Chapter 7: Sweet and Simple: Beans and Peas

In This Chapter

Growing bean and pea varieties of different heights, colors, and flavors

Planting beans and peas in your garden

Caring for your beans and peas

Harvesting your crop

One vegetable that you can always rely on is the bean. So for ensured success in your first garden, plant some bean seeds. When I teach gardening to beginner groups, the first plants that I talk about are bean plants — and for good reason. Bean seeds are large and easy to plant, they grow easily, and they don't require lots of extra fertilizer or care. Within 60 days, you're bound to have some beans to eat. With beans, satisfaction is as guaranteed as it gets in the vegetable gardening world. In fact, they're even more forgiving than tomatoes!

Peas are in the same legume family as beans; other crops in this family include clover and alfalfa, but you don't eat them (unless you grow sprouts!). Like beans, peas also have large seeds and require little care. The only difference between the two is that peas like cool weather to grow and mature, whereas beans like it warm. If you get the timing right for beans and peas, you'll have lots of legumes rolling through your kitchen door; just use the guidelines in this chapter to get started. (See the appendix for a general planting guide for selected beans and peas.)

A Bevy of Beans: Filling Your Rows with Bean Family Plants

All bush, pole, and dried beans are members of the Fabaceae family. In this section, I classify beans according to their growth habits and usage (that is, whether you eat them fresh or dried). Here are the categories:

Bush beans: These beans get their name because they grow on a bush. They tend to produce the earliest crops, maturing all at once (within a week or so of each other); you have either feast or famine with these types.

Pole beans: These beans need staking and usually grow on poles. They tend to mature their crops later than bush beans, but pole beans continue to produce all season until frost or disease stops them. (Luckily, home gardeners generally don't have to worry about disease resistance with their bean plants.)

Dried beans: These are actually varieties of bush or pole beans. You can eat them fresh, like bush or pole beans, but they're better if you allow them to dry and then just eat the bean seeds. Growing dried beans is easy: Just plant them, care for them, and harvest them when the pods are dried and the plants are almost dead.

Bush and pole beans actually are the same type of bean, just with different growth habits. Bush and pole beans often are called snap beans because they snap when you break their pods in half. Another name for these beans is string beans, because early varieties had a stringy texture. (Modern varieties don't have this texture, so this name isn't commonly used today.) Yellow snap varieties mature to a yellow color and are called wax beans. Don't get lost in the snap versus string discussion. Those are just names people have given to a bean eaten before the seeds inside begin to form.

Beans harvested at different stages can be called different names. Consider the following:

A bean harvested when it's young, before seeds have formed, is called a snap bean. They come in green, yellow, or purple depending on the variety.

If a bean matures further and you harvest it when it's still young but the bean seeds are fully formed, it's called a shell bean.

If the pod dries on the plant and then you harvest it, it's called a dried bean.

Some bean varieties can be harvested at all stages. However, most bean varieties are best harvested at one particular stage — snap, shell, or dried — depending on their breeding (see the later section "Keep on pickin': Harvesting your crop" for details).

Just for fun in this section — in addition to the bush, pole, and dried beans, I also list some other bean relatives that are tasty and have novel colors and shapes (they're unique). The days to maturity for all these beans represents the time from when you plant the seeds in the ground to when you harvest them. Bean appétit!

Bushels of bush beans

Bush bean plants generally are less than 2 feet tall and produce handfuls of beans at their one main harvest of the season. Depending on the variety, the beans are green, yellow, or purple. Most pods (the part of the bean that you eat)are 6 to 8 inches at maturity, but you can harvest beans that are flavorful sooner. If you need lots of beans all at once for canning or preserving, grow bush beans. Selecting among the various types is really just a matter of color and experimentation; try one and see if you like it. Here are a few of the most reliable varieties to grow:

‘Blue Lake 274': This big, meaty, green bean variety matures high yields (about 12 pounds for every 10 feet of row) in 55 days — even under adverse weather conditions. It also comes in a pole bean version.

‘Derby': This disease-resistant green bean is an All-America Selections winner (see Chapter 4) and features extra-tender pods and high yields 57 days from seeding.

‘Improved Golden Wax': This disease-resistant, yellow-bean variety produces broad, flat golden pods 52 days from seeding.

‘Jade': This heat-tolerant green bean produces huge yields of pencil-straight beans 60 days after seeding. It produces high-quality beans later into the season than other green bush beans, allowing you to extend your harvest time.

