Riggins Stick Pole Green Garden Bean
Phaseolus vulgaris
Price: $3.95
SKU: 303055168 days (100 to dry stage) - 'Riggins' Stick' pole-type bean vines are prolific, productive, and can reach ten feet or more in height. The pods are harvested at the three to five inch stage when they are nearly stringless, before the seeds begin to develop, and enjoyed for their old-timey, green bean flavor. After the pods fill out, the beans can be used at the green shelly bean stage, or allowed to dry on the plants and used for dry beans.
Make no mistake ... this is not a modern, stringless variety with marginal flavor. 'Riggins' Stick' is a classic, "string bean." If you are too young to remember your mother or grandmother sitting and snapping a bucket of beans before cooking them, you should know that the extra step of "de-stringing" the pods is well worth the effort and rewarded with flavor that store bought beans (or modern varieties) just don't deliver. Refer to the photos in the slide show above by scrolling to the right.
Sent to us in 2002 by Mark Chappel of Georgia who told us that his mother's family from Kentucky, the Riggins, had handed down these beans since before the Civil War. The family simply called them "Stick Beans," in reference to the fact that old tobacco sticks were used as support for the heavy vines to climb on. Very rare and in limited quantity.
Make no mistake ... this is not a modern, stringless variety with marginal flavor. 'Riggins' Stick' is a classic, "string bean." If you are too young to remember your mother or grandmother sitting and snapping a bucket of beans before cooking them, you should know that the extra step of "de-stringing" the pods is well worth the effort and rewarded with flavor that store bought beans (or modern varieties) just don't deliver. Refer to the photos in the slide show above by scrolling to the right.
Sent to us in 2002 by Mark Chappel of Georgia who told us that his mother's family from Kentucky, the Riggins, had handed down these beans since before the Civil War. The family simply called them "Stick Beans," in reference to the fact that old tobacco sticks were used as support for the heavy vines to climb on. Very rare and in limited quantity.
Planting Instructions:
Beans prefer well-drained, rich soil in a sunny location. Make sure that you keep them well watered in the summer heat.
Don’t bother trying to get an early start with beans – you’ll waste a lot of seed! Beans are a tender vegetable and you should not plant them until all danger of frost has passed and the soil remains above 65ºF. Sow seeds 1½ inches deep, every two to three inches. As they make efficient use of vertical space, provide a trellis. Use string or twine as wire will heat and burn the tender vines.
Pick the pods while young as they are more tender and succulent and less likely to be stringy. For seed saving, allow the pods to fully mature and dry completely out on the vines.
Don’t bother trying to get an early start with beans – you’ll waste a lot of seed! Beans are a tender vegetable and you should not plant them until all danger of frost has passed and the soil remains above 65ºF. Sow seeds 1½ inches deep, every two to three inches. As they make efficient use of vertical space, provide a trellis. Use string or twine as wire will heat and burn the tender vines.
Pick the pods while young as they are more tender and succulent and less likely to be stringy. For seed saving, allow the pods to fully mature and dry completely out on the vines.
Customer Reviews:
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★★★★★ Glad we tried them!
By Rachel Langmaid on September 8, 2012
By Rachel Langmaid on September 8, 2012
Prolific, early, delicious, and easy to pick. These don't hold on the vine as well as some other beans we've grown, so they need to be picked quickly unless you want shelling beans. A customer came to our market stand eager to buy more of those beans you had last week , declaring them to be the best beans she had ever eaten. They're not as big or as pretty as some, but she was right-- they are really tasty!
