Growing Gardens

with Anita Morton

Bean feasts

Certainly the easiest and most rewarding vegetable for the beginner gardener is the bush bean. These low-growing varieties require no trellis, no special feeding and very little care, and yet produce huge crops of tasty, easy-to-prepare food year-round.

However, one can't just throw a few seeds on the ground and expect miracles. A little preparation will pay off hugely, so take the time to get rid of weeds and loosen up the soil in your proposed bean bed. All of the Fabaceae (bean and pea family) appreciate an alkaline soil, so it's a good idea to spread some garden lime or dolomite along the planting row - about a handful per metre - and mix it into the surface soil.

Plant the seeds as directed on the packet, taking note of the watering requirements. A single five-metre row of plants will provide beans for a family of four. Water the growing plants when the soil dries out, and apply a moisture-retaining mulch, then be patient until the first flowers are followed by the beans. Pick them when they are about 10cm long and still tender and delicious. My favourite variety is 'Gourmet's Delight', which produces huge crops of stringless and yummy beans.

After a month or two, your plants will start to look a bit tatty. This is your cue to plant another row of seeds, so that you will have an uninterrupted supply of beans. Pull out the old plants and compost them as soon as the new plants start to bear.

The main enemy of beans is rust, a fungal infection that leads to brown spots on the leaves. It's not worth doing anything about - just make sure you have young, healthy plants growing on to replace the diseased ones, then rip out the sick plants and put them in the rubbish (not the compost heap).