Description

PAINTED PINTO BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris), so named because the creamy beige background looks "pinto" or painted with maroon splatters, which coloration disappears on cooking. A nice "dry" bean that works well baked or in soups and chilis. This is one of the most flavorful and fragrant beans you can cook. Just tenderly boiling them with a little salt and your kitchen is filled with a delicious aroma! Did you know that just one cup of pinto beans provides one quarter of the USRDA protein requirement for adults? They are also high in fiber, B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and iron, all essential to good health. Prolific plants are heavy producers. Good drought tolerance. Bush habit, 80-90 days. 50 seeds.

GROWING TIP: All beans and peas are legumes and benefit from "inoculating" with rhizobacteria. These bacteria do the work of taking gaseous nitrogen from the air and "fixing" or concentrating it in pink root nodules which then slough off, adding nitrogen to the soil in a form other plants can take up as a nutrient. Inoculating your beans and peas will increase germination, and the health of your plants, helping them growing large roots and thus healthier plants. Growing pole beans with corn provides an extra shot of nitrogen to the corn, a wonderful natural symbiotic relationship that the Native Americans understood very well. You will see a big difference in overall results. Healthy legumes should also be turned under the soil when production ends as they are excellent green manure for your next crops.