Time for Beans

9th of May is the classic day for putting beans out into the open because the ice saints (11th - 15th of May) who can bring the last frost of the year will be over by the time the beans poke out their fleshy shoots. This year I will sow six different species: on the very left you see what is dubbed the "holy bean" because to the matters-of-holy-adept, its black pattern looks like an angel with a halo. It is followed by the "Lazy Housewife", an uncomplicated South-African specimen, apparently for those with little time to spend on bean-rearing. Then comes "Canadian Wonder", a classic Kidney bean, followed by an old Dutch brown bean which I collected in an outdoor farming history museum in Arnhem last year. The second to last is the pretty but rather demanding Borlotti bean and eventually we have the Lemon bean, with the handsome colour of brimstone butterflies.

In Germany we say : "Beans want to hear the bells ring" referring to their need for not sowing them too deep (a small finger's breadth does the job). Another proverb indicates bean's liking for a sufficiently warmed up soil: "Put beans in the soil when a virgin can cross the garden naked".

Thus: Let the bells ring, get the naked virgins into the open, it is time for the beans to start their year!