I have not grown them but have been told more than once that the "christmas" lima is about the best for the florida climate. I have some coming.

If you do order that stuff by mail, be sure to get the inoculants. IME so far growing legumes in florida sand without the rhizobacteria has been pretty unproductive, at least compared to the norm in other regions.

"noodle" beans are Vigna genus and so use the cowpea type inoculant (might be able to get that at a feed store). There is some research apparently that indicates that lima will make some limited use of those species of rhizo also, but the standard garden pea/bean inoculant is probably better for them.

Last summer Lowes and HD called the yardlong beans "asparagus beans" - I would think they will have them again this year. For Limas - have you checked out your feed store? Mine has a bunch.

~dianne

Hi Dianne! No didn't check the feed store - that is a good idea, I have to go there for fish meal anyway. I want the red yard longs - my HD and Lowes didn't have those. Hey Nick planted his gerkins Saturday! He wasn't sure about the radishes so we decided to put them in my garden.

pnbrown I will look into the christmas limas. Thanks for letting me in on the secrets. :)

I'll sure be pleased if I can come back next year and find a bunch of fresh dried limas and cowpeas waiting for me on the vines. Planted "iron-and-clay" today where it will hopefully climb on trees, it is supposed to have 20 to 30 foot vines. Plan to do the limas in wire towers, I've had good success doing that with pole beans up north.

Tina, I can offer my experience about the questions that you asked.
Red Noodle yard long beans do well in a fresh bed with amended soil, in a soil that has not been prepared, it won't do well, nematodes are fond of them.

Here are my red noodle yard long beans in June 2009

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If you go to the feed store look for lima beans named Willow, they are very prolific! My favorite gardener who is a farmer in the South was kind enough to send me his black lima beans, he said it was a cross between the Willow and his favorite tasting lima. This photo is in August 2009

I also grew the Christmas lima, it is a nice big lima but was not as productive , I will try it again some other time.

November 2009, the colored ones are the Christmas and the other are the black lima beans

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And this season, I don't know what I am going to plant since I have a lot of other lima beans that Harry (my other favorite gardener sent me) I will update on all of those lima and how they do for me. And another thing I have never used the inoculant here or in any other garden that I had.

Silvia

WOW! Very pretty! What was the farmer's favorite tasting lima bean that he crossed with Willow? I can't help it - I just gotta try to grow some just for taste.

I want you to know that I made an Indian curry for my husband after seeing your cooking a few posts ago. I grabbed onions, carrots and potatoes with some chicken and it was great! It was also very gratifying (even if my 9 year olds carrots do look so much better than mine. I can't figure that out.) to grab produce out of the garden for dinner. I love my new hobby to the point of obsession I think. Ha Ha!

Thank you Tina and I am happy to know that you got inspired by my cooking and I do love curries, I lived in India for a while and I am very fond of their food and culture hope to visit again some day...
And talking about food, I harvested some of the giant red cabbages, gave some to my neighbors and cooked one for us today. I made braised cabbage with apples and pork chops in a creamy sauce, it was delicious!

Here it is, smoking hot!

And talking about limas again, no I did not ask my favorite gardener/farmer what kind of cross he made, but I can send you some if you want to try them, send me your address to my email. You will need a trellis for them.

Silvia

I am so drooling!!! and OMG how exciting is that?! Where did you live in India? Were you there long? I learned how to make curries when living in London - but no one here would eat them with me until I met my husband. I couldn't get rid of him so i had to marry him - ha ha!

here is his website: www.lakhotianatureart.com

You are so sweet to offer me seeds! I just ordered some online 5 minutes ago. They didn't have the willow but they did have the alabama black, and i figued that must be what your friend used to make the cross. This is what I ordered:
Alabama Black Butterbean
Chinese Red Noodle Bean
Papa De Rola Pole Bean
I have 6' poles set up and i will put some wire fencing on them and over the tops. I got the idea online while I was surfing for limas - this guy let his pretty pods hang down and it made a lovely tunnel. I'm pretty excited!

btw - someone told me you could get turmeric root from the flea market and grow it. i picked some up sunday and I can bring you some if you like. Do you have a curry leaf tree? I keep a little one in the yard. Would you like one? I can swap you for some lima seeds when I come.

Tina

I grew the Christmas lima last spring. The plants looked great but they didn't produce much. Now that I hear that Silvia didn't have success with them, I think I'll throw away the rest of the seeds.

Happy, when you say didn't produce much, is that in comparison to other limas you have grown?

I am in correspondence with a fellow - a very experienced permaculturalist in many different climates - who is producing nearly all his own food north of Ocala, he says Christmas is the best for producing in summer heat.

Hi Tina, You sure are funny! and your husband is very talented! congratulations.
I was not even 20 when I went to India, so you know how many moons ago was that! lol I went from Delhi to Bombay, now Mumbai. I loved the time that I had there but when they tried to arrange my marriage, that is when I left to Nepal and Pakistan. After that Central America, I was a happy nomad!