‘Kentucky Wonder': This classic green bean's round, green pods are produced prolifically on sturdy plants 57 days from seeding. It also comes in a pole bean variety.

‘Nash': This heavy yielding, disease-resistant variety grows well in the heat, so it's a good choice in hot-summer areas. Its green pods mature 54 days from seeding.

‘Provider': This variety has great disease resistance and can grow in adverse weather. Its green pods mature 50 days from seeding.

‘Roc d'Or Wax': This variety produces long, slender, round, bright yellow pods on sturdy plants in 53 days.

‘Roma II': This Romano-type bush bean has tender, flat pods and high yields earlier than Romano (53 days after seeding). The pods are slow to develop seeds and strings, so they stay tender longer.

‘Romano': This long, flat green bean is an Italian classic and also comes in a pole variety. The pods are known for their strong flavor and ability to stay tender even when they're large. This variety matures in 60 days. ‘Romano Gold' and ‘Romano Purpiat' are yellow and purple varieties, respectively, that grow similar to the original just with different-colored pods.

‘Royal Burgundy': This attractive purple-podded bean also has a purple tinge on its leaves, stems, and flowers. It matures in 55 days and turns dark green when cooked.

Pole beans: The long and tall crop

Many pole bean varieties share the names and characteristics of their bush bean counterparts. Pole beans mature more beans overall but start a week or so later than bush beans and produce only a handful of beans per day, which makes them great for small families. Pole beans keep producing beans until frost, in all but the hottest summer areas. You also can plant them in summer for a fall crop in warm areas.

In the following list, I mention the pole beans that also have bush forms, plus some other well-producing and attractive pole varieties:

‘Blue Lake': See the bush variety in the preceding section.

‘Emerite': Think of this variety as a green filet bean (see the later section "Other beans") on poles. The tender, pencil-thin, 4- to 5-inch-long pods are produced 64 days from seeding.

‘Fortex': This variety produces extra-long (11-inch) pods that are stringless, tender, nutty, and savory. A French favorite, this productive green bean matures 60 days from seeding.

‘Goldmarie': This early yielding, wax pole bean variety produces 8-inch pods 54 days from seeding.

‘Kentucky Wonder': See the bush bean variety in the preceding section for a description. ‘Kentucky Wonder' also is available in a wax pole bean variety.

‘Purple Pod': This unique purple-colored variety grows on a 6-foot-tall plant. When you cook the bean, its color changes from purple to dark green. It matures 65 days from seeding.

‘Romano': See the bush bean variety in the preceding section.

‘Scarlet Runner': This beautiful, vigorous pole bean is actually in a different species than other pole beans (Phaseolus coccineus). It produces attractive scarlet red flowers, large hairy pods, and bean seeds that are edible 70 days from seeding. The pods can be eaten when young and the bean seeds are edible when dried. This variety tastes okay, but it usually is grown as an ornamental for its attractive flowers and colorful red and black bean seeds.

The versatile shell and dried beans

Shell and dried beans are some of the most versatile beans to grow because you can eat them at the snap, shell, or dried stages. Eaten at the shell stage (fully matured seeds in the pod, but the pod is still green) or dried stage, you're eating the seed inside the pod. These seeds come in colors from white to red and can even be striped and spotted. Dried beans are great baked and in soups and chowders.

Most of the varieties in the following list are grown for their dried beans but also taste good at their shelling stage, too. They're the dried beans that most people are familiar with eating, and they're the tastiest to grow. The days to maturity represent the time from seeding to dried bean harvest. Most of these varieties are bushy plants:

‘Black Turtle': This small black bean matures 85 days from seeding and grows best in warmer climates. Each pod produces seven to eight beans, which are often baked as well as used in soups and casseroles.

‘Blue Speckled Tepary': This Southwest variety grows great in hot, dry conditions. The brown seeds with red speckles mature 90 days from seeding.

‘Cannellini': This famous white, kidney-shaped bean is often used in minestrone soups. Large plants produce beans that are best when eaten at the shelling stage, which is 80 days from seeding.

‘French Horticultural': An old-time favorite, this tan-colored bean matures in 90 days. You also can eat this variety earlier as a shelling bean.

‘Jacob's Cattle': This bean gets its name from the cattle that Jacob, the biblical character, tended. It's white with splashes of maroon. This bean is best adapted to cooler weather. You'll find ‘Jacob's Cattle' great in baked bean dishes.

