Harvest time
The first bean harvest begins in July. If you decide to sow beans a second time, you can even harvest until October. You can tell whether your French beans, runner beans or fire beans are ripe by touching and breaking the bean pods.
also read
- Raw beans are poisonous
- Beans from your own garden - this is how sowing works
- Freezing yellow beans - these options are available
This is how the harvest works
Beans are carefully picked by hand. The young fruits are harvested before the germs push through the pod. It can be picked every two to three days.
Frequent picking promotes the formation of new shoots and increases yields. If you want to use the beans as dry beans, let them ripen.
Increase yield
Due to their short growing season, beans can be sown until the end of July. So you can grow them twice in a row in the same place or use a bed that was harvested early, for example from new potatoes, again in the same year.
Gaining seeds
If you want to get seeds from your harvest, you let some beans ripen completely. If it turns white, remove the beans and hang them up in a warm, dry place. Remove the kernels from the dry pods, which are placed next to each other to dry.
Store beans
The fresh, tender beans taste best. Under no circumstances should they be eaten raw. Raw beans are poisonous. The legumes can be safely consumed when cooked.
But mostly not all beans can be used at once. Their shelf life can be extended by boiling, freezing and drying. The best way to preserve the flavor and vitamins is through freezing. The beans are briefly blanched before freezing.
What happens to the plant?
If the plant has been spared diseases and pests, the herb of the plant is put on the compost. The roots can remain in the soil until they are digged up in autumn and continue to enrich it with nitrogen.
Tips & Tricks
Beans can also be cut from the tendrils with sharp scissors. But please so that the shoots and flowers are not damaged.
