Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lima Beans - My First Attempt

Ever get excited trying to grow something new? Here's my newest crop attempt....pole Lima beans. I'm growing a variety that I've never seen in a seed catalog. I obtained the seeds locally from another gardener. The beans are white with black markings. Black, not dark maroon. And when they are cooked, they make a black pot broth. Interesting. Different. 

I poked the seeds along the inside of the Rockwell that runs along the street. A wire fence runs along and above the wall to keep Crusty the farm dog from jumping the wall, and it makes a great trellis. 

It didn't take all that long before the plants sent out multiple vines. I don't know if this is typical for all pole limas, but this one is making very bushy plants with scads of runners. The runners want to climb straight up, but I'm training them to weave back and forth horizontally in order to utilize the trellis space with the plants early growth. 

So this is how they look today. The few plants (10) have filled in the trellis with my back and forth weaving. I'm now working on weaving the top foot of the trellis. After that I guess I'll run some horizontal wires from pole to pole for the vines to climb up onto. 

I'd say that this variety is aggressive. Wow. Is this typical for pole limas? 

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