‘Navy': This small, semi-vining plant produces white, oval beans 85 days from seeding. These beans are excellent baked.

‘Pinto': A vining plant produces buff-colored, brown-speckled, dried beans 90 days from seeding; these beans are widely used in Mexican dishes. You also can grow this variety as a pole bean.

‘Red Kidney': This bushy plant produces large, red, kidney-shaped beans 100 days from seeding. These beans are used in many baked dishes. ‘Red Kidney' also comes as a white-seeded variety.

‘Soldier': This white, kidney-shaped bean with red markings produces 6 beans per pod 85 days from seeding. This bean is great baked and in stews.

‘Tongue of Fire': These 6- to 7-inch, red-streaked pods can be eaten shelled or dried. They mature to the shell stage 70 days from seeding.

‘Vermont Cranberry': This red, brown-speckled, New England classic dried bean is one of the most popular beans to grow. It matures 90 days from seeding and is widely adapted (can grow in a variety of geographic regions under a variety of weather conditions).

Miscellaneous beans not to be forgotten

Some variations on the common bean are exotic and fun to grow. The beans in this section are grown similarly to bush or pole beans but come in different shapes and flavors. Some of these beans aren't even in the same species as bush and pole beans, but they're grown the same way. The following sections show you a few of the best ones to try.

Asparagus bean

The asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis, or Yard-Long bean) is a pole bean that grows more than 10 feet tall and produces extremely long beans (up to 3 feet tall!). This variety is popular in Europe and Asia and is catching on in the United States. The asparagus bean takes a longer growing season to mature than traditional pole bean varieties, however. Most mature within 80 days from seeding. Some good varieties to look for include ‘Chinese Green Noodle' and ‘Red Noodle'. ‘Chinese Green Noodle' features long, thin green beans. The ‘Red Noodle' variety features burgundy-colored pods that hold and deepen their color to purple when cooked.

Edamame

Edamame (Glycine max), or Green Vegetable soybean, started as a novelty bean from Japan and has turned into a favorite in many home gardens and kitchens. Unlike the commercial soybean that's grown for animal feed, oil, and so on, this soybean is meant to be eaten at the green shell stage; it has a buttery, lima-bean flavor. Some varieties have green seeds and others black.

‘Envy' is the earliest maturing of the edamame varieties (75 days from seeding). ‘Black Pearl' is smaller than other soybean seeds and has a rich and distinctive flavor. Maturing in 85 days, it grows up to 3 feet tall and wide, so it needs more room than other varieties. ‘Butterbean', which matures in 90 days, is a high-yielding soybean with a sweet and buttery flavor and well-branched plants. ‘Sayamusume', which is a Pacific Northwest favorite, produces high yields of large soybeans with 3 to 4 soybeans per pod. This variety matures in 85 days.

Edamame beans are a kid-sized treat. Children of all ages love to pop these buttery-flavored beans in their mouths after they're steamed.

Fava bean

The fava bean (Vigna acontifolia, or English Broad bean or Horse bean) is a popular English bean that grows on plants that are 2 to 3 feet tall; unlike other beans, the fava bean likes cold weather. You can harvest the 7-inch pods as snap or shell beans; they mature 85 days from seeding. Fava beans are a good alternative to lima beans in cold climates. ‘Windsor' is a good variety that produces 3 to 5 green seeds per pod 75 days after seeding.

French filet

The French filet bean (Haricot Vert) is a classic bean from France that has really caught on in the United States. This bean has been bred to be tender and stringless. Compact bush plants produce an abundance of these thin, textured, "melt-in-your-mouth" beans when harvested young. Pick them when they're less than 1/4-inch-thick, or they'll have started to mature, leaving the pods tough and stringy.

You can choose from a number of varieties of French filet beans. Some of the best include the following: ‘Maxibel' (high yields of 7-inch-long, round beans); ‘Nickel' (heat and cold tolerant plants produce 4-inch-long beans); ‘Tavera' (very slender, 4- to 5-inch-long beans); and ‘Soleil' (a unique 4-inch-long, yellow-podded variety). All filet beans mature between 50 and 60 days from seeding.

Lima bean

Once you've eaten a fresh lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus, or Butter bean), you'll never settle for the canned version again. Lima beans come in bush and pole varieties and love a long, warm growing season. Fat pods, which are 4 to 8 inches long, produce 4 to 6 beans each that you harvest at the shell stage.

