 |
| A killer on the back but well worth the effort. Luckily Im young and resilient |
I wish dwarf beans had come into my life earlier. There is nothing not to like; quick to produce, economical on space needs, no wigwam construction required. Perfect. Although I will admit that they will do your back in when it comes to picking, but so will the bottom tiers of a wigwam, so thats totally forgivable.
 |
The electric purple flowers, obviously not very big and in-your-face
but nobody is going to say no to a little dot of colour here and there |
I would like to say that I saw these beans through from sowing to harvest, but I cheated and bought these as seedlings. In my defence it was like mid May when the garden space opened up, and always better to cheat and make use of the opportunity than stick to principles and not. I bought dwarf french beans and the best thing about them, other than the fact that they have produced a veritable hoard of beans, is that the flowers were purple. A pretty bean is always a bonus in my book. It was a really nice purple as well, very very pale but quite electric at the same time. It sung out, one might say, above a sea of green leaves. The popped into flower around early July, and were out of it and into bean production before I could turn round.
 |
| Beans forming on the plant |
Im totally sold on french beans, stuff broad beans with their months of development only to find the tiniest beans ever snuggled in those fluffy casings. Dwarf beans produce and they produce fast. No sooner had I spotted a few thin beans beginning to form, than a quick rootle in the undergrowth revealed fully formed beans. How they grow so quick is beyond me, but I like these short turnaround times. Im all about an investment of time, but lets get some edible results! They were by far the earliest out of all my french and runner beans this year, and while the others are just getting going I am sadly beginning to near the end of the dwarf crop.
 |
| The beans in question |
Not only do they produce fast, but they produce a lot. They require picking every couple of days and my fridge has been stuffed out for a couple of weeks with them now. We have had several meals off them, and if there wasn't currently four adults living at home, im sure I could have exclusively lived off them for vegetables for several weeks. Considering how few plants I have, I think this is really impressive. And very satisfying! At last a vegetable that has performed just as it should and given bountiful reward.
 |
| Nothing better than a good bean pick on a sunny day. Less so like it was tonight - hammering down with rain |
Obviously volume is always welcome, but they also need to taste good as well, and these really do. We tend to top and tail them, cut them into two centimetre sections and steam them, although they also got thrown into a stirfry the other night as well. Delicious. Obviously it helps to pick them before they get old and touch, which I try my best at, but try as one might you always come across a huge old fat bean and think, how, how did did I miss you?! As clear as the nose on my face.
 |
| Some of the beans early on, they are good and tasty, and as long as they are picked early enough, tender too |
Dwarf beans will definitely be featuring in my garden again next year. They are just such a handy productive bean. In fact two varieties for next year are already in my possession. I bought a packet of purple queen, which is unsurprisingly purple, and ferrari which is your standard fillet type green bean. I have also seen a strange yellow one which grows in containers which I wouldn't be sad to have in my possession.
 |
| We had some in a nice stir-fry, it added a bit of green to the mix, but normally we just steam them |
No comments:
Post a Comment