Common Bean Canadian Wonder

The Red Dwarf Bean 'Canadian Wonder' is also known as the 'Red Flageolet' or 'Cock's Kidney'. Its long fluorescent green pods usually contain 5 to 6 dark red beans, wine-colored. This old variety, already cultivated with this name in Canada at the end of the 19th century, is quite early and can be harvested as early as the end of June to consume the fresh beans or even the pods. Wait until they are completely parchment-like and dry for harvesting mature, well-colored dry beans. Rich in proteins, fibers, and potassium, this red bean is particularly consumed in Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine to prepare Chili con carne or burritos, but also enjoyed in cold salads, soups (minestrone), as well as accompanying stews.

Whether consumed for its pod or its bean, the bean is a vegetable highly appreciated in gardens, as it is very easy to grow. It is so punctual that the gardener knows the exact date when they will make their first harvest, which is 60 days after sowing.

Discovered in the New World and acclimated in Europe starting from the 16th century, the bean has now become an essential legume in diets all over the world. Native Americans cultivated it for its dried beans, but it was the Italians who, in the 18th century, initiated the consumption of the whole pod by picking it when immature.
The bean is a vine with indeterminate growth. Primitive varieties are all climbing and require support. Later, for practical reasons, dwarf varieties were selected, but all of them have tendrils that can wrap around a support.
Pods are generally green, sometimes yellow (butter beans), striped with red, or even amethyst. Among the varieties that are consumed at the fin or extra fin stage, there are filet beans that have filaments when ripe. Then the pod becomes parchment-like and loses its flavor.

The snap bean is generally more fleshy and can be consumed entirely, both the beans and the pods, even when mature. More recently created filet - snap beans can be consumed when young at the extra fin stage or when more fleshy like a snap bean, as they do not form filaments.

Among the shell beans (those whose only the beans are consumed), we can distinguish between harvesting fresh beans and dry beans, which is done 90 days after sowing.

Harvesting: harvesting fresh beans or young pods begins 60 days after sowing. For fresh beans, it should be done before the pods start to dehydrate and develop wrinkles. The beans should barely take on their color. For the consumption of pods, harvesting should take place every 2 or 3 days, at the fin and extra fin stages for filet beans. Harvesting dry beans is done by completely cutting the plant, which is then hung in a dry and ventilated place. They can be shelled as needed.

Storage: freezing pods is now the most common method of preservation. To do this, remove the ends, wash, blanch for 5 to 6 minutes in boiling water, then plunge into cold water before drying with a clean cloth. Once packaged, the beans can be placed in the freezer at -18°C (-0.4°F). However, canning is regaining its popularity among an increasing number of consumers due to the inherent taste qualities of this preservation method. Like freezing, remove the ends, wash, blanch, and then plunge the beans into cold water. Then put them in jars and fill them with salted boiling water. Close the jars and sterilize in a pressure cooker or sterilizer for 1 hour and 30 minutes over medium heat. To do this, completely cover the jars with water after securing them.

Dry beans: when completely dry, bean seeds can be stored for up to a year if kept in good conditions, for example, in airtight jars.

Gardener's tip: beans, like all members of the Fabaceae family, have the ability to fix nitrogen from the air in the soil through a plant-bacteria symbiosis. They have the ability to regenerate soils. Beans can be included in crop rotation after incorporating green manure.
Beans are plants that are not very demanding in nutrients. Traditionally, bean cultivation is associated in Central and South America with the cultivation of squash and corn, forming a triad with positive companionship. This association is locally called Milpa. Beans also associate well with eggplants, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, and radishes, as they protect each other. Avoid, however, the presence of alliums or fennel, as their growth inhibits each other.

Spraying with nettle manure allows both effective control against aphid attacks and strengthening of the plants that have benefited from it.