Beans and more Beans

String eans are no longer called that. Now, they are Snapbeans or Greenbeans. The strings have been bred out of them. If yours get long on the bush or vine and come up stringy, you're growing the wrong variety!

Those of you who have planted your fall crop at the beginning of August are beginning to realize your fall beans. For you I have attached a couple recipes.

For everyone else, here's a compilation of information from various sources and my personal experience. The bean group includes snap beans, limas (called "butter beans" down south), and all the beans grown for dried seeds -- kidney, pinto, great northern, navy and the like. There are also relatives of different bean species -- scarlet runner, asparagus bean, winged bean; black eye, crower, and purple hull pea (there're really beans); garden soybean, fava or broad bean; and garbanzo bean. So, how about "string"
beans? Well, you still hear this term, especially where people grow "Kentucky Wonder," the old fashioned climber with strings like shoelaces. However, you seldom see real, string beans anymore. The bean breeders have bred them out of them, so most varieties are now called snap beans. They have also bred out most of the fiber, so you can eat fully-mature pods and not have to pick them at the half grown stage.

Now, down to basics, most gardeners plant bush beans. These are the sprinters of the bean family. They come on with a rush, give you three or four harvests, then collapse at the finish line. These are the beans that will be coming in now. Well, for those astute enough to have planted them at the beginning of August they are coming in now.

However, pole beans are like long-distance runners. They come on slow, but they keep on coming, giving harvests again and again. It can be a hassle putting up arbors or teepees to support the climbing vines, but each plant will produce twice as much as a bush, on the same space and last until frost!

So, as you're looking at your spent garden and thinking about next year, think about this. You've got one big decision to make before planting snap beans: bush or pole? Bean preference may be a genetic thing. It seems to me that there are two types of gardeners: those who grow bush beans and those who grow pole beans. You won't find too many who grow both.

In reality your decision depends on some practical factors. For example, our growing season, available space and preferred picking style. Still, it doesn't seem that simple. People get downright emotional when the subject of bean type comes up.

Pole-bean pushers tout the continuous production of their favorite bean type. The indeterminate growing habit of pole beans means that they keep producing flowers and beans as long as the vines keep growing. Bush-bean lovers point to the concentrated harvest over a few weeks. In the long run, pole beans will bear more beans than bush cultivars, but the harvest will begin later and be stretched out over a longer period.

Pole beans make the most of vertical growing space, but you must be prepared to put up a teepee or trellis for them. Or you can grow pole cultivars up a porch or as a bean tent for children in the yard. (Some lettuce, that can stand the heat, but is triggered to bolt by intense sun light, can do well in the teepee's shade.)

Bush beans are an ideal crop for succession plantings. You can stagger your sowings two or three weeks apart for a steady harvest. Just make sure you make the last sowing at least two months before the first frost date..

Mustard, Green Bean and Cherry Tomatoes

1½ pound green beans, 1" pieces
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ Cup finely chopped red onion
Freshly ground black pepper

3 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
¼ Cup olive oil
1 Pint cherry tomatoes halved

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the beans until just crisp-tender, about three minutes. Drain and place in serving bowl.

In medium bowl, wisk together vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and oil. Stir in red onion. Drizzle dressing over warm beans; top beans with tomatoes and sprinkle black pepper over all.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: If at all possible, use Sweet 100, cherry tomatoes.