Green Bean Help

middlemamma 8/15/2011, 3:19 am

I grew green beans this year with the specific intention of making dilly beans.

So today a good sized handful were ready so I picked them...but the were not enough to CAN!!!

So how do I keep these while I am waiting to have enough to can dilly beans??

Please don't forget folks that before I was the Admin I was known as the self proclaimed Village Idiot....LOL.

Speaking of which I haven't seen our new daddy acara lately...we need a Connor update. Green Bean Help 601593

(acara and I were vying for the Village idiot title back then)

**Furbalsmom** 8/15/2011, 3:41 am

Middlemamma, I planted bush beans so I would have enough to can at one time.

Bush beans tend to produce all at once or at least over a short period of time, then kind of putz and quit producing much more.

Pole beans or runners tend to produce a smaller amount at once, but will contine to produce until frost kills the plants.

The best way to keep them is to refrigerate them in a plastic bag. Do NOT rinse before refrigerating, they will tend to mush up sooner if washed first. I kept some for about a week, until I had several days harvests and enough to can (tomorrow I hope)

Goosegirl 8/15/2011, 7:30 am

Furbalsmom wrote:Middlemamma, I planted bush beans so I would have enough to can at one time.

Bush beans tend to produce all at once or at least over a short period of time, then kind of putz and quit producing much more.

Pole beans or runners tend to produce a smaller amount at once, but will contine to produce until frost kills the plants.

The best way to keep them is to refrigerate them in a plastic bag. Do NOT rinse before refrigerating, they will tend to mush up sooner if washed first. I kept some for about a week, until I had several days harvests and enough to can (tomorrow I hope)

+1 - this has been working for me as well. My bush beans were taking a while to get going and I was collecting a handful each day. I put them in a plastic bag, unwashed, in the crisper drawer with the bag top open. By the end of the week I would have a quart bag full and ready to steam. I didn't think I would ever have enough to try the Dilly Bean recipe. Happened for 2 weeks. This week? I have a GALLON bag full! Last night our county got 3-5 inches of rain (in a flood warning) so the garden is getting plenty of water to keep producing!

GG

BackyardBirdGardner 8/15/2011, 9:49 am

I would ditto the keeping in a baggy for about a week in the fridge. I had to do this several times this summer to accumulate enough beans to cook a side dish in the house.

But, the REAL solution is to........PLANT MORE BEANS! Then, you won't have this problem...lol.

middlemamma 8/15/2011, 2:02 pm

Thanks everyone! BBG, I planted 12 squares, 12 each square...just the messed up season...I SHOULD'VE had plenty.

littlesapphire 8/15/2011, 2:06 pm

I'm sorry you're having trouble with your beans, Middlemamma! It sure sounds like you should have plenty of beans by now. Hopefully the weather should level out so you can start getting a bigger crop.

I've been picking one or two beans out of my two squares every day, so I'm not getting very many either. But my problem is the stupid deer that have been eating the leaves off the vines. They've done it three times now, and I know that it's the reason the plants aren't producing beans. They have to spend all their energy on regrowing the leaves. I put up a good deer fence though, so with luck, I should start getting some beans soon!

BackyardBirdGardner 8/15/2011, 3:38 pm

middlemamma wrote:Thanks everyone! BBG, I planted 12 squares, 12 each square...just the messed up season...I SHOULD'VE had plenty.

Should have planned for the worst and doubled it. Wink

SandraKay 8/15/2011, 3:46 pm

If you have to wait more than the week for canning- then what I do is blanch them- for freezing.

**camprn** 8/15/2011, 7:20 pm

SandraKay wrote:If you have to wait more than the week for canning- then what I do is blanch them- for freezing.

+1

middlemamma 8/19/2011, 2:45 am

I have been drooling over a dilly bean recipe for a year...I was hoping to can my own beans to make them.

But you know what?!?!

I went to the farmers market and I bought beans for 98 cents a pound and canned those. I'm still learning how to can, so no reason I can't practice on someone else's produce!!

I think I am gonna get some tomatoes from the farmers market and do the same thing...

I will tell you how my dilly beans turned out...I did those last night. Made zucchini relish a couple nights before that and cut the crap outta my thumb. Right through the nail and into the nail bed! Yowzer!

Practice will make me perfect or missing digits, not sure which!

BackyardBirdGardner 8/19/2011, 8:49 am

Ouch. That ain't cool. Hope your "digits" feel better soon.

I talked with a friend lastnight that kind of did the same thing with a table saw while remodeling his kitchen. That picture on his iPhone was so gross. Hope you didn't suffer a similar fate.

What is it with people and sharp objects lately? Things come in threes, and I gotta cut grass today. Better be careful....

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