Monday, September 10, 2018

An Ode to Homegrown Green Beans

Ah, green beans, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.



1.  Easy to grow.  I grow Blue Lake beans, bush variety, and after you soak the seeds and plant them according to the spacing directions on the package, that's it!  No staking, no pruning, no other support needed.  They just grow.

2.  And they grow fast and furious! The seedlings come up quickly, the plants produce and produce and produce as long as I keep picking.  I thank my plants as I pluck off their beans and tell them they can keep making more (if the neighbors are outside, I do this silently; I'm not totally crazy).



3. Their flavor - unlike the flavorless strings at the store or even from some farmers enamored with uniform shape and color - homegrown green beans are buttery, hefty, "beany beans" as my mom calls them.  

4. Green beans are so versatile!  Steam them and then put a little sheen of brown butter on them for a sidedish that goes with anything.  Put a hot bacon dressing on them for main-dish beans. Pickle them (they don't go mushy, like canned cucumber pickles tend to). Treat them with curry flavors.  Treat them with Italian flavors and Parmesan. Blanch them and freeze them for later. 


5.  Because of their versatility and abundance, I got to experience the joy of giving my own garden produce away! That was a rush to this small city gardener.  I actually pickled enough, froze enough, and ate enough to joyfully give away several bags of green beans.


I planted a packet of Blue Lake beans and thanks to the increased sun in our yard this summer, plus the abundant heat and rain, they did amazingly well. In fact, our garden is rather jungle-like with tomato vines sprawling on top of the beans and herbs.  Herbs also do pretty well for me, but if I don't have the bandwidth to start them from seed, they are more pricey.  How did your garden grow this summer?

9 comments:

Alica said...

My weed are growing in abundance, with all the rain!! I resorted to buying green beans from a local Amish family, and I'm awaiting another basket full this week. Tomatoes did pretty well, other stuff, including my zucchini !!! died a slow death of drowning.

Becky said...

I have not planted beans in a few years and my husband does not let me forget it! The deer love them though, so until we get a better anti-deer plan, no beans. Between the squirrels, heat and all the rain, my tomatoes have struggled this year and the cucs went early. But I have loads of jalapenos and tomatillos. My regular basil bit it early, but I experimented with a leaf lettuce basil this year and it is still going gloriously. All my other herbs except parsley are perennials and they are all doing well. The parsley hasn't had a particularly good year - I'm blaming the weather.
My zinnias have been glorious though. I know my husband would love to use that space for other things (like grapes or beans), but they are so, so worth it. Now if I could only get a shot of the goldfinches flying around them - so much color!

Tammy said...

My beans have NOT done well this summer. :( The first beans we planted, were eaten down by beetles and their larvae. We tore those out and replaced them and they are being eaten by some caterpillar. I don't like pesticides, but clearly I need to look into something organic instead of just crossing my fingers and hoping the bugs will stay away. We got a dinner's worth of beans from the second planting and I noticed that they basically are done. I'm so sad.

beth s said...

I love green beans as well. I steam them and we eat them like french fries, dipping them into a Mayonaise/soy sauce dip.

e said...

I was never a green bean fan. I think that when I was growing up, we only had canned green beans and they weren't good. When my daughter got married her husband wanted to make some green beans for a side dish and she realized that she had never had one! Never! Honestly, that made me laugh!

I have since grown to like (if not yet love) them. I've tried them a few different ways and like them best sauteed in butter. I've also canned them as pickles which is a winner. Really, though, if I'm going to have a long skinny green vegetable, I'd rather have asparagus. Lol.

I've grown them in my garden and love how easy they are. Btw, I also thank my plants for their produce when I harvest. And, I always say, 'there is enough for all' and leave some for the critters (or the people who pick from my front yard. Sharing garden bounty is sharing love.

Margo said...

Tammy, oh no!! My beans did/do have Mexican bean beetles, but if I kill the eggs, fuzzy yellow bugs, and adult beetles when I'm picking, it seems to keep them under control. Don't know if that's what you have or not. . . I don't use pesticides either.

Anonymous said...

Your post reminded me of this song, Green Beans in the Garden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ6u3S2T16c
Enjoy!

Susan

Katie said...

My raspberries are out of this world. We have a teeny-tiny suburban yard, but I have two little patches, maybe 15' x 2'. Every day since mid-August, I can pick 4-6 cups of berries. Every day. I'm freezing them, eating them, baking with them and giving them away. They are awesome, easy to grow and fun to pick. My kids have a ready-made snack, no pesticides, when they're milling around the yard.
I think I might try your green beans. I love them.

BLD in MT said...

They are pretty great, aren't they?! My MIL will eat a huge plate of beans for lunch sometimes when the plants are pumping them out by the bucketload. She loves beans more than anyone I know. We have started growing them ourselves the past couple years. I'm a big fan of the pick-and-they'll-quickly-grow-more crops. How nice you even got to share!