One of the best bush varieties is ‘Fordhook 242', which matures in 75 days. It produces 3 to 5 white seeds per pod and is tolerant of both heat and cold. Another is ‘Jackson Wonder'. This "baby" lima produces 3 to 4 beans per pod and matures in 75 days, which makes it good for cooler climates. A good pole variety is ‘King of the Garden', which matures 88 days from seeding. It yields 4 to 6 large, cream-colored seeds per pod. ‘Florida Speckled Butter', another pole bean, matures in 85 days. Each pod produces 3 to 5 light-brown seeds speckled with maroon. The plant is heat- and drought-tolerant, making it a good Southern variety.

Southern pea

Although it's called a pea, the southern pea (Vigna unguiculata, or Cowpea) actually is more like a bean in growth and usage. Like limas, southern peas grow best in warm climates. The plants are either bush or semi-vining, and you harvest the pods about 60 days from seeding at the shell or dried stage. Some of the more famous types are Black-Eyed peas such as ‘Pink-Eyed Purple Hull', which is named for the black speck on the seed; Crowders such as ‘Mississippi Silver', named for the way the seeds grow jammed in the pod; and Cream peas such as ‘Lady', named for their smooth pod.

More Peas, Please!

One vegetable that's truly a treat to grow yourself is the pea, which is Pisum sativum botanically. In grocery stores, peas are available for only a short time, and their flavor isn't as sweet and tender as freshly picked pea pods. Some varieties grow to be huge and bushy, needing extra support to stand tall. Others are short and bushy and don't require fencing or support. Viny pea plants produce a grabbing shoot called a tendril that holds onto whatever it comes in contact with. Some novel types don't even bother growing leaves. In the following sections, I divide peas into three groups: English, snap, and snow. Mind your peas and take a look at some excellent varieties.

A pea is described by the type of pods it has. Here are the categories:

An English, or garden, pea has a tough pod with tender peas inside.

A snap pea has tender peas inside but also an edible, sweet pod.

A snow pea is harvested flat (that is, harvested before the pea seeds inside the pod form) mainly for its tender pea pod.

English peas: The reliable standby

Sometimes called the garden pea, the English pea is the pea that gardeners are most familiar with and that's most widely grown. In the following list, the days to maturity represent the time from seeding to harvest. Here are some of the most reliable varieties of English peas:

‘Alderman' (Tall Telephone): This old heirloom matures in about 74 days. Six-foot-tall vines produce a large number of 4- to 5-inch pods with 6 to 8 peas per pod.

‘Blondie': This new variety features 3-inch-long pods with 8 peas per pod. The yellow leaves and pale green pods and peas make this an eye-catching variety in the garden. It matures in 65 days and needs trellising (which I discuss in the later section "Spacing properly and providing support").

‘Feisty': This 30-inch-tall vine has few leaves and many tendrils, which makes the medium-sized pea pods with 6 to 8 peas per pod easier to harvest. The plant matures in 61 days.

‘Little Marvel': Even though it's a dwarf plant that grows only 18 to 20 inches tall, this pea plant produces heavy yields of 3-inch pods with 6 to 8 peas per pod. The plant matures in 62 days.

‘Maestro': A prolific early variety matures in 60 days and reaches only 2 feet tall but produces 4- to 5-inch pods with 9 to 11 peas per pod on powdery mildew-resistant plants.

‘Mr. Big': This All-America-Selections-winning (see Chapter 4), disease-resistant variety is a big producer that matures in 67 days. The 5- to 6-foot-tall vines produce 4- to 5-inch-long pods with up to 10 peas per pod.

‘Petit Pois': This novel baby pea (the pea seed inside the pod is smaller than the normal pea seed) is extra sweet and tender. It produces 6 to 7 peas per pod. The plants are 20 inches tall and produce peas in 58 days.

‘Wando': This very productive, warm weather variety grows 3 feet tall and produces 7 to 8 peas per pod in 68 days.

Sweet and tender snap peas

Snap peas were once the new peas on the block. Now they have become a mainstay in many gardens. Snap pea pods fill out (the pea seed inside the pod forms) like an English pea, but they have a sweet, tender pod like a snow pea. Some newer varieties are considered stringless. The plants range from the original ‘Super Snap' that grows to 8 feet tall to the diminutive ‘Sugar Bon' that grows to less than 2 feet tall. Kids love snap peas, and they're as easy to grow as English peas.