And talking about veggies, I will have a package of different lima and butterbeans for you when you come, and if you like some bush sweet potato slips. And thank you if you have an extra turmeric and curry leaf tree start I will take it. Looking forward to meet you.

Silvia

Tina, who did you order the Alabama Black Butterbeans from?

Wes

I got some from rareseeds dot com.

Yes Wes, pnbrown is right - that's where I got them - from Baker Creek at www.rareseeds.com. I just had a look at those christmas limas and my gosh are they pretty beans!! I want to try one now just to see those pretty little things in my hands.

Perfect, Silvia! That sounds great! With that cooking you could have made some indian man very - very happy. :)

Silvia, do you make panir? I make it a few times a year.

Pat, sometimes I make paneer from yogurt, it goes well deep fried with spinach. I also like fresh tofu, marinated and BBQ. You do seem like a different type of man, lol, just like Tina said nobody liked the curries. One time we had a big party in Arizona and made the usual meats in the BBQ and tofu and when we asked who want the tofu, all the man were screaming! lol.

Silvia

The milk here makes very soft paneer - I find it easier to buy it frozen from the indian store. Dosa mix I make at home!

Today I went to Largo Feed but hardly any seeds and no Willow. I also tried the Wal-Mart but they also only had bush limas. Just as well I ordered the alabama black ones on line.

...I lived in India for a while....

Silvia, you've live EVERYWHERE! That's why you can think out of the box and figure out the problems the rest of us can't here in our heat and bug infested problematic climate :-) :-(

...but when they tried to arrange my marriage, that is when I left to Nepal and Pakistan. After that Central America, I was a happy nomad!

So, NOW the truth comes out! You gypsy you ;-)

Tina, because I was gifted a lot of different kinds of lima and butterbeans, I think I have most of the collection, lol
I will save some for you, they can be planted when is very hot and produce well. Same with the peanuts, I have mine from Southern Exposure, I have not plant them yet, I am still clearing some winter veggies, I will save you some.
Talking about food again, we have a very good Indian store in Orlando, the owner is a sherpa from Nepal and last time I was there she offered me to stay at her family house when I talked to her about how much I loved Nepal and miss the Himalayas...

Tom, you are so funny! it would be a very interesting book to write my memoirs, lol. Before I was 20 I went almost all over the world and I was fearless. I did go through wars, famine, monsoon, hurricane, earthquakes and more, that in itself made me very flexible and strong at the same time.
Now, you are in the witness stand, do you like tofu? lol

Silvia

...do you like tofu?

:-p

I like tofu. For a long time we ate way too much of it - it is a highly processed food and one shouldn't have a high percentage of soy in the diet.

Back to limas: I have planted some already, but with most 24-hr lows here in northern lake county below 60, and this morning at 46! - it's clearly a good deal too early for them. Too early for beans even, perhaps. I planted bush beans 5 days ago and they aren't up yet. Soil is getting too cool at night. Toms and peppers are really shivering this morning.

I thought we were coming to full-blown spring. It's great weather for people but not so much for the warm-weather crops. And a little hot for the cool-weather crops during the day!

Well it is a very cold morning, I am confused! and probably all the veggies too.:)

A view form the garden , still cold and I already went out on a walk on the trail

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Different type of pole beans.

Silvia

Hard to get a photo without a dog in it at your place, looks like...

Supposed to be 36 here tomorrow morning. Moving all the potted toms and peppers to a protected area.

Silvia you are a traveller! My sister and I were travellers in our early 20s. Before my oldest son was a year old he'd been to Ireland, Italy, Thailand, Austrailia, New Zealand, and Fiji. I just tied him to my back and went on a trip around the world. Nothing breaks the ice like a baby.

On a plane to Phuket this little boy came over to us and bowed, then took Josh who was 6 months out of my arms, then carried him over to his family which must have taken up 10 rows on the airplane. They passed him up and down and cooed over him and cuddled him and then after a while brought him back to me. I didn't really get it until we landed and even the soldiers at the airport tried to hold him. They are the baby lovingest people I have ever met! Finally Josh had enough though, and I was afraid he'd catch a cold from someone, so i started nixing the holding by strangers thing. :) but it was definately a crazy trip.

In Fiji i was standing out in the water watching the soldier fish and holding Josh on my hip and a snake swam right over my feet. I walked back to shore and asked the local dive master what it was. He said he didn't know in English, but in Fiji they called it a 2 step, as in that's how many you take before you keel over and die if it bites you. That place was crazy! I thought that cannibalism was eradicated earlier in the century, but at night you could hear the drums and it was downright creepy. :) Ah....those days were incredible. I can't wait to hear some of your stories!

Tina, that must been difficult for you to travel with a baby! My trips were by myself, later on when I traveled it was either because I moved or I went on vacation.

Every ten years or so, I reinvent myself, lol. Now I do different things, more grounded, especially since I garden I am closer to the earth and because of that I like to eat what the garden produces. And that is the best story! :)

Silvia