Page 27 - ALG Issue 3 2021

In an average season a single Martock bean plant can produce over a hundred beans; a much better yield than wheat, which in medieval times only multiplied by five times at best. Fergus Dowding relates that "When I first grew the bean, I sowed eight seeds and harvested several hundred a few months later. They are delicious fresh, quite as good as modern varieties of broad bean, only smaller".
In medieval times Martock beans were usually dried and then subsequently used in soups, stews and gruels, the mainstay of the medieval peasant's winter diet. The deep clay loam soil common in this area grows heavy crops of beans and in 1633 Thomas Gerard wrote that Martock was:
"seated in the fattest place of the Earth of this Countie, especially for errable, which makes ye inhabitants soe fatt
in their purses...". The bean helped
to make Martock a prosperous place
"inhabited by wealthy and substantial men". Some idea of the economic importance of the bean can be seen
in the Will of Thomas Goodden of Ayshe, dated 28th September 1643, in which he leaves to his wife Elizabeth "six plough oxen, six milch kyne, 40 bushells of wheat, 40 bushells of beans and fifty pounds in money, together with one wayne and a pair of wheels with plough for her six oxen".
We therefore have the bean to thank for many of our beautiful hamstone buildings. Indeed, there was a saying, recorded in the 18th century, "Take a Martock man by the collar and shake him, and you will hear the beans rattle in his belly". (Somerset Record Office, DD/CC 116013).
One crop, beans, seems to have been characteristic of the whole parish
since the Middle Ages, but as life in rural England became more and more prosperous, more people could afford wheat to make bread. Nevertheless, beans remained the peasants’ diet for centuries, hence the saying that a man down on his uppers, i.e., very poor, "isn't worth a bean". By contrast, the saying that someone is "full of beans" reflects that beans were a major source of a working man's energy.
The plants themselves are strong, healthy plants with pink and mauve
Grow them exactly as for ordinary beans: sow in March or April at a depth of 2". The more organic matter in the soil, the better they grow
flowers which develop into numerous clusters of finger-sized pods each containing three or four smallish beans about the size of a large pea but with the appearance of a small modern broad bean. Unusually, the pods
grow upwards rather than hanging downwards like the modern broad beans and, just like their modern counterparts, they are very prone to blackfly. The beans are very tender when cooked, somewhat smaller and less starchy than the usual beans, with a sweet, meaty taste.
We should all be very thankful to the Henry Doubleday Research Association for saving this wonderful and historic bean. Garden Organic is the working arm of the HDRA, the national charity for organic growing. A number of us grow this delicious bean in Martock. Grow them exactly as for ordinary beans: sow in March or April at a depth of 2". The more organic matter in the soil, the better they grow. In June watch out for the blackfly, nip out the tops as soon as you see the first one. Stake the plants if your crop is heavy, and harvest in July.
Many thanks to the author, Will Aslett, for his permission to reproduce this article from www.martockhistory.co.uk/research/bean.php
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 27