southern butterbeans
lalusk
15 years ago
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Comments (6)
pjames
15 years agoshebear
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Butterbeans and a southerner's amusement.
Comments (6)I love reading these posts - I'm a Yankee who rediscovered veggie gardening down here in GA and continue to be amazed at the variety of veggies I can grow and that not everything is dead at the end of September. :) I've become a lima/butterbean aficionado, partly because of reading the passion for beans on this board. I grew Gigandes from Harry (Flintknapper) last year - O.M.G! I think those are our favorites and they are really best eaten as shellies - simmered until tender then put in an Italian type Olive Oil based marinade. But next favorite is Christmas limas right off the vine and into the pot - simmered long and slow with that bacon grease that McLeod recommends. I love all the butterbeans. The German Red Limas (bush) that I got from Harry are a close third. And of course the Black Jungle Butterbeans. I stored some dried beans this year and so far have only done some BJBBs from dry - they are so very different than fresh from the garden. As Ted said - the flavor wasn't there... But the texture was radically different. I freeze straight from the garden - no blanching. And so far I haven't seen a problem with the butterbeans. They're not quite as good as fresh, but enough that I plan to freeze more next summer. :) Green beans are another story. Thanks for this thread! Cindy...See MoreShould southern suited legumes be planted later, higher soil temp
Comments (1)here is my best response. Limas or butterbeans and butter peas are the same familiy and will cross with each other. Most folks call the large seeded types limas and the smaller ones butter beans but they are all butter beans to me and are in the rest of the world called limas. the butter peas are rounded versions of the small seeded limas and are commonly called butter peas. Limas and field peas(black eye crowder cream etc) perform best in the heat and will produce seed in the heat and humidity of the south. Common beans grow well in the south but are an early summer crop and planted as soon as the ground has warmed in early spring. Common beans (dry types or green bean types) will not produce seed if tempertures are too high having about the same sensitivity to temperature as tomatoes have. I plant common beans early spring harvest early summer. I plant field peas and limas early summer harvest late summer and fall. I have moderate success with late summer planting of common beans with fall harvest. Hope this helps Rodger...See Moregrandmother's butterbeans
Comments (2)great big speckled describes the the Christmas/Calico. Green shells are the size of a quarter. Most southerners however refer to the baby limas as butterbeans. A popular speckled pole type is the Florida Speckled Butterbean. Half the size of a Christmas /Calico but similar markings. Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas lima...See MoreBig Ole ButterBeans
Comments (5)There are TONS of different colors of lima beans. I've only heard of pale or black butter beans, but limas come in a million colors. If you have supports built for climbing limas they won't take over the universe, they will stay neatly on the supports. I use electrical conduit poles or bamboo poles at least 6' tall and strung with string as my trellis. I grow the limas "flat", not on a teepee shape or anything, and i use them as divisions in the garden where they won't cast shade over anything else. I also grow them on arches. Very abundant and if you go every few days and just loop the stray strands of vines back around the trellis they will eventually cling and climb away....See Morelalusk
15 years agomckjames
14 years agofarmerdilla
14 years ago
farmerdilla