Just came across this thread during a search. I've grown the winged bean from E.C.H.O (echonet.org) for several years. It is one of the few winged beans that at daylength-neutral, along with "Hunan" from Baker Creek. Both are pole varieties, and require the same support as other pole beans. Day neutral or not, they require a long, warm season to produce pods. Here in Wisconsin, I need to start them indoors as transplants... and even then, I can only get pods for a few weeks before frost. Growing dry seed is out of the question for short-season areas. Winged bean seeds are "hard", so they should be soaked overnight, and only the seeds which expand should be planted. You can improve the germination rate by filing or nicking the seed coat, to allow the water to penetrate. I'm afraid I am not a big fan of the cooked flavor, which seemed too sweet to me, almost saccharin-like. Cooked with beef, however, it was interesting. The pods are not the only part which is edible. The leaves are very high in protein as well, although I have yet to try them personally. Given that pods are not very cost-effective here, the leaves may be a better use of space. The flowers are large & quite beautiful, so this could be a good choice for edible landscaping. I finally figured out how to get this photo out of my phone!

I've recently visited my grandmother in Guangzhou China and during my visit there she introduce me to a veggie I've never had before. I believe she called it fan gua. My Chinese still needs work but I think it means sweet potato squash( or melon or gourd. I don't think there is a distinction in Chinese). Anyway it's a small squash with an oblong shape a bit like a small spaghetti squash. It's green with a bit of yellow to it and it taste a bit like sweet potato. My grandma likes to just steam it and eat it. Has anybody else heard of this? If so does it have another name? I tried to do a search on fan gua to learn more about it but the searches came up empty.

Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn

A source that was mentioned above is Johnny's. I pulled out the Kitazawa catalog about the same time as the Totally Tomato catalog arrived and realized how much difference there is between these two. I better hide the Tomato Growers Supply catalog after it shows up. I won't be looking at anything else. Kitazawa has NO photographs. Evergreen doesn't even have a catalog. Johnny's is sometime a little silly, it seems to me. I mean, I can't even keep track of all the lettuce varieties from Johnny's planted in my garden. Okay, I may be the silly one. For health, it's the leafy greens where the American diet apparently falls really, really short. Well, Johnny's has got you covered!! And, it is a pretty paper catalog you can carry around the house. One thing I think is important is to not think of greens as just healthy. I'm afraid that may lead to a hold-your-nose approach like you used back when your feet didn't touch the floor under the table. I like kale but it almost needs to be beaten into submission by repeated hard frosts before it is edible. I say almost . . . The Green Wave type mustard, the heavy Pak Choy, the kale in our supermarkets - I can walk right by that stuff. I want small, tender and sweet - those are leafy greens that can be enjoyed, everyday! Often it's the hybrids but if you find an open-pollinated variety you like - saving seed is really easy. I've got not only a lovely Asian mustard but something that is obviously a bok choy relative but isn't quite bok choy. I think it's a choy sum but really should order some seed for that and compare. I got the good stuff, however!! And speaking of flowering: Asian greens are really quick - sometimes, too quick. Any stress (too cold, too hot) sets them off towards bolting. This isn't always a bad thing. Altho' it is nice if they make some size, the shoots are often the tenderest, sweetest part of the plants. You gotta watch these little guys closely, tho'. They shoot up into flower practically overnight. Grab 'em! digitS'