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Growing beans
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Italian Romano bush beans
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The humble bean is a wonderful vegetable - both for you and your garden.
Beans are legumes so they draw nitrogen from the air and fix it into the
soil on their roots. This means whatever you grow after your beans will
benefit from the extra nitrogen in the soil.
Growing conditions
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Beans are susceptible to frosts so they should only be grown in warmer
months, unless you live in a subtropical climate where you can grow
them all year long.
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They love sunny well drained beds.
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Beans like a soil manured the previous season, you might also add
a little lime before sowing.
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In a 4 bed rotation system beans are
grown in the same bed after you've harvested your winter brassicas
(cauliflower and broccoli).
Garden care
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There is a lot of variety with beans. The best tasting beans we've
had so far is Blue Lake and Butter beans. Bush, or dwarf, beans are
low growing while climbing beans start reaching for the sky.
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Climbing beans are far more productive than bush beans. Tie together
some tall stakes into a pyramid and plant a few seeds at the base
of each stake.
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Remember to direct sow your bean seed. Transplants don't work very
well.
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Keep an eye out for bean bugs. They look like ugly lady beetles with
too many spots on an orange shell. You might also see them on your
potatoes. Squash them and their fuzzy larvae before you get too many
otherwise they'll eat all your beans' leaves.
Harvest time
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To avoid damaging the plant always harvest beans by cutting their
pods off with scissors or a knife.
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Pick your beans frequently, it encourages flowering. Which means
even more tasty beans!
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When your beans are on their last legs cut them off at the ground,
leaving their nitrogen fixed roots in the soil.
Last Updated
17 November, 2008
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