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The
Beans of 2005
I love beans - I love growing them
and harvesting them and drying them and cooking them and eating
them. So this year I planted more beans, different beans,
new beans, old beans, snap beans, dry beans, tepary beans,
lima beans and Bolita beans. You might say its been a great
bean year. The nine bean varieties shown here all grow well
in sandy alkali soils and some are even drought tolerant.
And now that winter is near again,
I have the promise of delicious meals held in those jars of
beautiful beans lined up on the cupbard shelf.
Anasazi Beans
Phaseolus vulgaris
Claimed to have been reintroduced
into production from specimens excavated in Anasazi ruins.
That may or may not be true - unusual for a seed to remain
viable for six or seven hundred years. Its more likely that
the bean continued growing untended in wild places and was
taken back into cultivation from that stock.
They are perfectly adapted to the
arid southwest and are tasty as a green snap bean as well
as a dry bean. The dry pods hold the beans well, and the plants
can be left to dry before harvesting dry beans.
They are moderately drought tolerant,
but it best to keep them evenly watered if you want tender
snap beans. The dry beans have a distinctive sweet flavor
that mixes well with Black Turtle Beans, garlic and English
Thyme.
You can order the beans from Adobe
Mills in one to 20 pound bags and they are often available
by your local Coop Market.
Bolita Beans
Phaseolus vulgaris
Another old bean grown in New Mexico
is the bolita. Some claim them to be the first bean grown
in the region by the Spanish and later replaced by pinto beans,
which have a higher yield/acre. However, they are still grown
in irrigated plots by Hispanic farmers in the northern parts
of the state and by Schwebach Farms in Moriarty, NM.
I know very little about them other than they
are mild and creamy in flavor as well as a robust and easy
pole bean in the garden. Don’t plan on using them for
green beans as they have a lightly stiff furry surface texture
on the pod as well as the leaves and they are stringy. In
fact the leaves tend to stick to your clothing. This is my
first, but not last year for growing them.
You can order the beans from Adobe
Mills in 10lb sacks and the seeds for planting from Native
Seed SEARCH. You can also purchase Bolita Beans directly
from Schwebach
Farms in Moriarty.
Tarahumara Purple Beans
Phaseolus vulgaris
This may qualify as my ideal bean.
I'll know with a couple more years of growing it. It seems
well adapted to dry alkaline sandy soil and produces well
even at the colder end of the season. I am still getting an
abundant harvest of green beans in mid November from vines
that continue to produce new growth and blossoms. Looks like
it will keep on going right up to freeze. It produces abundantly
while holding dry pods along with new vine growth and blossoms.
The green beans have a rich complex
flavor and are easy to string.
Source for Seed - Native
Seed SEARCH
High-yielding bean with
gorgeous, large, shiny, deep-purple seeds. Sweet taste,
smooth texture. Pole bean producing both white and lilac
flowers.A collection from the high arid Mesa
de Agostadero, Chihuahua - NS/S.
Hopi Black Pinto Beans
- "Maawiw' ngwu"
Phaseolus vulgaris
In the garden this is a very drought
tolerant, but not shade tolerant bean. I interplanted it this
year with Hopi Red Dye Amaranth in a block and got very good
amaranth growth and very poor bean growth. The idea was to
use amaranth as a growth support for the climbing beans -
the shade got in the way. Planting that combinationin an east-west
oriented row would have worked better than a block.
The green beans remain tender even
when the seeds form and have a fine flavor and texture. A
classy and easy on the water pinto bean.
Source of seed - Native
Seed SEARCH
Dry farmed in Hopi fields
of northeastern Arizona - NS/S.
Little White Ice Beans
Phaseolus vulgaris
A New World bean selectively bred
by horticulturists in Holland and introduced into North America
around 1740. It has been popular with gardeners in the Appalachian
states and is a dependable productive bean in our more arid
climate and alkaline soil. It makes a fine green bean, produces
two crops a year and the tough dry pods hold on to the seeds
until you are ready to harvest. Its a vigorous although not
drought tolerant pole bean with a smooth creamy texture and
excellent flavor.
