No other vegetable crop can be grown as quickly and easily as beans.
With the high summer rain fall on the Mountain beans grow abundantly well. In all the garden books the experts say the time from planting to harvesting is normally 50 to 60 days.
But sorry gardening gurus, I take every opportunity to brag about gardening on our wonderful Tamborine Mountain, the cycle here is much shorter; my beans can be here in 35 days!!
And with all the October rain we just had my neighbour Jim's bush beans have matured literally overnight.
There are 2 types of beans to grow; bush and climbing, and both have their advantages.
Bush beans, also known as French or Dwarf are the quickest to crop but short lived, just one main crop then a smaller one about 2 weeks later. My favourite is the yellow butter bean.
Salade Nicoise
Ingredients
- 1 mignonette lettuce
- 200 gm cooked beans
- 2 ripe tomatoes cut into wedges
- 1x200 gm can of tuna in olive oil, or use fresh salmon
- 2 hard boiled eggs quartered
- 4 small potatoes boiled and diced, (kipfler or other waxy)
- 16 black olives
- 8 anchovies
- 2 tbsp French style salad dressing
Method
Cover a platter with salad leaves.
Gently mix warm beans, tomatoes, drained tuna (or freshly cooked salmon) and potato with the salad dressing.
Place on to salad leaves and scatter egg, olives and anchovies.
Serves 4.
Serving Suggestions
The best day to have this is on Saturday after purchasing the fresh salmon from Huchinsons seafood van next to the bakery in Main Street on Saturday mornings.
Climbing beans, also known as pole or runner beans naturally grow around anything they touch. Given a supporting framework, like canes or trellises, they will climb up houses, against walls and over arches.
In Italy I saw them planted along with sweet corn and sunflowers, not only does this make good use of the available space but it gives the grower much more yield from his land.
The beans look great growing on a pyramid trellis but I am taking the easier resourceful option and I have decided to plant more beans amongst my sweet corn and watch them climb on the free supports.
They keep producing as long as you keep picking, as soon as they start to mature they stop growing, by picking every two days (your neighbours will love you) they will produce for two months.
Beans have a few pests’ only aphids, black fly and slugs. These can be controlled by planting marigolds besides looking very pretty, they attract hover flies and ladybirds that eat the nasty bean eating bugs.
The best way I have heard to rid the garden of slugs is to encourage frogs in the veggie patch, they love them. I think it would be brilliant to have a frog pond in the garden.
The best thing is that beans go well with almost everything, alongside meat and fish, tossed warm or cold into salads, or added to soups and pasta dishes. Beans are great steamed or boiled and dressed with a knob of butter and some almonds, anchovies, diced tomato, lemon rind or bacon.
They are such great carriers of flavours that they are brilliant when wok-fried, stewed or braised with spices. Beans are also full of protein, so a perfect choice for vegetarians.
I love how they look on the plate, piled up high like “pickup sticks” or trellised flat in x-cross pattern. My favourite beans are the always yellow butter beans and at the moment flat or knife beans.
In Italy I noticed that the food presented on the plate is more often than not the colours of the flag!! Beans or pesto for the Green. Pasta or bread for the White. 
Tomatoes or capsicum for the Red.
“Salade Nicoise” although originally French is served in Italy as Tuna and Bean salad. It fits the green, white and red theme and looks spectacular on a large white plate in the middle of a summer dining table.
If you have never had them Snake beans are worth a try, available from December onwards.
They are a tropical bean and used extensively in stir fries and Indian curries. They are the best beans for Thai Fish cakes.
When buying them to tell if they are young and fresh, tie one in a loose knot if it breaks get another bunch as they are too mature and therefore tough.
All beans are best eaten when as young as possible and the day they are picked. So there is no excuse not to grow them, dig some manure into the soil, purchase a packet of seed- about $2.50 for a pack of 100.
Put six seeds in now and another six at two weekly intervals to have continuous cropping, water in well, wait for the summer rain and warmth and watch them jump out of the ground.
There is nothing like young fresh home grown veggies, and beans are one of the most rewarding and delicious.
Enjoy.