In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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August 27, 2007

Heirloom beans, saving seeds

Recently, I tore out the towering tangle of Rattlesnake pole beans. The vines had grown to the top of the seven-foot tall tomato cage, and then started twining around themselves, and finally reaching out and grabbing onto the tomato cages several feet away.

The plants were mostly foliage, having exhausted themselves producing beans for three months until finally all that was left were gnarly, twisted, overripe beans hiding deep inside. In fact, when I tore it down, I found a dozen or more dry purple and tan pods full of dry beans. I can save them for next year’s garden since Rattlesnake pole beans aren’t a hybrid (a cross between two different varieties). Instead, it’s an old fashioned bean that’s been around for many years. They’re related to pinto beans. Some sources say the name comes from the way the dry pods curl when ripe, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike. Others say the name comes from the mottled purple markings on the pods and beans. Bottom line: it’s a tasty bean picked and cooked either when its a slim, pencil-thin green pod, or when you let the pods ripen and pick out the beans inside.

I love growing and picking green beans of all kinds, but have to admit I’m especially fond of the heirloom types with their evocative names and interesting histories. Once you discover the amazing world, color and taste of heirloom beans, you’ll never want to settle for just green beans again.
For a great selection of heirloom bean seeds, try Amish Land Seeds, Native Seed Search, or Heirloom Seeds.

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