
The best bean
Some string beans are so delicious, you may want to keep a supply at hand by putting some in your garden. What’s more, unless you grow certain kinds yourself, you might not get a chance to eat them.
Supermarkets rarely carry fresh French/filet beans (aka haricots verts), the pencil-slim varieties that have a delicate flavor. Italian- or Romano-type flat beans are seldom sold even at farmers’ markets, but these broad, juicy, fleshy kinds (possibly the Sophia Loren of the bean world) could easily become your favorite. Tender, mild-flavored yellow wax beans bring premium prices at the market. And purple-podded beans hold their color when sliced raw for salad but turn dark green when cooked.
Growing these beans is a snap. The big, easy-to-handle seeds germinate in only 7 to 14 days. Pole bean plants, which grow up to 8 feet tall, must have support; they reach maturity in 60 to 70 days and bear over a long season.