nachoqtpie
Deeply Rooted
So, I was wondering... how do you know when to harvest the bush beans? We've got a few that are nice and plump.
when to harvest?
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lesa
Garden Master
I would recommend harvesting sometime before they are big and plump.... Pick one, and munch on it raw. If it seems nice and tender- pick away. If it seems tough, you might have waited too long. Get ready- once they start coming in, you'll be busy!!
curly_kate
Garden Addicted
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I always make sure I don't let them get too big because I don't like them when the seeds are really big. 
When I figure out what size I like them at, I use that as a guide to determine if the others are ready.
When I figure out what size I like them at, I use that as a guide to determine if the others are ready.
hoodat
Garden Addicted
For canning I prefer the bush beans. They all come in in three or four flushes and then you can pull them and give the space to something else. For fresh eating I prefer pole beans. They come in a few every day so you aren't as likely to get overwhelmed with them. I have a trellis eight feet wide that provides all the pole beans the neighbors and I can eat.
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- #5
nachoqtpie
Deeply Rooted
hmmmm... well I may have to pop out there and pick some beans for dinner!!
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- #6
nachoqtpie
Deeply Rooted
Well.. I pulled some... my LORD! They're SWEET! I've never had straight from the garden beans before! Even my son (who doesn't like anything other than the mushy canned ones) likes 'em!
vfem
Garden Addicted
Congrats! My daughter will only eat our fresh garden beans and won't bother with the canned ones... even if I can them!
ENJOY!
ENJOY!
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- #8
nachoqtpie
Deeply Rooted
haha!! Well... since I've never had them, I'm pretty sure he's never had them either. We've had "fresh" beans from the store.. but never from our garden.
lesa
Garden Master
A cause for celebration!! Enjoy!
digitS'
Garden Master
It is difficult to tell people when to harvest garden produce. Easier to say when it is already too late to harvest!
Actually, it doesn't have to be too late. You can always shell your beans and use them like green lima beans. Even right up until the bean seeds are completely dry and need several hours in the slow cooker. But, when are they just right for green beans?
You now have a real good sense of that, qt. Harvesting for your own table is something of an art, I suppose. You may harvest too early sometimes. The green beans will wilt by the time you have carried them from garden to the kitchen sink . . . Now, that's too early!
I think many new gardeners look at their garden veggies with suspicion. Food, after all, comes from the soopermarket. It does NOT come from outdoors, off plants, growing in soil!
Imagine you are living in prehistoric times! Yes, you are out there beneath the great, wide sky in the wilderness. Loosen your animal skin coverings a little and realize that bathing will have to wait awhile - maybe, the next time you have to ford an ice age river!
Cooked food has appeal but a brush fire hasn't swept thru the countryside lately so, like a bath, that will have to wait, also. You have happened upon some beans!! Pull one gently from the plant with a dirty fingernail and sample it . . . sweet? crisp? Does it have that intriguing squeak when you chew
?
Now, before you make yourself sick . . . harvest an apron pocket-full and take them in to your kitchen to be washed, julienned, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds or slivered almonds, or whatever else you'd like to do with the freshest produce possible!
And the next time you go out to your garden remember, it is all yours! You are the owner of that garden. Everything you see is yours. You are the sovereign! Oh, except that rock over there, that's not yours. That's mine. But, everything else is yours. Except for that rock over there, and the shade behind that rock - that's mine, also.
Steve
Actually, it doesn't have to be too late. You can always shell your beans and use them like green lima beans. Even right up until the bean seeds are completely dry and need several hours in the slow cooker. But, when are they just right for green beans?
You now have a real good sense of that, qt. Harvesting for your own table is something of an art, I suppose. You may harvest too early sometimes. The green beans will wilt by the time you have carried them from garden to the kitchen sink . . .
Now, that's too early!I think many new gardeners look at their garden veggies with suspicion. Food, after all, comes from the soopermarket. It does NOT come from outdoors, off plants, growing in soil!
Imagine you are living in prehistoric times! Yes, you are out there beneath the great, wide sky in the wilderness. Loosen your animal skin coverings a little and realize that bathing will have to wait awhile - maybe, the next time you have to ford an ice age river!
Cooked food has appeal but a brush fire hasn't swept thru the countryside lately so, like a bath, that will have to wait, also. You have happened upon some beans!! Pull one gently from the plant with a dirty fingernail and sample it . . . sweet? crisp? Does it have that intriguing squeak when you chew
?Now, before you make yourself sick . . . harvest an apron pocket-full and take them in to your kitchen to be washed, julienned, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds or slivered almonds, or whatever else you'd like to do with the freshest produce possible!
And the next time you go out to your garden remember, it is all yours! You are the owner of that garden. Everything you see is yours. You are the sovereign! Oh, except that rock over there, that's not yours. That's mine. But, everything else is yours. Except for that rock over there, and the shade behind that rock - that's mine, also.
Steve
