Well, we finally finished carving out the 6 new raised garden beds and spruced up the bean teepee area. Once this area is mulched it will look a lot better.
Because the area is so large, it’s really hard to get a good picture of the whole planting area. Maybe I should try and talk the Handsome Husband into climbing on the roof and snapping a picture of our entire garden. I’m sure he’d LOVE to do that. Ha!
At first I was thinking about growing regular green beans up the teepee poles, but now I’m thinking some sort of dried bean variety might be better. But which one? I’d like to find one that would store well and be great next winter in soup.
Do you have a favorite dried bean variety?
~Mavis
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Kathy says
Black eyed. I use them for everything, soup, chili, ham and beans, baked beans. Did I mention soup? For some reason, I like them better in chili then red beans.
Annette says
I would go for black eyed peas or cowpeas they call them but they need a longer warm season to do well. Maybe Lima beans? They dry well.
Jacqui J. says
Mavis! Find someone with an iPhone and take a panorama shot! It would be neat to see your garden that way and so your husband won’t break a leg on the roof!
Monique S says
Haha I was just coming to post this!!
Sonoma Garden girl says
I love Goldrush Beans, you can eat them fresh like regular green beans, or dry them. They are very similar to a cranberry bean. They are great in soups or chili! I bought mine from Natural Gardening Company, in Petaluma, CA. They are heirloom beans, brought from South America to Northern CA during the Goldrush in 1850’s.
Mavis says
Thanks! I’ve had cranberry beans before so I’m sure I would like them. 🙂
Ginger says
Where did you get your teepee poles? Are they tree branches? We have used bamboo but they aren’t tall enough. When I showed my husband your garden pictures he was green with envy.
Mavis says
Tree branches. 🙂
darlene says
Looks like you are digging graves and burying bodies in the back yard! Hope the neighbors don’t call the cops =)
Mavis says
Ha! That’s what I thought too! LOL
Diane says
I’m trying rattlesnake beans (from Territorial Seed) this season. They’re versatile: you can eat them fresh or let them dry for storage. This will be my first time growing a pole-type bean for dried beans – I grew bush-type Flambos and Tiger Eye beans the last couple of seasons, and loved them (I’m growing those again, too – this year we’re trying to produce more food that we can store through the winter months).
Tori says
If you can get a hold of some Christmas Limas, they are an awesome heirloom variety!
Mavis says
I have tried those before and they are yummy!
sally says
I am trying Jacob’s Cattle beans this year, I have never grown the dry variety either. You will have a lot of great new growing space, I am envious!
Sally
Cecily says
Peregion and China Yellow are really good. Vermont Bean Seed Co. sells them.
Kelsey says
Scarlet runner beans. They’re heirloom, pretty, AND edible. Beans, flowers, and roots can all be eaten.
Ellen Peavey says
I like the Chinese black bean it can really climb, I used limbs from trees that had fallen in our woods. Ellen from Georgia
Vicki says
Christmas lima beans are the best! I love them freshly shelled, and I’ve never dried them myself, but I’ve bought bean mixes that contain them. They’re always the beans I pick out of the soup first because I love them so much! Like any lima bean, they do need a long summer …
Rhonda says
My favorite is Pinto beans. My Dad was from Texas and he taught me how to cook them. They are good with any meal, or just with corn bread. Whatever is leftover can be made into chili. 🙂 I also make soup with navy, Great Northern, and of course black and red beans are good with rice and cajun spices!
Kim says
Cherokee Trail of Tears…a nice black bean. Baker Creek has them.
Ayrie Joyce says
Christmas Limas, Scarlet Runner – both really pretty and good to eat – both fresh and in baked beans.
For just flavor and texture you can’t beat Jacob’s Cattle. They make the best baked beans ever!
Bridget P says
Hi! I just read the article they wrote about you in the Seattle Times and was quite shocked at all the negative comments!! I think that how you are providing for your family is awesome and I am anxious to get back into gardening and canning and couponing! We recently have been renting due to job related moves for the last 3 years and staying with inlaws for the last 6 mos and will finally be getting our own home in March! My grandmother and mother taught me how to can and save; it is so strange to me that in our society it is considered weird! Anyhoo, sorry for the ramble, just wanted to encourage you and let you know you are an inspiration to me! 🙂