Val Bourne offers her tips for a good bean crop for the ultimate nutritious – and frugal – kitchen staple

I think it must be my Yorkshire genes, but I like to live quite frugally. The loaded supermarket trolley full of gastronomic delights is not for me.

I much prefer to make something from ingredients I have grown, or made. My price-busting, but delicious current favourite consists of home-made frozen tomato passata with shallots, herbs, frozen sweet peppers and frozen ‘Lamon’. Borlotti beans.

These are like large, meaty baked beans, but unlike most beans they don’t need to be soaked before being eaten. You mash a handful of beans to thicken the tomato sauce and then coat the others.

Storing pulses is nothing new. It was a medieval necessity for our ancestors because meat was an expensive commodity only available occasionally. The three-year medieval rotation system devoted one year to pulses (ie peas and beans), one year to grains and a third year was left fallow and grazed by animals. The pulses, rich in protein, were dried and stored and then used in potages and soups, or to create dishes such as pease pudding. This practice endured. Kitchen gardens of great country houses continued to devote more room to peas than other crop for this reason.

The Lamon bean is a Borlotti variety from the Lamon and Sovramonte districts about 50 miles north-west of Venice, one of the cooler parts of Italy. I take mine out of the freezer and slow cook them, often in stock, before adding them to tomato dishes. The thin skin and tender, tasty flesh make it easy to eat and digest.

My original seeds came from Seeds of Italy (www.seedsofitaly.com / 0208 427 5020) based in Harrow, north-west London. Their Franchi seeds are regional Italian varieties produced by local growers and their director Paolo Arrigo is a passionate foodie. His cookery book, From Seed to Plate, is a great source of recipes for the vegetable grower and this Lamon bean features heavily. Since then I’ve collected my own seeds.

Lamon beans are grown just like runner beans, supported by canes. Sow them at the same time as runner beans, either directly into the ground in the middle of May, or start them off under glass at the end of April.

Whichever method you use the plants shouldn’t go out, or pop their heads above the ground until early June because both are both frost tender. This also goes for French and runner beans too.

Broad beans are much hardier, however, and they can be sown now, either outside or in modular trays. Good spring-sown varieties include ‘Jubilee Hysor’, a heavy-cropping large pale-skinned Windsor bean, and ‘Imperial Green Longpod’, a smaller green-skinned bean with long, slender pods. These both freeze well. There is also an autumn-sown variety called ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ traditionally sown close to Bonfire night, November 5.

I no longer grow this variety because our wetter winters tend to rot the seeds. Even if they do well, the crop is only three weeks earlier than a spring-sown one.

When planting out broad beans, space one plant every 9 inches (22 cm) with one foot (30 cm) between a double row. Put a series of canes round them and add some supporting string to avoid them flopping over other crops. Always top your canes with a cap or a small flower pot to protect your eyes from damage when you pick.

I shall also be sowing peas and I still find ‘Hurst Greenshaft’ the best variety. This is a heavy cropper, producing full pods of wrinkle-seeded peas. This unattractive name means that they are not completely round, like the floury tasting ‘Feltham First’ variety is. Most of our varieties are wrinkle-seeded and sweet to eat raw, delicious cooked fresh, or freeze them.