Puttin' Up Beans

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I put up 6.5 lbs of beans, roughly half Contender and half Provider. That made an even dozen pint jars with none left over. That makes 34 jars on hand. We always put up extra beans in the fall in case next spring’s bean planting fails for some reason. That happened one year so we’d rather have extra on hand than run short. There will be one more wave of beans in a week or so and those will be eaten fresh and/or given away.

[clkeiper]

good for you. you never know what this Winter/Spring will bring. its much better to be prepared and not need every last jar you put away but you can never be too certain. I would love get a few more canned I have two rows yet to be picked a frost forecast for tomorrow night. I hope they don't get frosted after I cover them. then its back warm again.

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Yesterday I put up 6.5 lbs of beans, roughly half Contender and half Provider. That made an even dozen pint jars with none left over. That makes 34 jars on hand. We always put up extra beans in the fall in case next spring’s bean planting fails for some reason. That happened one year so we’d rather have extra on hand than run short. There will be one more wave of beans in a week or so and those will be eaten fresh and/or given away.

I also have some canned beans, but I don't know what to do with them. Do you have an interesting recipe?
Vladimír

[clkeiper]

I have 4 quarts and a pint in the canner as i type.
Mr Big, my family like greenbeans cooked slowly in a cast iron skillet with bacon cooking down on top of them. a little caramelization on the bottom of the pan. boom! they eat them all. I never have left overs then. canned beans work almost as well as raw greenbeans. During the Winter you make do with what you have not always what you want.

[GoDawgs]

You can always make a refrigerated pickled bean salad by marinating them in an Italian or Greek style salad dressing adding some onion, etc. Or you can make a brine from a pickled bean salad canning recipe and just marinate in the refrigerator instead of canning.

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

I have 4 quarts and a pint in the canner as i type.
Mr Big, my family like greenbeans cooked slowly in a cast iron skillet with bacon cooking down on top of them. a little caramelization on the bottom of the pan. boom! they eat them all. I never have left overs then. canned beans work almost as well as raw greenbeans. During the Winter you make do with what you have not always what you want.

I was just thinking about next years garden yesterday,what type green bean does best around here?Pole or bush?I'm going to cut back on my number of tomato plants as I always plant more than I should.We love string beans and so does our grandchildren who we babysit.We don't do any canning but sure do miss those fresh home grown vegetables during the winter months.

[clkeiper]

CJP, we grow bush beans but that said... grow whichever you want. I just don't have a trellis system set up for beans. We grow provider, contender? Jade and goldrush for a yellow bean. I do one row of romas for a custom order but I also use or sell the extras. I don't grow any string beans, I grow only stringless beans.

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

CJP, we grow bush beans but that said... grow whichever you want. I just don't have a trellis system set up for beans. We grow provider, contender? Jade and goldrush for a yellow bean. I do one row of romas for a custom order but I also use or sell the extras. I don't grow any string beans, I grow only stringless beans.

Thanks will pick up a few different kinds of bush beans

[JRinPA]

I have had better luck with pole beans. They keep going throughout the season and take up less area. The kinds I've tried also grow larger beans, easier to pick, and don't get nipped by rodents.

I started out buying some seed from Johnny's - Fortex, Carminat, and Monte Gusto. Three colors of similar style (filet) pole beans. I like them all but some crossing has occurred between the green and purple. They taste the same anyway.

For a bush bean, Velour was similar to these, but not as big. Nickel was decent. Pauldor was a bust...it makes a tiny yellow bean. The seeds are only half the weight, so it shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was.

I also planted a wide variety of bean swap beans. Le Vigeronne sp?, Rattlesnake and one of the Kentucky names were interesting. For the most part I went back to ones I had wanted in the first place.

For storage, they are blanched and frozen. They do hold well and mostly are pan fried just like fresh, but from a mostly frozen start in the pan.

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by JRinPA

I have had better luck with pole beans. They keep going throughout the season and take up less area. The kinds I've tried also grow larger beans, easier to pick, and don't get nipped by rodents.

I started out buying some seed from Johnny's - Fortex, Carminat, and Monte Gusto. Three colors of similar style (filet) pole beans. I like them all but some crossing has occurred between the green and purple. They taste the same anyway.

For a bush bean, Velour was similar to these, but not as big. Nickel was decent. Pauldor was a bust...it makes a tiny yellow bean. The seeds are only half the weight, so it shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was.

I also planted a wide variety of bean swap beans. Le Vigeronne sp?, Rattlesnake and one of the Kentucky names were interesting. For the most part I went back to ones I had wanted in the first place.

For storage, they are blanched and frozen. They do hold well and mostly are pan fried just like fresh, but from a mostly frozen start in the pan.

I have been looking up the difference between pole and bush variety and am leaning on pole.I'll make a trellis and have it about 6 feet off the ground.I was thinking of trying 2 or 3 different kinds and just letting them grow together.Thank you for your imput.

[JRinPA]

I have plenty if you want to try what I like. Not guaranteed true but it is what I'm planting again next year.


For poles this year I made both 4 pole teepee type, helped by some trellis netting, and at home for seed saving purposes I did 4 single poles with three seeds each. Some were bamboo, all were pushing 9 foot and I had to prop them back up after heavy winds when they put beans on up top. I figured that would happen.



Big learning point was, they can't climb the smooth single pole bamboo well. Less well even then I hoped. Some got up and slid back down later under their own weight. So, if you want to use bamboo, you have to put some "climbing sticks" on as well. I used 1/4" x 2ft waterspouts off the pear tree, and tied them to the poles so as the bean stalk twists around it can grab something grippy once per rotation.

[clkeiper]

I pulled and picked my last two rows of beans that I have covered and nursed along for a whole month... I managed to eek out another 18 quarts of beans. yeahaw!

[JRinPA]

Good haul.


We just cooked the last pan of what I picked a week or so back. There may be more over there, I haven't checked the comm garden beans since. I don't know how many quarts it was, but it was two heaping 10x20 flats yielded from a few seeds stuck in the base of each windward row corn stalk about when they were harvested. Then I did a weave on the stalks so they didn't fall too early. Eventually the bean weight folded them over the string weave and when I picked there were a whole lot more beans than there appeared to be. Very easy trellis to build, that.

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by JRinPA

I have plenty if you want to try what I like. Not guaranteed true but it is what I'm planting again next year.


For poles this year I made both 4 pole teepee type, helped by some trellis netting, and at home for seed saving purposes I did 4 single poles with three seeds each. Some were bamboo, all were pushing 9 foot and I had to prop them back up after heavy winds when they put beans on up top. I figured that would happen.



Big learning point was, they can't climb the smooth single pole bamboo well. Less well even then I hoped. Some got up and slid back down later under their own weight. So, if you want to use bamboo, you have to put some "climbing sticks" on as well. I used 1/4" x 2ft waterspouts off the pear tree, and tied them to the poles so as the bean stalk twists around it can grab something grippy once per rotation.

Sorry I just seen this,yes that's very kind of you of you to offer.I have some fencing I use for my cucumbers that I was thinking for the pole beans.Any type you have extra of I would love to try.Would you need a SAE?

[JRinPA]

No, I'll just mail some, PM an address. They'll probably need a small pouch type for beans.