Senga's Blog
Eco-chic Outdoor Living & Exterior Design
Feb. 4/2010 – The Planning Stage: Heirloom Beans 'Contender'
Eat Your Green Beans!
This is the command I always get from my husband the chef. He always cooks them, I still hesitate. Call it conditioning for I must admit I still have bad memories of those half mushy, anaemic looking limp sticks that used to come out of a can and double whammied by the microwave. Despite my best attempts, even the family dog forever mooching underneath the dining table wouldn’t eat them!
Flash forward and despite the fact that they were now under the capable hands of French trained chef, I was less than enthusiastic. Tentatively, I took a bite and to my surprise was delighted to find them crunchy, fresh and full of flavour. My husband calls them squeaky beans – a characteristic of freshly picked beans blanched (before fully cooked), refreshed in cold ice water to bring back the colour and crispness and then sautéed in butter before serving. It made a convert out of me.
The Skinny on Beans
Fresh beans are a moderate source of beta carotene, protein, dietary fibre, vitamin C, and carbohydrates. Some studies suggest that half a cup of beans per day has a cholesterol-lowering effect in many people. Beans also appear to have a blood sugar normalizing effect, and may be of benefit to diabetics. Lastly, beans make you feel full, and consumption of them may be of benefit in an individual weight loss program.
A Bean is a Bean
Who’s who? A pole bean is one that climbs and requires some form of a trellis and a bush bean tends to be short and bush-like. The runner bean tends to be bush-like with three foot runners, a weedy appearance and not as popular for gardeners. All types can also be a snap bean or stringless bean (eaten as a green pod), a shelling bean (the green seeds are cooked like fresh peas), or a dry bean, (harvested when pods are dry with seeds soaked and cooked like navy beans).
Beans are further categorized by pod type. Wax beans are any sort with pods that ripen yellow (also called butter beans in New England). String beans used to have a pod with a tough ‘string’ running down the side of the pod. With selective breeding, most pods no long have this tough fibre, so you can also refer to them as snap beans. And this is what our Heirloom ‘Contender’ is.
Contender is extremely early, very dependable and prolific. It is resistant to common bean mosaic virus as well as powdery mildew. It does well in cool, short climates, as well as in warm, humid climates.
Heirloom Phaseolus vulgaris ‘Contender’ Information You Need to Know
Botanical name: Phaseolus vulgaris ‘Contender’
Common Name: Contender Stringless Bush Bean.
Country of Origin: USA, developed in Charleston, South Carolina , 1949
Description: It produces long, round to slightly oval pods that are medium green and about six inches long at maturity. This bush form maxes out at about 18” tall.
Best harvested: Pick 5-6” for best taste.
Time to Plant: April 1 (after first frost) and plant every 2 weeks as bush beans produce one major crop at one time
Where to Sow and Grow: Outdoors in full sun and put under cloches to mitigate late spring frosts and keeping birds out.
Space: 30cm (12”) apart
Maturity: 45 Days
Tip: Do not allow beans to mature on the plant (seeds start bulging on pod), or it will stop producing, and do not pick beans or cultivate when they are wet, or it will spread viral diseases.
Uses: Raw, almandine, additives to soups, tempura style and four our dog who is highly allergic to everything!
Place in Square Foot Garden: In full sun in the square foot garden on my edible green roof. To maximize harvests I will plant three squares 3 weeks apart for a continuous harvest.
