Beans, Beans

Beans.
When I took my seed inventory, I realized that I had a lot of bean seed. some was from 2005(KY Wonder) some from 2007 (Contender, Blue Lake, and some KY Wonder). I had picked up a few packs for this year, but I wanted to use up the old stuff, too, so man have I planted beans!

After Easter, I planted Roma bush beans and all the KY Wonder pole beans and Dow Gauk, AKA Asparagus AKA Yard Long beans. I also planted Dragons Tongue bean. My Dragon Tongue beans claimed to be a pole bean, so I planted them around a teepee, but they are bush beans, as you can see. . It was my first year growing them so I did not know. A few weeks after the first planting, I filled in the gaps of the Romas with some yellow wax beans. You can see the difference in leaf color in the little short rows. So far, we have been eating the Roma and Dragon Tongue, and I like both, but we really like the Dragon Tongue as a green/snap bean. No strings for either variety. As Martha says, it's a good thing.

The KY Wonder and Asparagus beans are still blooming-have topped the 7 foot trellises (The Yard-long asparagus beans are on the A-frame trellis with the bent bamboo top line), and the yellow wax beans are almost ready to pick. I think they will be ready by the weekend. In the last few weeks, I have also planted a pack of Royal Burgundy bush beans(now 8" tall in the ground), several ounces of Contender(2" tall in the raised bed), and today I planted some Blue Lake bush beans. I've got about half a pound more Blue Lake beans to plant over the next month or so. Oh, I also have some scarlet runner beans(on a ladder-ornamental for the hummers) and this year I will plant Aquadulce fava beans over the winter. They supposedly don't keep well, and I have these from 2000. I found them in the bottom of a seed can. I grew them in 2000 and the kids did not like them, so I never planted them again. I have a medium sized ziplock bag full of the beans, and I did a germination test and much to my surprise, more than half of the beans germinated! Speaking of old seed, I had some old red field peas(that are technically beans) that I could no longer find in catalogs. I can't remember where I got them originally, but they were good and I use them in this one specific Cajun recipe. I was low on supply, with only about 2 inches of beans in a Mason jar. On my friend James' advice, I planted them en masse on the ground and covered them with mulch hay. They are doing well as a block of beans. I will be using this same method for growing some other dry beans.

So far, I am only cooking the fresh beans and haven't canned anything, but I did get a new seal and pop off for my pressure canner, so I am ready for the mountains of beans I hope to have. I have a Frencher, and will probably French slice some of the Blue Lakes or Kentucky Wonders. I just haven't decided. I'll slice whichever beans Skyguy likes the least. My family, as you might guess, eats more green beans than any other vegetable. I think I could can 75 quarts and still would run out before the next growing season. Normally, I freeze veggies like beans, but I want to reduce the power bill so I will can them this year. I'll probably make some dilly beans, too.