Green Beans

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Green beans - a climbing or bush plant native to Central and South America. This culture is often called asparagus beans.

History

Green beans have been known to mankind since time immemorial. This culture was especially appreciated by the ancient Romans, who ate beans not only for food, but also widely used it for cosmetic purposes - they made a decorative powder from this valuable product, which has a softening effect and smoothing wrinkles. Moreover, beans were also one of the most important components of the great Cleopatra's face masks.

Beans first came to Europe only in the 16th century - Spanish and Dutch sailors brought this culture from faraway South America. And a little later, beans appeared on the territory of Russia - in those ancient times they were called "French beans". True, at first this culture was cultivated exclusively for decorative purposes - they began to eat beans only in the 18th century. At the moment, there are over fifty varieties of green beans in the world.

Description

Green beans can be either bush or curly. And her color is purple, yellow, green or white with quite interesting purple stains. Beans with pink pods are also rare. Bush beans, in comparison with their curly commodity, are less thermophilic and do not need support at all. And curly beans almost always produce a lot more pods.

The difference between green beans and ordinary

Green beans differ from ordinary beans in that it is customary to eat them in whole pods, without opening them. At the same time, only green young pods are edible, moreover, they are considered to be an integral part of modern dietary cuisine. And overripe pods are not suitable for eating - they become harsh, dry and take a very long time to cook.

Sowing

Sowing beans too early is definitely not worth it - during frosts, they can easily die. The best time for sowing green beans in central Russia is considered to be the period from May 20th to 25th - as a rule, the soil has time to warm up well by this time. If the soil on the site is rather heavy and warms up with great difficulty, then it is quite acceptable to transfer the sowing of this culture to the beginning of summer. True, too heavy, as well as acidic soils for its favorable development are completely unsuitable, but on fertile and light soils, beans will feel great.

Ideally, the emergence rate of green beans should be at least 90%. And before you start sowing it, it is recommended to properly prepare the seeds. The best temperature for their development will be from eighteen to twenty-five degrees.

If, after sowing the green beans, rather cold weather sets in, the plants can be affected by various ailments. And in a drought, flowers often begin to fall.

In order to get an early harvest, green beans can be transplanted. Experienced gardeners have noted that seedlings take root best of all next to beets, cucumbers, potatoes or cabbage - in this case, green beans do not even require additional feeding. But celery or onions have a depressing effect on beans.

Diseases and pests

Green beans suffer from various diseases and pests quite often. Most often, she is affected by such an ailment as anthracnose. Bacterial spotting is no less harmful.

And of the pests, the greatest damage to this culture is caused by slugs, very actively eating young plants. If green beans are grown in greenhouses, spider mites can also damage them.