitamins A and K; the latter improves blood clotting and helps build strong bones. Some types of green beans are at their best when harvested after the seeds are well-formed; these varieties are a good source of protein as well. Indeed, the hardest part of growing green beans is deciding which ones to grow.
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