Personally, I think growing beans is one of the best and most fun things to do if you are interested in gardening and cooking.
It is always a great idea to grow all sorts of vegetables in your home garden, from different varieties of vegetables like tomatoes, cabbage and other leafy vegetables, to squashes and even small fruits such as raspberries and blackcurrants. But it’s particularly fun when you grow beans, especially green and pole beans, and using them in your kitchen, when you want to instantly prepare great food for your family.
If you enjoy cooking, then what better way to feed you and your family by giving them fresh varieties of food items that can be easily grown by you in your home garden. The best part being that the food you cook, or preferably, eat raw, will be highly nutritious and healthy for your family as you know the food’s history and have personally cared for it as you’ve nurtured it from seed or a small plant into the food-provider it has become.
For me, beans are the best. They are quick and easy to grow, and can provide not only an abundance for food throughout the growing season, but they can also be very pleasing to look at. One of my favourite varieties when it comes to beans is the scarlet runner bean which produces a delightful red flower.
Beans can be grown easily in pots and trained to climb over, well, virtually anything. If you want colourful and decorative windows, then plant runner beans in a window box and train them to climb around the window. A few bits of string tied between protruding nails in the wall is all you need to create something for them to climb onto, and within 4-6 weeks your window will be surrounded by a forest of lush greenery that will provide you with an abundant nutritious crop throughout the growing season.
Growing Beans – Essential Information
The only requirements you need to take into consideration when growing beans is good soil, water and food, oh and picking them regularly. Beans like to be grown in a good rich soil and will generally need watering once a day and feeding once a week. You’ll also need to make sure that you pick them regularly making sure you do not let any of the pods reach maturity. as soon as a pod matures, the whole plant will stop flowering, so it’s important to keep picking, picking, picking! The more you pick, the more you’ll get.
Here are some more detailed tips for you which will help you get the best results whilst growing beans…
Soil
Start with a good quality soil. The soil should be rich and the fertilizer used should be of good quality. Bean plants need about 10 to 12 inches of soil so that the roots can develop effectively and easily. Choosing a good quality soil will give you the best results while growing green beans in your home garden.
Temperature
Climate and the right temperature can really help with growing beans. About 65 degrees is a good benchmark and will serve you well.
Space & Variety
There are a wide variety of green beans that you can grow. Look at the area you have to grow your beans in to determine which type of bean will be right for your needs. Bush beans and pole beans are two varieties of beans that are grown differently according to the area you have to grow them in. Green beans do not come in just a green color. Although the flavor doesn’t appear to be much different to regular green beans, there are different colored beans available such as purple and yellow, bringing a great opportunity to bring a variety of pleasing colours to both the garden and the dinner plate.
Conclusion
Growing beans is one of the more fun and enjoyable things you can do in your garden, and is an especially fun and exciting plant for children to grow. Not only does it bring you beautiful colours and greenery in a relatively short period of time, if looked after well, it will also provide you and your family with highly nutritious food throughout the growing season.
I hope these tips help to make your beans experience a great one :o)