I haven't had a lot of beans yet so I have been picking and saving for a few days but yesterday finially had enough for a meal. The Long Beans were SOOO good. I lightly sauteed them in some olive oil with chopped garlic. Added some dried onion flakes and a few red pepper flakes. Sweet and tender and I LOVE the flavor. If you ask me these are much better than string beans. I had them with a grilled steak and some grilled fried green tomatoes. YUMM, yumm, yum. zeedman, love your pictures of the cooked beans. Yes, I am sure they made us all hungry. I am so pleased that I might even try more varieties of Yard Long Beans next year.

Don't worry, Frannie! Cheryl's Mom's growing more of those greasy black bean seeds so I'll get them eventually. Maybe my swap goodie bag was already so full with all of the melon, tomato, squash and other beans seeds that the greasy black beans just decided to bounce right out and into a nearby bag that looked like it needed more veggies. :) We are growing the most insane amount of food plants this year - mostly thanks to your swap, Fran. 220 tomato plants - over 80 varieties. 70 pepper plants - dozens of types. Similar amount of squash plants - something like 40 types of those I think. And more of the same kind of insanity with melons, beans and who knows what. I've attached a link below to a very short video of some of out tomatoes in the main tomato jungle. We've got about 50 more tomato plants in other places. I got all of my Wow swap flowers planted too. Let's just say that springtime was crazy around here and we're still trying to recover! Hopefully I can catch my breath before seed saving season really gets going. I guess I could always relax with a few hours hauling the watering can around. :) Lynda Here is a link that might be useful: tomato jungle

Yes, don't try too hard. Add leaf and grass clippings into your soil in the fall so they break down over the winter and add nutrients to your soil for the spring automatically. Keep in mind these are usually not hybridized to look perfect in your location's environmental conditions and it is normal for them to look less than healthy for a couple of weeks in the early stages. Be patient and let them do their thing. Also be sure to have your soil tested by your local extension agent to make sure you have a good balance of the primary nutrients you should have for vegetable growing. Testing was less than $12 in my state and results are good for three to five years. It's worth it and gives you more specifics than just your pH.

Yup, did a lot of them in 2008. My 2009 crop was a disaster due to the extremely cold summer, didn't get the first bean until late September, and only got a few, so no excess. While I've heard comments that they don't freeze well, this has puzzled me because I see no difference in quality between these and regular Phaseolus vulgaris beans when frozen. In fact, I think I might just like the yard longs better out of the freezer.