Source of seed - Baker
Creek Heirloom Seed
San Felipe Pueblo White
Tepary Beans
Phaseolus acutifolius
I didn't know what to expect when I planted
those tepary beans. It was a new crop for my garden and an
adventure in dry land gardening. I had selected the San Felipe
Pueblo White Tepary Beans to grow out for the Garden Network
Project with Native Seed SEARCH where in exchange for free
seed I would keep growth records and take documentation photographs
of the beans.
I assumed they would have a bushy type growth
pattern and had read enough to know to wait for a good summer
rain before planting. Germination was quick and about 80 percent.
Growth was rapid for beans and it soon was evident that I
had climbing or sprawling bean plants. Turns out they climbed
readily up the tree branches I stuck there for them and eventually
reached the nearby bird netting with some climbing over 9
feet up.
The mass of bean plant growth seems ignored
by insects and diseases and shows no response to drought conditions.
It has been a wet monsoon season here in southern New Mexico
and so far I have not watered the bed of Tepary Beans. They
blossomed abundantly, set fruit right through the hottest
days and are now showing dry pods ready to harvest. When I
have enough for Tepary Bean Soup I’ll share the flavor
and recipe in another post.
Useful Links:
Source for Seed Native
Seed SEARCH
University of
Florida Extension Bulletin
Cooking
and Recipes (Heritage Foods USA).
Dixie Speckled Butter
Peas
Phaseolus lunatis
The Butter Pea is one of many sieva
types or small seeded lima beans that are descendents from
domestication of the wild ancestors of Mesoamerica –
central Mexico to Costa Rica and into northern South America.
The earliest archaeological evidence is from Mexico dating
to at the latest 800 AD. So how can you call a bean that old,
young? Relative to other bean domestications that predate
maize these little guys are rather new arrivals.
The Dixie Speckled Butter Pea is one that I
grow every year, since I love the flavor and growing them
is the only way to get them. Besides they may be the most
prolific bean in the whole garden – and a small bush
form at that! You can plant them as soon as soil temperatures
reach 65 F and all chance of frost is past and they will produce
beans almost continuously until killed by frost. Last year
they were still blooming when nipped by the first frost and
kept producing beans on the lower parts of the plant. In Las
Cruces you will get some blossom drop in the dry heat of June,
but the rest of the season they seem immune to everything,
if you keep them evenly watered.
If you think you don’t like lima beans,
give these little guys a try. You might be surprised by their
rich yet mild flavor.
Source of seed - Baker
Creek Heirloom Seed
Information on - Bean
Domestication and History
Information on - Characteristics
and Requirements
Wikipedia link - Lima
Beans
Christmas Lima Beans
Phaseolus lunatis
Christmas Limas were brought into
the U.S. around 1840 and have been grown in home gardens since
then. They are decedents for their large seeded ancestors
domesticated in South America 7,000 - 9,000 years ago.
They are a vigorous bean that easily climbs
to 10ft and produces continuously until frost. In Las Cruces
they seem little effected by the hot dry June weather or bean
diseases. They cook quickly and have a rich nutty flavor and
can be eaten either as a mature or green seed.
Source of seed – Baker
Creek Heirloom Seed
Information on – Bean
Domestication and History
Information on - Characteristics
and Requirements
Wikipedia link - Lima
Beans
Hopi Yellow Lima Beans
- "Sikyahatiko"
Phaseolus lunatis
The Hopi Yellow Lima bean is a very prolific
bean with a long growing season. It should be sown direct
in the garden when soil temperatures reach 70F. It will bloom
and produce pods until the first heavy frost. Pods can be
harvested green for shelly beans, picked when dry and rattly
or left until frost. The plants can be left to sprawl or tied
up on a trellis. They are weak climbers if left alone.
Last summer I started with 25 seeds and managed,
after a couple of failed tries, to get ten vigorous sprawling
plants producing a wealth of pods and beans. My first priority
was to save a supply of seed. And a good thing I did! They
are not offered this year by Native Seed SEARCH, and may not
be available again until the next grow-out of that variety
(could be a 10 year wait). Well, that’s the way it is
when you find something you like outside the mainstream, you
have to maintain your own seed supply from year to year.
till next time,
Darrol Shillingburg
Doña Ana County Extension Master Gardener
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