Bean | Phaseolus vulgaris, Fabaceae

Gayle Chong Kwan, Bean, collage, 2011

Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plant and are a very significant source of protein throughout the world as they have significant amounts of fibre andre. This can help lower blood cholesterol. Beans are also high in complex carbohydrates, folate and iron.



We cultivate all kinds of herbs, such as basil, parsley, chives, marjoram and savory, though mainly we plant French
beans. Ilona Gross, Waldland, Bezirksverband der Gartenfreunde Berlin-Treptow e.V.
 
Parsley is used in almost all dishes and for soups, whilst savory is essential for French bean soup. 
Ilona Gross, Waldland, Bezirksverband der Gartenfreunde Berlin-
Treptow e.V.

My father moved from Columbia to Berlin almost 20 years ago and we got the garden just two years after we applied for it. We have a lot of beans over here, plus herbs, carrots and basilicum. I like
to spend my time in the garden studying and playing music with my friends even if we are the only ones of our ages. The
others are mostly older, more of my parents’ age. They know and meet a lot of people here in the colony, though some can be a little bit conservative and a little strange with immigrants and
homosexuals. Some of them are the ones with the German flag waving on their plot, but not all of them. The others are
just proud to be German. 
Anna Paulina Solano Miller, POG, Bezirksverband Charlottenbu
rg der Kleingärtner e.V.
 
The garden opened in 2004 or 2005 but we got our little plot only last year. I had just had my baby and I had a lot of free time, so we decided to start cultivating. We have different kinds of
beans, strawberries, potatoes, beetroot and some herbs… All vegetables are healthy. It is great to have a green oasis
inside the city. I grew up in the suburbs of Berlin where there are a lot of green areas and I missed them. 
Hana Gunkel, Bürgergarten Laskerwiese e.V.
 
Japanese consider it very important to have 30 different kinds of food every day. The government encourages the nation to have lots of different foods, to keep a balance between vitamin C and proteins, carbohydrates and fat. I learnt at school that each food is
categorised into 5 or 6 groups, like fish or meat, or beans or milk, and the government says that having these different types of food everyday is ideal.
Miki Ito, Hand in Hand, Bezirksverband Berlin- Süden der Kleingärtner e.V.
 
When bean stew gets burnt, put the pan, with the lid on, in cold water for about 10 minutes. Then put the food in another pan and season accordingly.
Margrit Kissling, Waldland, Bezirksverband der Gartenfreunde Berlin-Treptow e.V.

Green sauce and cola

herbs for green sauce

The catmint is for the green sauce. I cut several herbs and mix them together into quark, a kind of white cheese, then eat it with cooked potatoes and eggs. It is called grüne sauce and is a typical dish from Hessen, Kassel or Frankfurt. It was Goethe’s favourite food. You also need to add garlic.  Sometimes I also use borage or comfrey, which you can also eat. Comfrey tastes like cucumber. You can put it on burns and make tea from it and  it helps if you have a cold. Comfrey is not traditionally in green sauce, but I use everything that is green and edible. Occasionally I put radish, but it is a little bitter. In former times people placed radish in their prayer books, they would chew it and the bitterness would keep them awake so as not to fall asleep in church.  Jewish people also use radish for Pesach.

brigitte and giulia

You will be surprised when I tell you that I have a cola plant, its not cola, you don't make cola from it, but it smells like coca cola. I always say to the children, tell your parents, they will not believe it.  It really smells like coca cola. I put it into my tea and its very nice. To be truthful, it is actually artemisia aberbraut, but I don't put it in the green sauce, it is not so good. It is bitter, because artemesia is really very bitter. When these plants here grow up, the children will go to their parents and they tell them they are growing plants of coca cola and fruit gum and the parents say: "No, I don’t believe it, you are crazy, you are dreaming about it". But it is real.

Brigitte (Fatima) Kanacher-Ataya, German, Wuhlegärten

 

artemisia

 

A nice walk in Bürgergarten Laskerwiese e.V.

Hana Gunkel and Andreas Pfenning working of their parcel

view of the supermarket

We have almost twenty parcels in the garden. Some of them are cultivated by just one or two people, then we have a big one that is cultivated by a house community of 8 people. We are like 30 members, I think, very different in ages but not in provenances. Even if this is supposed to be an intercultural garden, we have just one person from Turkey and another one from Argentina. Every second saturday in the good season we have community gardening as we have many community areas that are cultivated by all the people together and we do also have connections with other urban gardenings in the city. So I could learn a lot about cultivating as when we got the plot we knew almost nothing, but the neighbours gave us suggestions. I think this would not happened in a kleingaerten where everybody has its private and fenced parcel. They are really "private" places.

their proud baby

other parcels

Andreas and his baby

behind ostkreuz

There is a dogs area around here, so often it happens that dogs come in and shit everywhere. We had to plants some aromatic plants that dogs do not like to keep them away but besides this, sometimes it happens that also few young guys come in and destroy some areas as this still remain a public space and everybody can come in.

many people live around the area

the water is collected from the roof of the supermarket

The garden openend in 2004 or 2005 but we got our little plot just last year. I had just got my little baby and I had a lot of free time so we decided to start cultivating. We have different kinds of beans, strawberries, potatoes, , beetroots and some herbs... all vegetables are healthy. It is great to have a green oasi inside the city. I grew in the suburbs of Berlin where there are a lot of green areas and I missed them.

the family

cauliflowers

the pond is a community area

A neighbour of ours did not have so much time to look after his plot, so when he came again after weeks he found it completely invaded by calendula and he has a little child so when he saw his plot he just sayd: "Oh, we have calendula!". And he used it everywhere, for tea, oil, oinment... giving it to his child.

a place to play

Hana Gunkel, German, Bürgergarten Laskerwiese

http://laskerwiese.blogspot.com/

Kohlrabi Eintopf suggested by Irene Elß

guten appetit!

Grünen bohnen suppe

a recipe by Ilona Groß