While the formal name is Leguminosae, the common name for the bean family is the legume family. In this veggie family, there are members that you may not think of like peanuts. Here is a list of some of the veggie and flower members:
Veggies:Â beans, chickpeas, fava beans, peas, snow peas, soybeans and sugar snaps
Blooms:Â sweet peas and lupine
Other: peanuts and lentils
Similarities: The legume family enriches the soil with nitrogen. These veggies grow their edible seeds in pods. You have to protect these seeds from the birds when you first plant them because the birds love them too! These plants are very low maintenance when it comes to plant food but do get thirsty – who doesn’t get thirsty! Even though the lupine has spikes the individual flowers on the spikes are like the sweet pea, bean and pea flowers. Pollinators love these flowers.
Differences: While peas, snow peas, sugar snaps and fava beans are cool season lovers and chickpeas like to get a head start in cooler weather, the rest are warm season lovers. Even though peanuts grow underground, the rest of them grow above ground. Beans and peas varieties can grow as a bush or in pole format. I usually pick pole versions for vertical gardening so I grow more with less space! Don’t forget peas and bean pods don’t have to be just green, they can be purple, red, yellow and streaked. You can eat the pods of snow peas, sugar snaps and snap beans but not the pods of peas, shell and dried beans.
Last plant family we talked about was the Grass Plant Family
