Garden Report - Chinese Long Beans

It's the end of the season.  We've had a few freezes and I can report on how well the long beans did.

I told you before that the Chinese green long beans were somewhat of a late bloomer.    Seriously late bloomer.   I had despaired that we would get many beans from them at all and predicted that we wouldn't do the green ones again.

I was wrong.

Turns out, the Chinese red long beans love the heat, but the green long beans love the cool.   As soon as the the weather cooled, the green ones took off.   Took.  Off. 

In addition, the green long beans are reasonably frost hardy.   We've had three nights of light frosts and the green long beans are doing better than ever.   Here's a pic:

The red long beans are on the left side of the trellis.  The green ones are on the right side of the trellis.   Big difference.

The red long beans got spots all over the leaves as soon as it frosted.  The green ones keep right on going and bearing.

I got the original seeds from Baker Creek [www.rareseeds.com].  I saved seed from the red beans last year and planted them in the Spring.   I had excellent germination.     I'll save seed this year, too.

The red long beans are fabulous for mid season bearing.   We love them - they are my favorite bean.  I'll always have these.   They do well in the heat and they bear like crazy.  

The green ones are slower going.  I planted them at the same time, but they didn't hit their stride until late in the season after the weather dropped from the100's and  90's to the 80s and lower.  I'm guessing these would be wonderful for northern gardens.  Since the green ones are so cold tolerant, I'm going to try to plant the green ones at the same time I plant peas next year to give them a head start in the cool.     At the very least, I know that they're a fantastic fall bearing bean and I'll be saving some seed for late next season, too. 

Red Okra

We had a couple of really late bloomers in the veg garden this year.   It took forever for the red okra and the green long beans to hit their stride.  






Here are the green long beans.   The vines are now easily a third again as big as the red ones, but it only bears a few beans.  It took an extra two months to get this big before it started bearing well.  And after all of that,  I've gotten easily two or three times as many red long beans as green long beans.   This means that we're approaching the 'I don't think we'll do this one again' stage.    I'm thinking I'll stick to the red long beans and let these go.   Since I'm not ready to decide right now, I've let some of the pods ripen and when they're hard and crispy, I'll harvest a bit of seed just in case I want to give it a second chance next year.





Another late bloomer was the red okra.   We've planted okra for years and usually it zooms out of the ground no matter what color it is.    This year, it sat and sat and waited and finally only four seeds sprouted.   It was seed that I saved last year, which might explain the low germination rate, but then the plants took forever to get going.    Usually our okra gets to five or six feet tall in no time.   These plants are still only three feet tall and slow to bear.    You'd think in all that heat it would have zoomed out of the ground, but no, it sat.   The flowers are really pretty, though.    That's one at the top of the post.   And the okra pod itself is pretty.   They don't stay red when you cook them.  They go green.    Pick them smallish - the size of your thumb.  The point should be bendy and soft.  Steam them and serve with melted butter and lemon juice. 

Chinese Red Long Beans

I've talked to you about my Chinese red long beans before.    I saved seed from the ones last year and planted it this year and they came up and produced beautifully.   No problems at all with them.   I also got some seed from Baker Creek for some Chinese green long beans and I was surprised to see that the green beans are much later producing than the red ones.    My red ones burst out of the ground, climbed the trellis and bloomed and bore like crazy.   The green ones sprouted, took their time climbing and once up there spent several weeks admiring the view instead of putting out flowers. 

It's possible that the red beans like the heat more than the green ones.  That's my theory, anyway.   

The pic above is of the red ones on their side of the trellis.   Pretty, huh.

And here's a pic of them closer.    All those red beans hanging on the trellis are really pretty.

The trick is to pick them before they get soft and lumpy looking.   The problem I have is that they're so pretty and they grow so fast that I forget to cut them soon enough.   They're still tasty when they're fatter, but we like them best when they're around 18 inches long and about the thickness of a pen.

Don't forget to leave some on the plant so you can save seed for next year.    Leave them on until the beans dry up completely - even after a frost.   Then cut them down, take the seeds out of the pod, put them in an envelope and LABEL them so you remember what they are for next year. 

My favorite way to eat long beans is to cut them into pieces a few inches long, the sautee them up with lots of garlic and a bit of butter until they're a bit crispy.  Then toss in a spoonful of Thai red curry paste.   Stir it all around well until the beans are well covered with it.   Enjoy.