Beans Offer Variety, Ease for Growers
Question: I’d like to grow a variety of beans. Which ones do well here?
J.E., Orange
Answer: Beans can be grown in average soil anywhere in Southern California, and now is a good time to plant most varieties.
Of all garden vegetables, the lowly bean--which is grown worldwide--may offer the most diversity, making choosing which one to grow your biggest problem.
Beans are categorized by color, how they grow and how they are eaten or used. All fit into three types: bush, pole and runner. In many cases, the same bean may grow as a bush or as a pole type.
Pole and bush beans are of the same species: extreme forms of the same bean. For every red pole bean there is often a red bush bean.
All common garden beans, regardless of shape or size, belong to the same species and easily cross.
A pole bean is one that climbs. They grow 5 to 8 feet and mature in 60 to 80 days.
In general, pole beans require more warmth than bush beans. They also need more fertilization but produce several pounds of beans per plant. Pole beans should be planted near poles or a lattice or a fence to which the tendrils can attach.
A way to raise pole beans is create a tepee out of six to eight bamboo poles. Prepare a circular furrow around the outside of the poles and plant seeds at the base of each pole. The bean plants will wrap around the poles to support themselves.
Suggested pole bean types for this area are “Kentucky Wonder” and “Romano.”
Bush beans grow about 20 inches tall and mature in 45 to 60 days. They produce the bulk of their crop in a two-week period, so plant at intervals to ensure continuous production.
Place bush bean seeds two inches apart in rows that are two feet apart. Cover with loose soil and tamp down lightly.
Beans should be harvested every two to three days.
Bush beans recommended for our area include “Tendercrop,” “Roman,” “Harvester,” “Contender,” “Goldencrop Wax” and “Resistant Cherokee Wax.” (Yellow podded beans are called wax beans.)
Runner beans--of which there are several types--and lima beans, are of two different species and do not cross with common garden beans or with one another. Though most beans are annuals, runner beans are perennial (though short-lived) in their native Central America highlands. They produce large flowers attractive to bees and are a separate genus and species to other beans.
Runners are day-length sensitive and prefer cool weather. These beans bloom profusely in areas where summer evenings are cool.
Runner beans are vigorous climbers but, unlike pole beans, wrap themselves counter-clockwise around their supports.
“Scarlet runner” grows well here. It is showy and ornamental with scarlet flowers and bright green leaves. Very dark green pods follow flowers. The pods are edible and tasty when young, but tough when full-size.
Lima beans are among the oldest documented New World vegetables, traceable to at least 5,000 BC in Peru (hence the name). Lima beans are also called butter beans. They are considered shell beans and can be bush or pole.
Lima beans don’t produce reliably in extremely hot, dry weather, but “Fordhook 242” is useful in hot-summer areas.
Fava beans are also called broad beans, Windsor beans or horse beans. Favas are a Mediterranean plant and, unlike most beans, are a cool-season plant.
In our climate, they can be planted in late winter for spring ripening. Favas are a bush bean and take 120 to 150 days to mature.
The oldest record of favas appeared around the year 500. When ancient Greeks and Romans wrote of beans, they referred to favas.
Except for favas, most beans are New World plants. Discovery of the New World bean and its many forms revolutionized world agriculture. Beans were used in Europe as early as the mid-1500s.
Common garden beans are annuals. Some are grown for pods and seeds, others for seeds only. Available in green, yellow, purple, red and white, beans can be striped, speckled, spotted or have “eyes.”
Dry beans are those left in the pod until both pod and seed are dry. When the pods split open, the beans are shelled and stored in tight-lidded jars in a cool, dry location.
Among familiar dry beans are pinto, soybean, kidney bean, fava and garbanzo (chickpeas). A shell bean is one from which the seeds are extracted while the pods are firm and plump, after they change color, but before the beans (seeds) dry out.
Shell beans include limas, French horticultural beans and southern, or cowpeas. Cowpeas are also called black-eyed peas and are actually a bean. They are a vining type of bean, but are not a pole bean because they have no tendrils and must be tied to a support.
Beans eaten in the pod are called snap or string beans. They must be harvested when the pods are firm and crisp and the seeds are small and undeveloped. If not picked often, they become tough and stringy.
Pods can be short or long, round or flat, broad or narrow.
General categories of pod beans are: green, yellow (or wax) and purple.
No article about beans would be complete without a word about mung beans, which are a favorite for salads and stir-fry cooking in their sprout form. Mung sprouts can be grown indoors in a well-drained flat and are ready to eat in five to 10 days. Keep them in a warm, dark, moist place.
A bush bean, mung has a spreading growth outdoors and can be used as a snap bean or can be grown for seed. Mungs love heat and humidity.
Though bush and pole green bean seeds are in abundant supply in nurseries and garden centers, mung beans, favas and most runners aren’t always found on seed racks. Some nurseries can special order these seeds.
--Written by University of California Master Gardener Pat Whatley of Laguna Hills.
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