Seed started outdoors sometime in early May

Orca (Calypso)

Size: 15-18” tall and 16-20” wide

Location: lots of sun

Matures in: 70 days shelley, 90 days dry

Native to: Mexico,an heirloom and a kidney hybrid.

Why did I Choose it? I ordered these beans because they were beautiful. 

Uses? They can be eaten young or allowed to ripen for use as dried beans. Baked, these beans have exceptional flavour. They double in size when cooked and have a smooth texture. 

Specifics: Strong, disease resistant plants, producing heavy yields of 6” green beans. 

There are usually 4 or 5 beans per pod. 

Regular harvesting ensures greater yield. 

Wildrose Heritage Seed company says:

We generally plant 3-4 rows at a time and space out rows 8-10” apart. You can grow 3-4 times the amount of heirloom beans in the same space, reduce the amount of area for weeds and save on water. 

Personal Notes: I got confused when researching the best ways to germinate seeds and soaked these guys (like peas) 24 hours ahead of time. I'm not sure if that messed with their structural integrity, or if something else was to blame but they did not come up well. Hawthorn’s germination rate for these guys is 83% but I planted all 50 seeds and maybe only 10 plants sprouted. They were small, weak plants and didn't really thrive. I didn’t pick any to eat fresh because I wanted to save some for seeds. I’ll try again this year and see how they do. 

Would buy again!

Tongue of Fire

 Size: 15-18” tall and 16-20” wide

Location: lots of sun

Matures in: 70 days to shelley beans, 90 days dry

Native to: Originally from the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego in South America.  

Why did I Choose it? These are also beautiful, a favourite at Farmer’s Markets. 

Uses? 6-7” stringless pods can be eaten as snaps or wait until seeds plump up and enjoy them as shelley or dried beans. Flavour and texture are excellent especially braised in a garlicky tomato sauce. They retain their flavour whether fresh, frozen or canned. 

Specifics: One of the best shell beans. Plump, speckled beans in stringless red streaked pods that ripen earlier than most dry beans. 

Personal Notes: I was extremely pleased with these beans!

They grew very well and were tasty fresh. We would pick them young and chop them into 1 inch chunks fry them in some butter and garlic and then add tomato sauce. It was delicious with pasta. They also made great pickled beans. We haven't cooked with the dry beans, I’m saving them for reseeding. 

Would buy again!

Bush Beans in General 

They fix nitrogen in the soil and so are great companions for many plants. 

Beans benefit from fertile soil but once they’re up they produce most of the nitrogen that they need. When growing beans in a new site, inoculating seeds with nitrogen fixing bacteria before planting can help kickstart the process, or scatter a few spoonfuls of soil from last year’s bean patch on the new site. 

Extend your harvest by successively planting every 2 or 3 weeks with last planting 10 weeks before the first frost.

Companion Plants: 

Marigolds deter Mexican bean beetles and other garden pests. They also produce a substance that suppresses nematodes. 

Corn provides light shade that bush beans tolerate. It’s roots occupy a different level in the soil so they don't compete for water and nutrients. 

Potatoes repel Mexican bean beetles. Bush Beans can be planted in between potato rows to suppress weeds. After your potatoes have been hilled and weeded plant bush beans down the outside of the row to keep the soil shaded and weed free. 

Catnip repels flea beetles. 

Summer Savory, nasturtium and rosemary repel bean beetles and improve the flavor of the beans. 

Eggplants, radish and cucumber stimulate and encourage strong bean growth. 

Beets give the soil magnesium which beans love. 

To protect beans from pests, plant them after spring radishes, cilantro or arugula, with a few of the bolting planting left behind. The flowers will attract beneficial insects and can help confuse pests searching for the beans. 

Other good companions are broccoli, cauliflower, squash, cabbage, celery, strawberries, carrots, peas and tomatoes. 

Avoid: The onion family will inhibit the growth of the plants. Also kolrabi, basil, fennel, sunflowers and peppers. 

Mexican Bean Beetles

Brick red with black spots they lay clusters of yellow eggs which hatch into yellow larvae. Pick or scrape off in all stages of life and drop into a bucket of soapy water to kill. Hand spraying Neem oil can control light infestations. 

Chickens also make excellent pest control, just watch that they don't scratch everything up on you. 

 Seed started sometime early summer

Pole Beans

I didn’t purchase any pole beans in 2020 but my sister did give me some Blue Coco Pole beans and they were lovely. Then later on I got some free Scarlet Runner Beans from Return of the Native, who had a surplus, when we went to get our native plants from her.

Size: Our gazebo is about 10 feet tall, I think, in the center and they made it all the way to the top. 

Location: Full sun

Matures in: 70 days snap, 90 days + dry

Native to: even though its a French heirloom it’s most likely that the bean’s primary origin was the Rio Coco area of Nicaragua and Honduras

Why did I Choose it? It was beautiful growing all over the gazebo with violet flowers, dark green leaves, purple vines and the lovely purple/blue beans. The beans are also delicious fresh, as shelled beans and also cooked from dry.

Uses? We ate them fresh in the garden, cooked in a garlicky tomato sauce as both a snap and shelled bean. Then I cooked the dry beans in a chicken stock with onions and garlic and it made an amazing side for our frittatas and a great soup with the broth. I also pickled some and froze several large bags. 

Specifics: They  can be harvested at 3" as snap beans and remain tender to 5" without getting stringy. Can serve as a snap, shell or dry bean, they also freeze well. Production will slow down in the intense heat of summer but they’ll pick up again with cooler nights and produce until frost.  . 

Companion Plants: 

Corn can provide a structure for pole beans to climb. Their roots aso occupy different levels in the soil so they don't compete for water or resources. 

They can also share the same trellis as peas. In spring plant the peas on the North or East side of a trellis, then plant the pole beans on the other side about a month later when the peas are at least 8 inches tall. When the weather warms up the peas will benefit from the shade provided by the beans. After the peas are picked the beans will quickly overtake both sides of the trellis. 

They can be interplanted with cucumbers or tomatoes if they are already well established.  

Avoid: 

Beets can negatively affect pole beans as well as the onion family and fennel. 

Personal Notes: I really enjoyed these beans and am so glad that my sister shared them with me. 

They were one of my favorite parts of the 2020 garden really making the gazebo a focal point in the center. 

The flowers were so pretty and attracted lots of pollinators and we thoroughly enjoyed eating the beans. 

I planted the 2 Scarlet Runner bean plants that I got alongside them but they didn't do as well and took much longer to establish. That's possibly because I direct sowed the Blue Coco so they weren’t shocked by transplanting like the Scarlet Runner beans. 

I also tried to grow cucumbers alongside them (the Mexican Sour Gherkins) but that was not a success. Someone gave me some pickling cucumber seeds that I planted in after my Gherkins failed but they never really established very well and the chickens got the Frankencucmbers that I didn't notice under the bean plants.

I would definitely grow these again! In fact I saved seeds to do that very thing!


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