Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Garden

Beans can take the heat

By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published July 1, 2006

Many of us think that no veggies will grow in our hot, muggy summers. But the Vigna family offers many that offer not only tasty bean pods during the sauna season, but also lovely flowers for dressing up mailboxes, fences and trellises.

All bear tender leaves that are excellent in stir-fries. They hail from tropical Africa and Asia, so they are right at home here from late spring through early fall. Bags of their seeds for planting can be found on the grocery store shelf and in neighborhood Asian markets, giving you hundreds of seeds for about $1.

We're all familiar with one Vigna, black-eyed peas Vigna unguiculata, a classic of Southern summer gardens for two centuries. Buy a bag of dried ones at the store and plant one seed 1 inch deep every 3 to 4 inches in a row in your vegetable garden, or as a decorative border around a landscape bed. You will be amazed at their rate of growth and how soon you will be picking tender, immature pods for a stir-fry or a light summer soup, or plump, mature pods for shelling green black-eyed peas. I love the shiny, tender young leaves in casseroles and stir-fries.

That same species has many variants, like the various cow peas and white-acre peas we have all savored in cans, their seeds available from mail-order catalogs. Most produce bushy, attractive plants bearing yellow or lavender blooms, and each offers a bean of unique color and taste. An excellent source of many varieties is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at (417) 924-8917 or www.rareseeds.com.

If you enjoy Asian cuisine, try the vining V. unguiculata variants called "Chinese Yard Long Bean" or "Chinese Noodle Bean" for their graceful habit and long tender pods, up to 18 inches in length. This year I am growing both the red and green noodle bean. Chopped into short lengths, they are a classic of stir-fries and look lovely as an ornamental vine too. Try them and any of the Vigna pods raw in salads, or use their fresh flowers for a colorful sweet topping for a salad.

The mung beans (V. mungo) we think of as "bean sprouts" can be bought dried at an Asian market and planted. Use the pods and leaves young and tender, or let the pods ripen and turn brown to release home-grown mung beans used in Indian and Asian cooking.

One especially productive Vigna is the "Red Chinese Bean" or "Adzuki Bean" (V. angularis). The tender, stringless pods quickly follow the pale yellow blooms, occurring in groups of three or more, held high above the lush-looking bushy plant. Buy a bag of them at an Asian grocer and plant as you would black-eyed peas.( If you want steady production of pods, plant a new row monthly from April through early September of any of the edible Vignas so as one crop matures and declines, another takes it place.)

"Corkscrew Flower" (V. caracalla) is grown for its heavily fragrant, twisted lavender and white blooms that resemble translucent seashells, perfect as a conversation piece on your mailbox. Rarely seen in garden shops, it can be ordered from Logee's Greenhouses toll-free at 1-888-330-8038 or www.logees.com.

The various Vignas beg for a chance to bless our summer gardens with beauty and bounty. Give them a try.

John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com.

[Last modified June 30, 2006, 10:07:33]