I have some soy that says edamame.... I'm not gonna use it, and you're welcome to it! I'm interested in any of these in exchange: Cat Mint Lavender ***Basil*** Lemon Lettuce Leaf Licorice Lime Purple Purple Ruffles ***Vegetables*** Acorn Squash ***Fruit*** Mexican Papaya Tuscan Melon email me and let me know what you decide

There are many varieties of soy beans, Just about any of them could be used as edamame, but some varieties are bred for the purpose and are more suitable for edamame. These are usually called edamame in the seed catalogs. They have a large seed which makes a good snack when harvested while still tender. They are boiled, pod and all, for about ten minutes then drained and salted. The pods are opened by hand and the seeds are eaten right out of the pod. I like to eat them while watching football on TV -- much more healthful than chips and dip and just as satisfying. Jim Here is a link that might be useful: Edamame Seeds

Cowpeas are very easy to grow, but they do need sun. either cowpeas, soybeans or limas are not shade plants. Yardlongs are a variant of cowpea, grown for the pods. Most are vining altho there are bush yardlongs. Cowpea pods are quite edible, but this group is usually grown for shell peas. Most are bushy, but some older varieties are vining. They all have slick vines, so structure other than poles are necessary. Limas are available in both pole and bush forms. They are more demanding of soil conditions than cowpeas.

Ed, it sounds like you warm up a bit earlier than I do; and since you won't put in your transplants until September, you should be able to harvest edamame soybeans by then. If you can plant the soybeans before June, any variety would work... but I would still recommend that you use an early or mid-season variety. Regardless of which variety you choose, cut the stems off at the ground during harvest, leaving the roots. The nitrogen they release as the roots break down will feed the transplants. Many seed companies carry edamame soybeans, but most have only one or two. These carry two or more: Seed Savers Exchange Peace Seeds Territorial For early varieties, I recommend "Agate" (SSE), "Cha Kura Kake" (Peace) and "Midori Giant" (Territorial). The later main-season varieties tend to have larger seeds & heavier yields; I would recommend "Sayamusume" (Territorial), "Shirofumi" (SSE), "Oosodefuri" (Peace) or "Butterbean" (sold by Johnny's). This post was edited by zeedman on Mon, Dec 31, 12 at 0:03