This was my first year ever growing lima beans, they are not my favorite vegetable so I had just never thought that I wanted a crop of them. However, my children and hubby like them so I decided this year to try an heirloom variety called "King of the Garden" Limas. I was amazed when I opened the seed packet last spring to see thes GINORMOUS seed beans that were almost as large as a nickel each. I dutifully plopped them in the ground along side a row of pinto beans and thought...here goes nothing.
We had our garden out before the end of May this year so there were two occasions when I had to cover my crops due to frost, on one such occasion the frost hit the newly sprouted Limas and the few that had started to sprout pretty much shriveled up. During the height of the growing season I had about 2 plants worth of Lima beans that were climbing up a pole and reaching upwards of 7 feet high, but still just vines, no beans. It wasn't until late September that I started seeing the bean pods (again these were planted in early May!) and just a few days ago I harvested our first crop of these beans. I have to say that I am still not a fan of the lima bean (it is a texture thing for me). My 11 y/o picked a bunch of beans for us to have with our Sunday dinner and after we shelled the beans (no easy task) I sauteed them in butter with a dash of salt and pepper.
My assessment...way too much work for what we got. I now know why they are called "King of the Garden" though...Everything else out there is pretty much dead and they have taken over any empty space that was and they are thriving!
We had our garden out before the end of May this year so there were two occasions when I had to cover my crops due to frost, on one such occasion the frost hit the newly sprouted Limas and the few that had started to sprout pretty much shriveled up. During the height of the growing season I had about 2 plants worth of Lima beans that were climbing up a pole and reaching upwards of 7 feet high, but still just vines, no beans. It wasn't until late September that I started seeing the bean pods (again these were planted in early May!) and just a few days ago I harvested our first crop of these beans. I have to say that I am still not a fan of the lima bean (it is a texture thing for me). My 11 y/o picked a bunch of beans for us to have with our Sunday dinner and after we shelled the beans (no easy task) I sauteed them in butter with a dash of salt and pepper.
My assessment...way too much work for what we got. I now know why they are called "King of the Garden" though...Everything else out there is pretty much dead and they have taken over any empty space that was and they are thriving!
