My searches for "pocketbook lima" come up empty. However, I do have seed for a very large lima, "Inca Giant White", that I would be happy to send to a fellow veteran. It requires a longer season than my short summers can provide. If you are interested, email me through my member page. Farmfreedom, I believe that you have mentioned the "Greek Giant" in other posts. Have you actually grown it? Did you make any observations? I recently came across a photo of the bean on another site, I believe it was a foreign seed company. From the photo, it appears to be not a lima, but a white-seeded runner bean. That would explain the fat seed. I have observed frequent mis-identification of white-seeded runner beans from Europe; the "pole cannelini" sold by some companies appears to be a white runner also.

Interesting, Bcnu. How long were you there? Did you have a chance to observe the performance of the vines over several years? While "7 Year" sounds worth growing, it should be noted that many limas will grow as perennials in tropical climates. San Diego doesn't always get a frost, and when that happened, my "King of the Garden" limas would winter over. However, while the yield the second year was very early, the quality was not as good as the first year from seed. It's been a bear of a year for me here; but the "Madagascar" limas that I mentioned earlier in the thread went in as planned, and survived the flooding that killed much of my garden. The vines, while not as vigorous as they should be, are blossoming & just beginning to form pods. As a rule, if I have blossoms by August 15th, I should get dry seed... so there is cause for optimism. The "Midwest monsoon" has finally broken, and the weather now is consistently 80's day/60's night - perfect bean weather. I'll post updates on this thread later in the season.

farmerdill, Thanks for the reply, waiting for the beans to form in the pod is worse than watching the grass grow! Last item in the garden this year, so there is nothing else for us to focus our attention on. Hopefully you can see, the 4' mark on the tape measure.The plants are covered in blooms from top to bottom. We double checked the planting date which was 6-8. I guess we need to have a little patience...... This post was edited by SortaOrganic on Mon, Aug 11, 14 at 21:49

(1) When I lived in San Diego, my yardlongs would produce into December. It was a daylength-sensitive variety, so it would quit blooming about then anyway, even if the frost didn't kill it. Don't know if other varieties might have continued bearing. Since I always dug them up to plant a Winter garden, I never found out how they might have produced the second year, or if they would have survived. My pole limas produced the second year, though; and while they were earlier, the seed was smaller than from first-year plants. My suspicion is that yardlongs would not over-winter well. I agree with George; while some areas may be frost free, most are not cold free, and yardlongs (like most cowpeas) really hate cold. Only one way to find out. (2) I've never cut back yardlongs, since my season here is so short. I've cut back pole beans, though, when the yield dropped off, or when attacked by disease. The plants responded by sprouting new vines & flowers, and producing a good second yield. It's entirely possible that yardlongs might respond the same way. If you exercise care when harvesting, and never let any pods enlarge, the yield will be extended a great deal. Be careful not to damage the fragile tips of the flower stalks. They will continue to develop new flowers; these secondary blossoms are probably the buds you noticed. (3) Never tried to over-winter yardlongs as roots, or heard of anyone who has. However, that doesn't mean it can't be done. I agree with George, it sounds like an interesting experiment. My guess is that it would only work in areas where Winter is short (since the roots are not tuberous) or where the plants could continue growing in a heated greenhouse. I don't think they would survive long dormancy. I've observed that yardlongs have a very large root system. If dug up, there would be substantial damage; not sure if the plants would survive the trauma. If grown in a large pot & brought indoors (or a heated greenhouse) the chances might improve. I've been able to keep a tropical bean (sword bean) alive in a solar-heated greenhouse here, with only a supplemental 15-amp electric heater for cold nights. It's been over a month since my killing frost. Don't think it will make it, since the seed takes so long to mature - it bloomed in August, and the pods show no sign of ripening. Eventually it will be too cold for the heater to prevent freezing. But this experience has given me hope. Yardlong pods mature & form dry seed very quickly, so I might be able to grow daylength-sensitive yardlongs for seed successfully with that extra 30 days. I've got a purple-podded variety from the Philippines that I want to keep alive.