One of the fun parts of gardening is experimenting. While most gardeners are familiar with legumes such as beans and peas, most don't realize there are a whole host of other legumes that they can grow and enjoy.
Now is the perfect time to plant some of the heat-loving unusual legumes such as yard long beans, Southern peas, and edamame. You'll have to wait until the cooler fall weather to plant the snow peas, though. While yard long beans and peas can be eaten raw right out of the garden or cooked, Southern peas and edamame are best in stir-fries, stews, and casseroles. Try some new recipes and amaze your family and friends with the great flavor of these legumes.
Here's some descriptions and details for growing these legumes.
Yard Long Beans
Yard long beans, also known as asparagus peas, are vigorous, vining natives of Southeast Asia. They're related to Southern peas, and in fact, if you let the seeds mature in the pod, you can harvest and prepare them as you would Southern peas. However, yard long beans are best eaten like a green bean. The beans are either green or red, depending on the variety, and can grow to 3 feet long, but they're most tender when harvested at 18 inches long. Like other pole beans, yard long beans produce regular, small harvests over the course of the growing season.
Plant yard long beans in well-drained soil amended with compost. Sow seed once the soil has warmed to at least 60F. These vines are vigorous and strong, so construct a sturdy trellis for support.
Southern Peas
Southern peas, or cowpeas, were introduced to the Americas from Africa through the slave trade. They originally were grown as animal fodder and as a green manure, but many selections have become popular in Southern cuisines.
The most widely grown Southern peas are black-eyed, cream, and crowder peas. Crowder peas are so-named because the seeds seem crowded together in their pods. Cream peas generally have smooth pods filled with small white or light-colored peas. They have the mildest flavor. Black-eyed peas have a black spot, but variations will have yellow, pink, or red "eyes".
Southern peas grow well in the same soil conditions and air temperatures as other beans. The plants grow in bush or semi-vining forms, depending on the variety, but rarely need a trellis. Harvest the pods in the "green stage": when the seeds have filled out the pods but before they fully mature. You can tell when to harvest by squeezing the pods ? pick them when they're firm.
Here are some varieties to try.
'California Blackeye #5 ' - This is one of the most popular Southern pea varieties. It features 6- to 8-inch-long pods on drought-resistant, semi-vining plants.
'Elite' - This variety is one of the most productive cream-type peas available. Bush plants produce 7-inch-long pods with cream-colored seeds.
'Mississippi Purple' - This large seeded brown crowder pea has reddish-purple pods on a bushy plant. The pods mature quickly over a short period of time.
Edamame
Edamame, also called green soybean or edible soybean, is harvested at the green shell stage to be steamed and eaten while the seeds are still immature. A favorite in Japan where it is often served as a snack food at bars, edamame is very productive and easy to grow. Soybeans contain three times more protein than any other member of the legume family, such as green beans and snap peas, and are high in calcium and vitamin B.
Sow seeds at the same time as you would green beans. Edamame matures in 70 to 80 days after seeding, depending on the variety. They tend to mature all at once, so be ready to pick, freeze, and eat edamame while they are ripe. For best flavor, harvest when the beans fill out the pods but before the pods begin to split.
Flat-Podded Peas
While many gardeners are familiar with English peas and edible-podded snap peas, snow peas are a neglected delicacy. Snow peas are grown the same way as other green peas, but the pods are harvested before the seeds inside mature. These flat-podded peas are great in Chinese stir fires, salads, and soups. Since you don't have to wait for the seeds to mature to harvest, you can pick them sooner than other peas.
Snow peas make a great fall crop, planted in late summer or early fall depending on your climate. Like most peas, they'll need a trellis for support. If frost threatens and the peas haven't started producing, you can still get an edible harvest -- snip off the pea shoot (last 6 inches of pea vine) and saut? them in oil for an Oriental treat.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Controlling Weeds in a Corn Patch
Q. What can I use to prevent the growth of grass and weeds where I've planted corn without using herbicides like my farmer neighbor?
A. While the commercial farmer may be using herbicides to keep the corn patch weed-free, you'll have to use some muscle power to keep your weeds at bay. Since corn grows so quickly, if you weed now while the corn to still short, by the time the corn reaches it's full height it will shade out any new weeds that have germinated. So you'll probably only have to weed once!
While weeding the corn rows, hill the soil up around the base of the corn plants remove the weeds and help prevent the corn plants from lodging (falling over) during a wind storm.
Charlie Nardozzi is an award winning, nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 30 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, tours, on-line, and the printed page. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun and accessible to everyone. He's the author of 6 books, has three radio shows in New England and a TV show. He leads Garden Tours around the world and consults with organizations and companies about gardening programs. See more about him at Gardening With Charlie.
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