GROW YOUR OWN BEANS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 25, 22 October 1937, Page 11

GROW YOUR OWN BEANS

All gardeners have their own method of growing beans, and many of them quite successfully. Here are some simplc notes to help the wayward: — Freneh or Kidney Sorts. Kidney beans will crop freely in any good garden soil, but sbouid bavc an opeu -suuny situation. t'lant iu ro wa two feet apart and tbree or four inchea between tha plants. A good plan ie to sow in two singl© rowc, ihroe inchea

apart, planting the beans alternately, so as to be about fonr inches from plant to plant. They may be sown two or three inches deep. Sow iu spring, when danger from frost is over, and tlie ground is warrn, afterwarda every fortnight until the middle of summer. They will not stand the slightest frosts. If the beans are picked regularly when fit for the table it will prolong their bearing season. There are a great many varieties ot these favourites, Pale Dun being the earliest. Magnun Bonum and Stringless Green Pod .are good main crop sorts, but the Canadian Wonder is undoubtedly the heaviest cropper. Butter or wax beans are coming more into favour each year; the pods are a beautiful golden colour, and stringless. They are easily prepared for the table, as they merely require cutting 'up into leugths. Some of the dwarf varieties grow taller than others, and throw out small runners or tendrills like the climbing sorts, but these merely require pinching oflr. They do not need sticlcs. Climbing Beans. Sow in late 3pring and early summer, when the ground is warm and frosts abated, in rows six feet apart. When two or three inches above the surface, stakes eight feet high should be provided for them, though they may be lcept dwarf by pinching off the ends oi the shoots, when they form bushes which yield large crops. Other crops, such as cabbage, can be grown between the rows. It is always best to havo the rows a good distance apart, and also to run them as nearly north and south as possible. This allows them to get the sun on both sides, and will induce a much larger crop and a more even ripening. The best sort for warm climates is Ever-bfearing Stringless a'nd» Kentucky Wonder. In cool climates tha Scarlet Runner and the White Dutch may be grown to great advantage. They have fleshy pods, and will last much longer in season than any other sort, and in addition from a very pretty and ornamental creeper. Lima Beans. Lima beans are not grown as much as they deserve. They should be shelled and cooked like broad beans or they may be used dry like haricot beans, only, unlike most substitutes, they are immensely superior to these varieties. Lima beans only thrive in warm climates, but are great croppers when sown in suitable conditions. There are both tall and dwarf varieties, which may be grown according to instructions for tall or dwarf kidney beans, only it is advisable not to sow till the late spring as the seeds rot if the weather or ground is cold, and the later sown ones do bcsfc.