How to Use Pole Beans

Fresh Snap Beans

• 1

  Grow pole beans for fresh snap beans. Like snap peas, snap beans feature edible pods, rendering them ready to eat right off the vine. Although commonly referred to as "green beans," snap beans come in many other colors, such as purple, red, yellow, and speckled. Some heirloom beans require string removal, but many stringless varieties are also available.

• 2

  Harvest snap beans young, when their pods are plump and tender. The typical time to harvest ranges from 65 to 80 days. To encourage the plants to continue production, harvest beans regularly.

• 3

  Add snap beans to a raw vegetable plate for a healthy snack. High in vitamin A and dietary fiber, raw snap beans also enhance a green salad or pasta dish. Recommended cooking preparations for snap beans include boiling, steaming, microwaving, sauteing and stir-frying.

  To preserve, fill sterilized jars with snap beans, fresh dill heads, garlic cloves, dried red pepper and brine to make dilly beans, or blanch and freeze the beans for later use.

Shelled and Dried Beans

• 4

  Grow pole beans for shelled beans or dried beans. Although several pole bean varieties, such as runner beans, excel as snap beans, shell beans and dried beans alike, most beans fare well in just one or two stages. Lima beans and cowpeas are among the varieties best enjoyed shelled or dried.

• 5

  Allow shell beans to ripen on the vine until the pods are too tough to eat, with the beans visibly plump through the pods' skin. If you want the plants to continue producing beans, harvest beans as soon as they reach the desired maturity for shelling. Immediately before cooking, shell by squeezing their pods open to remove the beans for soaking. Cook the shelled beans by boiling, steaming or microwaving.

• 6

  Stop watering pole bean plants if you desire dried beans. Leave the beans on the vine until their pods are dried and withered. After harvesting the beans, break open the brittle pods to extract the beans.

• 7

  Should the beans still be remotely fresh or soft, spread them out on newspaper in a dry, warm location. Once completely hard, store the dried beans in a cool, dark location for future use in a soup or stew. Reserve a handful of dried beans to use as seeds for subsequent growing seasons.

Decorative Use

• 8

  Enhance the garden's beauty by cultivating more ornamental varieties of pole beans. Hyacinth bean plants, for example, produce lovely lilac blossoms and handsome purple beans, although older hyacinth beans and pods should not be ingested as they may pose a poison threat. Also, many varieties of runner beans and cowpeas feature beautiful blossoms in addition to their edible snap, shelled and dried beans.

• 9

  Invite children to partake in garden activities with a pole bean tepee hideout. To create a tepee, tie three to six long bamboo poles together at one end with strong twine. Spread the tepee's legs out to form a circle and firmly implant each leg in the dirt. Train the vines up the poles, leaving an opening for the child to enter through to harvest beans from the inside.

• 10

  Conceal less attractive areas of the garden, like the compost pile, by trellising pole bean vines to form a lush barrier wall. Likewise, train vines to climb up an ugly chain link for a more pleasing visual. You might also trellis the bean vines over a walkway to fashion a whimsical leafy tunnel.