Beans, beans, beans! Learn to grow something well: observation and creativity, with Jennie Ramage

Come and learn with long-time food grower and garden-creative Jennie Ramage who has been using observation and creativity for years to learn the art of growing abundant crops of beans. Last summer Jennie was picking an average of 400g beans daily for 3 weeks!

Content

– Learning to grow something well: Observation and learning to grow one thing

– When & where to plant

– Soil Preparation – compost, worm castings, mulching, soil pH

– Support structures for dwarf & climbing beans: Jennie will bring in some structures she has used for growing success

– Hints for a bumper crop – watering, picking

– What to do with a bumper crop

Beans of all kinds belong to the Fabaceae or legume family – which also includes all lentils and peas. These can be separated into two categories:

1. They can be enjoyed as entire pods in their immature, fresh, vegetable form – think green string beans and snap peas.

Green beans eaten fresh, provide hydration, ‘bulking’ fibre (AKA ‘roughage’) to keep us regular, vitamins (especially folate and vitamin C) and antioxidants, including chlorophyll which is what gives beans their vibrant green hue!

2. We can also eat the mature, dried seeds of legumes, which are called pulses. Pulses include beans of the cannellini, butter (AKA lima), garbanzo (AKA chickpeas), fava, kidney, navy, pinto, and soy varieties. All pulses are rich sources of protein as well as minerals, including iron, zinc and magnesium.

Dried beans also provide two different kinds of fibre: ‘softening’ (AKA soluble) fibre that helps lower cholesterol and maintain healthy blood sugar levels, and ‘fermentable’ fibre that feeds healthy gut bacteria to promote digestive health.

Whilst we reap different nutrients from veggies than we do pulses, it’s safe to say that all beans are nutritional powerhouses, and the more variety, the merrier.

Beans have a long history steeped in many cultures and cuisines. They come in a glorious variety of textures, shapes and colours and offer endless culinary applications! Jennie will mostly share her learnings about green beans, but growing principles can be applied to many different species of the Fabaceae AKA legume family.’

Please feel free to bring bean seeds to swap with fellow participants and to leave in the community seed library! We will also bring some to share with you.

Bio
Jennie Ramage grew up with veggie gardens. Her grandfather was a market gardener in his younger years, her parents had a hobby farm from her teenage years and before that there was the family veggie garden. Having a taste for homegrown produce, Jennie began growing veggies herself when her first child was a toddler, observing and learning as she went. She ran a modified “Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program” at Alphington Primary School from 2005 to 2011 delighting in sharing the joy of growing food with children. More recently, Jennie volunteers with a local urban farm, Farm Raiser in Bellfield. Jennie happily shares excess food, seeds, and gardening knowledge, and believes that we are healthier if we can eat something fresh from the garden daily.