elliemater
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Posts: 226
Joined: June 2014
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Post by elliemater on Jun 23, 2014 14:08:41 GMT -5
Yard long beans are wonderful in so many ways. They laugh at the worst heat. They laugh at monsoons. You plant, they grow...and grow and grow.
About the time my snap beans start sulking with pollen dying at temps in the 90's, I will plant Mr. Yard-Long. Give him something to climb. A tee-pee of bamboo poles. A few sticks in a pot leaned up against a fence. A bean trellis. Your mom-in-law, if she will stand still a few mins. (Just kidding! ) Plant them. Don't even worry about inoculant or special soil. They just don't care.
Now here's the cool thing. I picked 11 of these beans this morning. They will provide a suppertime side-dish for two people! Because they are so long! They produce a LOT of food, and I love that.
Now the first year I grew them I let them clamber up the inside of tomato cages because the bunnies were eating the seedlings I planted on the bean trellis. They grew so nicely.
Then I started to harvest and cook them...and they were awful! Horrid! Like chewing rubber pencils! So what was the problem here? Look at how big they are in the picture. Too darned big. I was letting them grow (you'll love this) a YARD long before picking because they are called YARD-LONG beans!
They need to be picked at 12-14" long, no more. Then they will be the most exquisite snap bean you ever ate.
Lak ZEESE:
(You must measure them with a bright blue rubber slap bracelet that converts to a handy ruler! Great to carry in the field!)
These beans come in green, red, and really beautiful mosaic.
One word of warning. The fireants love them. So I pick mine with salad tongs. (Stupid ant! MINE!)
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 23, 2014 21:01:00 GMT -5
I love those noodle beans, and they are the best long beans, IMO, because they remain solid, even when over 20", while most long beans quickly hollow out, sometimes before 12". Those Thai #2 long beans were the longest I have ever grown - one got to 42", and the beans in the pods were just starting to form! Still, I didn't grow those again, as they didn't flower until Sept., and I figured it was the length of days that did it. This is my first year for mosaic, but didn't get many to sprout.
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Post by daylilydude on Jun 23, 2014 21:20:03 GMT -5
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elliemater
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Posts: 226
Joined: June 2014
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Post by elliemater on Jun 23, 2014 21:21:04 GMT -5
These are becoming more and more available in the seed catalogs/online now, many more varieties. There just aren't many vege still producing in my yard in July and August. Just eggplants, okra, peppers, southern peas, cucuzzi (cucuzza), and these long beans. It is nice to have something of fresh harvest all year long, including the dog days of summer.
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elliemater
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Posts: 226
Joined: June 2014
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Post by elliemater on Jun 23, 2014 21:23:06 GMT -5
Interesting. Most fellows say they can't tell the difference in the black sock with the purple cast to it versus the one with the blue cast to it. So how will you know if your slap ruler is blue or purple?
heee.....
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materman
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Zone:: 6b
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Post by materman on Jun 24, 2014 6:38:44 GMT -5
I got me a 30' row of them growing right now! Just got the wire up for then a couple days ago and already they are on their way up. My seed came directly from the Philippines. And as Ellie said, after the regular green beans which I am picking now go down, I will have these to fill the void during the summer.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 24, 2014 10:22:35 GMT -5
I don't have any going right now (I really need to get them in the ground), but in the past my Chinese Red Noodle beans have hollowed out at about 14"-18", and really don't get much longer than 18" even if left on the plant to go to seed. I don't pick by length so much as girth. There's a one-day window where the beans thicken up somewhat but aren't hollow and chewy. If I only pick every 2-3 days, I err on the side of picking younger and thinner.
And yes, they make a lot of food in a small ground area, if you have something tall and strong for them to climb. In the past a single 8 foot long x 6 inch wide row has produced enough for a generous side dish for my family of six every 2-3 days. I grow them on the north side of a raised bed, up a 7' trellis. That leaves the rest of the raised bed free for other crops.
Maybe over the winter when I am doing a seed order I will get some seeds for the Thai #2 long. Just for the sheer gardening joy of it (and to impress the kids!) I would love to harvest a bean that is a full yard long.
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elliemater
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Posts: 226
Joined: June 2014
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Post by elliemater on Jun 24, 2014 11:23:50 GMT -5
elliemater,pepperhead212,daylilydude,materman,Laura_in_FL
I just remembered something that made me smile. When I was in my mid-twenties I worked for our city newspaper as a photographer. One Sunday I was called out to ride with a gentleman to his garden. He had a big red Cadillac and was a very large man. Well what he had were long beans! Nobody in rural Central Louisiana had ever heard of such things before, so this was pretty cool stuff. I remember now the photo I took of him, proudly holding a handful of his fantastic beans with arms spread out wide...but not as wide as the smile he was wearing. The picture went in that night's paper for Monday morning.
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materman
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Post by materman on Jul 23, 2014 19:11:19 GMT -5
Still picking and canning green beans with over 85 quarts done so far, but yet I got this mess coming on hot and heavy now! I think many will become seed for this variety seems productive.
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