I wish I had as much energy as my green beans. This year they are more prolific than I am productive. Every few day I walk down the row and harvest another small bucket of slender beans. I am continuously amazed how fast these small buckets add up to a heaping bowl full of beans ready for fresh eating, canning, or the freezer.
This year I planted ‘Derby’ and ‘Slenderette’ from Renee’s Garden. ‘Derby’ is a long-established, standard variety. It has been through the gardening paces, winning the All-America Selections award, a sign of plant quality, vigor, and productivity. ‘Derby’ didn’t disappoint in the vigor category—it turned out copious amounts of beans. But more often than not, I was drawn to ‘Slenderette’ for the quality inherent in it’s name. The thin green pods were crisp and delicate all at once. If forgotten on the bush for a couple of days, they maintained this quality, to my amazement.
Living in an age where commodity food production is the norm, ‘Slenderette’ is a delightful departure from the standard green beans that overflow bins at the farmer’s market. With this tiny bit of new knowledge I’m going to look beyond the readily available bean cultivars next planting season. While may of us have embraced this idea concerning tomatoes (i.e. ‘Green Zebra’, ‘Yellow Pear’, and ‘Amish Paste’) for years, I have been slow to branch out into unique varieties of other vegetables.
And for all those beans this year, they are nestled in my freezer and a few are packed in jars in the cupboard. I delight thinking of the joy they’ll impart on some cold, snowy night in the middle of December.
P.S. With so many beans, yellow lab Annie had the chance to munch a few too. Variety means nothing to her. She quickly took a seat in the grass below the tiny hands that were feeding her though.