Try these varieties of sweet and flavorful snap peas:

‘Cascadia': These 2-foot-tall vines resist the pea enation virus disease (a problem in the Pacific Northwest; see the later section "Pesky pea problems") and produce 3-inch, dark green peas 58 days after planting.

‘Sugar Ann': The earliest maturing snap pea, this variety is ready for harvest in 52 days. The plants grow only 2 feet tall, producing sweet, 2- to 3-inch pods. Because this snap pea is a dwarf variety, it doesn't need support and can be grown in containers. ‘Sugar Sprint' is similar to ‘Sugar Ann' but doesn't produce stringy pods.

‘Sugar Bon': A 1- to 2-foot-tall snap pea, this plant matures in 56 days and resists powdery mildew disease. Because of its size, this variety is super for containers.

‘Sugar Lace II': These 30-inch-tall vines have few leaves and many tendrils, making the 3-inch-long pods easy to see. The plant is self-supporting and disease resistant. It matures in 68 days.

‘Super Sugar Snap': These vines grow to 6 feet tall, producing tons of sweet, long pods and peas 65 days after planting. This variety is shorter and more disease resistant than the original ‘Sugar Snap', which is still available.

An earlier harvest: Snow peas

If you've eaten a vegetable dish in a Chinese restaurant, you've probably tried these sweet-tasting, flat-podded peas. Snow peas are the easiest peas to grow because you don't have to wait for the pea pods to fill out to harvest them. They're tender, stringless, and best when harvested before the peas inside begin to swell. Here are some of the best producing varieties to try:

‘Dwarf Gray Sugar': This viny, 2- to 3-foot-tall plant needs support but produces 3-inch, dark green pods 57 days after planting. The pink flowers this plant produces are ornamental, so you'll enjoy how they dress up your garden.

‘Golden Sweet': This Indian heirloom features unique golden-colored pods on 6-foot-tall green vines that mature in 65 days. The pods stay golden when cooked, making them beautiful additions to stir-fry and salads.

‘Mammoth Melting Sugar': This 4- to 5-foot-tall heirloom features 5-inch-long pods that stay sweet longer than other varieties. It matures in 68 days after planting.

‘Oregon Giant': These large 4- to 5-inch sweet pods grow on disease-resistant, 3-foot-tall vines 60 days after planting.

‘Oregon Sugar Pod II': Another large-podded, sweet-tasting snow pea, this variety grows to 4 feet tall and matures its pods 68 days after planting. Like ‘Oregon Giant', it's also disease resistant.

Get 'Em in the Ground: Growing Beans and Peas

Peas and beans are like siblings: They have a lot in common but also have some different preferences. For instance, both peas and beans like moderate moisture throughout the growing season and well-drained soil that isn't heavily amended (nutrient-improved) with fertilizer. And neither is very demanding at all. The fundamental difference between pea and beans, however, is that peas like cool climates and beans prefer warm ones. If you get the timing right — by planting peas so they mature when it's cool and beans when it's hot — these two siblings will reward you with a bounty of legumes.

Planting legumes for an ample harvest

When planting legumes, choose a sunny spot with well-drained soil and create a raised bed (see Chapter 3). Raised beds help keep pea seeds from getting soggy while they germinate in cool spring soil; at the same time, raised beds also warm up the soil for bean seeds, which you plant in late spring and summer. In the following sections, I explain how to prepare the soil for your legumes, figure out when to plant, and discover how to give them the proper support.

Preparing the soil

Plants need nitrogen to grow, and most of the time they get it from the soil. Legumes are unique, however, in that they can use the nitrogen in the air through a special relationship with a type of bacteria called a rhizobium. This bacteria naturally occurs in soil and attaches itself to legume roots, living off the plants. In exchange, the bacteria takes the atmospheric nitrogen and changes it into a form that the plants can use. Beans and peas get the nitrogen they need, and the bacteria gets a home. So don't worry about adding more nitrogen fertilizer to legumes; they can take care of themselves. If you see bumps or nodules on the roots of your plants, you know that bacteria is at work.

