What a Bean Means

Beans means ... Ok no promotions here for any brand of baked beans, mostly because I don't really like baked beans (I think the words loathe and detest may be better in this case). This post if devoted to the more delectable of beans - the green bean. These used to be a regular on my plate when Mum cooked for me as a child (I loved our family meal ritual, at the table, with proper settings, correct although crooked given my unco ordination, right down to the homemade toilet roll/glitter and lace serviette holders, TV off, and glass of wine for the oldies). She had one of this little old fashioned gizmos that you could push them through to string them and make them into little tiny spaghetti sized bean bits. Yum, I really need to invest in one of those.

I always thought beans grew like snow peas, on a vine. I never really knew of a concept of bush beans. In fact, I must confess that when I first heard of bush beans I thought they were some Australian native bean that grew in the bush, although I doubt our indigenous population needed to bother with a fancy shmancy french bean stringer thingy. They had far more of a clue about native foods and taste. I have never managed to talk to anyone first hand but the interviews I have read show such an affinity with nature and a knowledge that is just mind boggling. If only we would listen ...

Anyway a while ago I decided to plant some bush beans. I even put a pole in the pot meaning to make it into a trellis. When I discovered what bush beans really were (story of confirmation of such knowledge is below) I hastily removed the pole and blushingly put it to better use. It was at my Uncle's Beach house that it was confirmed to me that bush beans did not mean 'bush' in the Australian sense but that they formed a little bush. His looked great around April, which led me to wonder why I had planted my own beans only a week earlier. Planting timing dilemma?

Their planting was accidental. I bought a huge seed lot for a pittance on Ebay and included in it were gourmet bush beans. I had had trouble sprouting some padron peppers and some siberian tomatoes from this lot and thought the bush beans would be my last hope. They germinated just fine (as did a second lot of siberian tomatoes, which are part of the inside Winter tomato experiment which I will post on soon.)

They grew and grew, getting leaves and looking nicely.

Then came the flowers and I got really excited.

Then yesterday, when I was wandering around the balcony garden in a post-birthday haze I discovered that little beans had started to grow. They may be a little hard to see in the picture below but I do believe I have the beginnings of my very own beans.

Time to invest in one of those stringing things?