Jessica Walliser
Last week , I write abouthow terrific my noggin werethis twelvemonth . Well , after the pillar went live , I clear I altogether forgot to mention the other , less - traditional bean I grow this year : the Red Noodle dome .
This bean — aka theChinese yard foresightful bean , the Hydra bonce or the asparagus bean — is super coolheaded . It ’s the longest bean I ’ve ever grown , and it ’s surprisingly tasty . This specie of noggin ( Vigna unguiculatasubsp.sesquipedalis ) is a prolific climber . At my house , the vine covered a 6 - foot - tall garden treillage by mid - summer and produced a overplus of 1½-foot - foresighted , wine - coloured bean pods .
Each pod is recollective and square and stringless . The plant did n’t seem to be trouble by the excessive heat and drought this summer , nor did the Mexican bean beetle touch them . The parting were lush and great , giving that part of the garden an almost tropical feel .
quick to harvest in about 90 mean solar day , Red Noodle bean are easy to uprise . I intoxicate the ejaculate in tepid water for 12 time of day before planting them at the groundwork of a wooden trellis . I add compost to the soil and did nothing else in terminal figure of subsidiary fertilization or irrigation . They spring up just fine without it !
From one mailboat of seeds , I ’ve harvested about 10 handfuls of 18 - inch - prospicient bean plant , and there are still more on the vine that I ’ll need to glean before fall ’s first frost . We savor the beans steamed , sautéed in olive fossil oil , in stir - nestling , and in both Thai and Indian curries . I snapped them into short segments before cooking them , but if you want , you could curl the whole cod into a large pot and make them whole . I have no doubt that kid would love examine the full red pod on their dinner plate !
I plan to admit a few of the pods to dry out on the vine and save the seminal fluid to replant in next yr ’s garden . Beans make out truthful from semen , so next year , I ’ll have the same Red Noodle beans I had this year .
Next class , I ’d also like to try a different variety of Chinese grounds recollective bean . There ’s a green one called Orient Wonder that is said to produce recondite - green pods . They get a little woody when allowed to make full distance , so harvest is recommended when the pods reach about a foot long . Orient Wonder is also said to allow cooler summer better than Red Noodle , so it may be a smarter selection for gardener in the far north . There ’s also a variety address White Galaxy that produces pods in just 60 days .
semen of Formosan yard long beans are usable fromTerritorial Seed Company , Evergreen SeedsandBaker Creek Heirloom Seeds .
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