Books and catalogs often suggest that you buy your own bacteria inoculant powder to add to bean and pea seeds when planting. This powder really isn't necessary. Soil already has bacteria in it, so usually you don't need to add any extra to your seeds. The exception, however, is with very sandy or poor soil. These types of soil need a one-time inoculation (the mixing of powder with seeds at planting), which peppers the soil with bacteria and gives plants the boost they need. After the rhizobium is in the soil, you don't need to add it yearly.

Even though legumes don't need extra nitrogen, they benefit from a 2- to 3-inch layer of composted manure worked into the soil before planting. For poor soils with low fertility, add an organic fertilizer high in phosphorous and potassium, such as 5-5-5 (see Chapter 15).

Determining when to plant

With beans, wait until the soil is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit before planting. Beans planted in cool soil rot before germinating. Stagger your bush bean planting dates by planting small batches of seeds every week or so (see Chapter 16 for more on succession planting). By staggering the plantings, you'll have a continual harvest all summer.

Peas like cool soil; in fact, they can germinate in 40-degree soil. As soon as the soil dries out, build your raised beds and plant your seeds. You can determine whether your soil is dried out by squeezing a handful of it; if no water trickles out and the soil clump feels moist and breaks up easily when poked with your finger, the soil is dried out.

You can plant peas 3 to 4 weeks before the last frost date in your area if the soil is ready. Pea seeds germinate better in 60- to 70-degree soil, but if you wait until the soil is warmer, the plants will get off to a late start. By the time the peas would begin flowering, the air temperature would be too warm (above 80 degrees), and your plants and production would suffer.

You also can grow peas as a fall crop, which you start in summer so the plants mature in the cool days of autumn. I've had success planting snow peas as a fall crop. You can harvest these legumes sooner than English and snap peas because you can eat the flat pea pods as soon as they form and before the freezing weather hits.

To help pea seeds germinate in cold or hot soils, try pregerminating the seeds (see Figure 7-1). Place the pea seeds in a moist paper towel in a dark, warm spot for a few days. Check the seeds daily; when you see a small root begin to grow, plant the peas in the ground. Pregerminating helps the peas get off to a faster start and reduces the chance that they'll rot in cool soil.

Spacing properly and providing support

How close you plant your legumes depends on the varieties you've chosen. The following guidelines can help:

Bush beans grow best in rows on top of a raised bed. In rows 1 to 2 feet apart, plant the individual seeds within 1 to 2 inches of each other. Then thin the beans to 4 to 6 inches apart after they germinate and emerge from the soil. (Chapter 13 provides pointers on how to thin your vegetable seedlings.)

Because you plant peas when the soil is cooler, the germination percentage may be less than with beans. So, on your raised bed, plant your peas less than 1 inch apart in rows 6 inches apart.

Tall vining varieties of beans, such as pole beans, and tall varieties of peas need support to grow their best. The type of support needed depends on the plant (see Figure 7-2). Pole bean shoots spiral and wrap themselves around objects that they can climb, and peas attach themselves to objects with tendrils (grabbing shoots that hold onto whatever they come in contact with). Generally, beans like to climb poles, and peas like to climb fences. The height of your fence or pole depends on the varieties that you're growing: A 4- to 5-foot fence is good for most peas, and a 6- to 8-foot pole is good for pole beans.

Keep your fences and poles within reach because if the plants grow too tall, you'll need to use a ladder to harvest. For more information on trellises, fences, and teepees, see Chapter 15.

Plant both pea and bean seeds 1 to 2 inches deep. Plant pole beans around individual poles; you should have 4 to 6 pole beans around each pole, about 6 inches away from the pole (see Figure 7-3). In between the pea rows, place your trellis or chicken wire so the peas can climb both sides of a fence (or whatever you have for them to climb on).

After they start to grow, beans and peas need little attention other than regular watering and weeding. Both benefit from a layer of hay or straw mulch placed around the rows. The hay or straw mulch reduces the need for weeding and keeps the soil moist. (See Chapter 15 for more on mulch and other maintenance.)

Be careful when weeding around peas because they have shallow root systems. Instead of digging in the soil around the roots, pull any weeds by hand or bury young weeds with soil as they germinate.

Thwarting pests and diseases

One nice thing about beans and peas is that they're susceptible to only a few serious pests or diseases. However, some of the common problems that plague other vegetables, such as damping off, fusarium wilt, powdery mildew, and leaf blight, also can be problematic for peas and beans (see Chapter 17). You can avoid many of these problems in vegetables by rotating crops, tilling in the fall, and growing resistant varieties; see Chapter 16 for details. The following sections describe some problems specific to beans and peas.

