Here's a vegetable I'm thinking of adding to my garden next year. Its always fun to try something new. I bought these fresh lima beans at a farm nearby, Wilson's Farm. They were delicious. Johnny's has a variety of large limas (link) that sound nice. A bush bean. 85 days.
7 comments:
I grew lima beans that I purchased from the seed savers exchange. I wasn't too fond of them but I don't think I cooked them enough. How long do you cook them for?
Nice fall photos, I was just in Northern Ontario to photograph all the colours. I just posted a whole bunch of them on my blog.
I just sauteed them about 2 minutes in butter and olive, then added the corn and sauteed together about 2 or 3 minutes more. So probably 4 or 5 minutes total cooking for the limas. I actually thought the limas were a bit over cooked and I should have put the corn and limas in together and cooked both only 2-3 minutes.
I just did a little reading and found that the smallest of fresh lima beans can be eaten uncooked in salads or briefly sauteed. But larger ones need to be well cooked, usually by simmering 10 minuts in broth.
I was wondering why the limas I bought were so small. I thought maybe they were picked too young. Some pods were hardly filled out at all. Now I think they did this purposefully so they would be so tender.
Good to know. I didn't really know when to pick them and I am guess I left them on to long. I boiled them for about 8 minutes and they were still hard. Will have to pick sooner next year. Yours looks really good combined with corn.
Lima beans aren't really a good crop for northern gardens. Here in Amsterdam (about the same latitude as the US/Canadian border) I can barely get beans large enough to eat, and there is no possibility of getting any seeds to save.
You might end up getting some in your garden, but I doubt they will do very well. You should look for varieties that say specifically they are for northern climates.
I tried growing some lima beans here in the UK last year, they didn't do very well, I don't think we have enough daylight. I might give them another go next year, just in case we actually have some sunshine!
Maybe I'll try a small patch of limas. Maybe next year will be warm and sunny!
I was looking into requirements and it seems they are very sensitive to soil temp. They are similar to soybeans (which do well for me if I can keep the critters from eating the seed), but need more heat. I would need to plant in a warm location after soil is at least 75°F. Toasty.
I found your blog searching for info about scarlet runner beans as they are similar to limas but grow very well in the northern tier. I'd recommend runner beans for people who like green beans, podded ones like limas and a beautiful plant.
Nice blog, will look through it for a while.
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