Battles for beans

Here are the most troublesome of the bean problems along with some advice on how to solve (and prevent!) them:

Bald heading: If your bean seedlings emerge from the soil without leaves, they may have a condition called bald heading. Insects can cause this condition and so can seed that has been damaged. It can occur when you plant the seeds too deep in the ground or in gravel soil, which causes the leaves to rip off as they try to break through the soil. To prevent this condition, prepare the seed bed by removing rocks, sticks, and clods of soil before planting; and don't plant too deep. Leafless beans don't produce any crops, so if you see any leafless beans, pull them out and replant.

Mexican bean beetle: This ladybug relative has an orange-yellow shell with 16 black spots on it. The adult beetles lay masses of orange eggs on the undersides of maturing bean plants. When the eggs hatch, the 1/3-inch, spiny yellow young that emerge feed on the bean leaves, defoliating the plant. To control these pests, do the following:

• Plant early maturing varieties that are finished producing before the bean beetles become plentiful.

• Crush any egg masses that you see.

• Clean up old bean plant debris where the plants overwinter (live throughout the winter).

• Spray the adult beetles with pyrethrin (a botanical insecticide made from pyrethrum flowers).

Rust: If your plants have red or orange spots on their leaves and then they yellow and die, you may have rust disease. This fungal disease overwinters on bean plant debris left in the garden and infects new plants in summer when the weather is right (warm temperatures and high humidity). To prevent rust disease, clean up plant debris and till your garden in fall. The next growing season, rotate bean plantings to another section of the garden. Also, don't work in your garden when the leaves are wet; wet leaves provide the moisture that rust disease spores need to be able to spread.

Pesky pea problems

Peas don't have many disease or pest problems, but here are a few to watch out for:

Pea aphid: These pear-shaped, 1/8-inch, green insects suck the juices from pea leaves and stems and can stunt a plant's growth and cause it to wilt. If your plants are severely affected by these insects, spray the plants with Safer's insecticidal soap.

Pea enation virus: Pea enation virus is a particular problem for peas grown in the Pacific Northwest. The virus, which is spread by aphids (another reason to control the pest), causes plants' leaves and pods to be stunted and deformed. The best solution is to grow disease-resistant varieties such as ‘Cascadia'.

Keep on pickin': Harvesting your crop

As you probably know, when it comes to harvesting vegetables, timing is everything. Keep a close eye on your beans and peas as they start to mature and pick often. Beans and peas can get overmature, tough, and stringy quickly, especially in warm weather. Here's how to tell when the beans you've planted are ready for harvest:

You can harvest snap beans when the pods are firm and crisp and the seeds inside are undeveloped. (If the pod is smooth and not bumpy, you know that the seeds haven't developed yet.) Carefully hold the bean stem with one hand and pull the individual beans off with your other hand to avoid breaking the plants.

The more beans you pick, the more you'll get. That's because the plant wants to produce mature seeds and you keep frustrating it by picking the pods. So be sure to harvest even if you're not going to eat all the beans immediately. Remember, you can always share your crop with hungry friends and family.

Harvest shell beans when the pods are full, green, and firm but haven't dried out yet. You can store the beans in a refrigerator for a few days before cooking them.

Let dried bean pods dry on the plant until they naturally begin to split and then harvest them. Break the bean seeds out of the pods by rubbing the pods in your hands, which shatters them. Store the beans in glass jars in a cool place; you can either eat them or save them to plant next year.

Peas lose quality quickly, so picking them when they're undermature rather than overmature is better. Also, try to cook them the same day; they turn starchy quickly if you keep them for more than 1 or 2 days. Here are some guidelines for harvesting peas:

You harvest English and snap peas when the pods are full and before they fade in color. Upon harvesting snap peas, cut off the cap (stem end) of the pod and take the string (along the seam) out of the pod; these are the only two parts of the pod that are chewy.

You can pick snow peas anytime before the pea seeds inside the pods begin to form. After the peas begin to fill out, the pods get tough and stringy.

You can harvest the tender shoots and tendrils of peas. Harvest from the end of the shoots back 2- to 3-inches including the leaves and tendrils. The shoots and tendrils are great sautéed or mixed raw in salads. It's a way to get the pea flavor without the peas and to use more parts of the pea plant.