My computer has been on a medical also. It didn't spell Christmas correctly.
Maybe it is the end of time for this computer.

Happy gardening to all,
Luther

I ordered some Christmas Lima's from Baker Creek. I've only read
good things about them. Going to plant a lot. I think I'll eat them
mostly as a green shelly. Does anyone know if these cross pollinate
with green beans or runner beans?

No Roper, they don't cross. IMHO green shelly is the best way to eat them. They also freeze good at that stage. I do not like the taste if they have been dried, they loose so much flavor when dried.

Roper, the only way I eat them is in the shelly stage. I have grew the white Christmas and the calico Christmas. The taste is about the same to me. Very good and it don't take many to make a meal. The fully mature ones are about the size of a quarter.

Luther

That's good to know. If I like them I will be able to save lots of seeds.

They and the other large limas do not do well here
They will not set pods in hot weather for me, as do the butterbean types
They do set pods when the weather cools somewhat and then it is too late for a good crop as frost gets them before they mature.
I only got enough for seed this year, and hope for a better year.

It is my understanding that all limas/butterbeans will cross with each other if bees are present
I try to grow a decoy crop that the bees prefer
The white wood aster seems to work well

Hementia8, I have the same problem here in the summer months. That is why I plant them in the fall and harvest them in the month of December.

This is the end of my lima bean harvest. Here is a picture of my Baby lima beans. These are my favorite limas.

It will be spring planting time here in about six weeks. I was just looking at this past spring plantings. Planted snap pole beans on February 6th and harvested my 1st mess 53 days later. Do any of you keep a record on your vegetables? I keep a log book on all my plantings and in that way I know all my mistakes in the future plantings.

My Baby Limas

Happy Gardening to all,

Luther

Luther, you just made me slobber all over my keyboard! I love those Baby lima beans.

Great photo Luther.

I also keep a detailed journal to have a record of what worked best and what to avoid doing next time.

Does anyone know of a Lima that would do well in 75F days and 50F nights? - Dick

Wertach, You like the same type limas that I like. I have lost my taste for the mealy, potatoe type limas. I still have some Florida speckle pole butter beans growing on a chain link fence. Need to harvest them in the next few days. For some unknown reason I have a problem growing this variety. Tried growing them in the summer and they made beautiful vines but no beans. Have only a limited amount of beans on the fall beans. This will be my last time of growing them. So this next spring it will be HBJBB.

Luther

Dick, I don't know of a lima that will develop unless the temperature gets into the eighties during the day. I have had problems with my limas maturing this fall. We have had an unusual cool fall season this year. My limas did not develop as they should have. They are about a month late.

Here is a picture of my Florida pole butter beans. Gonna have some of these for supper tonight.

Florida Butter Beans

Luther

Hey Luther,

Wow - those look awesome! My last Christmas, BJBBs, and Gigandes were picked the second week of December. We finally got a frost. I also love the Christmas beans - shelly and frozen. I have some dried, but haven't tried those yet. I got three major crops of Christmas beans this year. Very pleased with them. Glad you're back from medical. Happy New Year.

Hope you are doing better and wish you the best for the New Year
Your limas seem to have more white than normal
The CHRISMAS looks more like WHITE CHRISTMAS and the FLORIDA SPECKLED seems to have some Sieva or Mezcla mixed in
Here is a image of my dried Christmas on left and Calico Speckled on right
It is said by some to be the same lima

Hi Cindy, good to hear from you. I have never grown the Gigandes bean. How did you like them? Happy New Year to you.

Hementia8, you are correct, those are mostly the white Christmas limas. The Florida butter beans only have a few mature beans in the batch and the rest are inmature ones. When I pick them I always have some of both and that is what makes them tasty to me as a shelly. That is a nice picture you posted of the mature beans.

Just realized I misspelled Thorogreen limas in the above picture. Guess I'm coming down with Oldzheimer's.

Happy New Year to everyone,
Luther

After looking at these pictures I had to make a road trip Saturday morning to the farmers market in Greenville. They had some baby green limas imported from Florida, in the shell. I cooked them last night and I ate to much. So good!

Thank you for the gas today Luther!

Wertach, after eating blackeyed peas on New Years day folks won't be able to stay in the same room with you. I have to admit it is hard to stop eating those Baby Limas.

Happy New Year,
Luther

I'm eating Hercules peas for my new years day dinner, from my freezer. Turnip greens from the garden and grilled smoked ham hock. I don't like blackeyed peas! Too mealy. Plus the Hercules peas don't give me a lot of gas!

Happy New Year to you too,Luther

Ted

Thank you Luther. There is so much that will grow fine here that will keep me busy! I really like dried Limas anyway.- Dick

Maybe I will not plant as many as I was planning on. It gets hot and humid
here. Not as bad as mississippi or florida, but still pretty humid.

I have some older seed, packed for 2010. One is King of the Garden Pole
Lima, and the other is White Dixie Baby Butterbean. Do you think either
of these would do well in my climate. I purchased these from Heirloom
Seeds and never planted them. Maybe they are still good.

"Maybe I will not plant as many as I was planning on."

Why? I hope it wasn't because I said they weren't as good dried?

They are excellent frozen in the shelly stage! I can't tell any difference in taste if frozen.

They are still good if you stored them in a dry place and should do well in zone 7a.

This post was edited by wertach on Tue, Jan 1, 13 at 11:21

roper2008, I would plant a few of the 2010 seed in a controlled temperature environment and see what the germination per cent rate is. I keep my seed in the freezer and they will last for years. The limas and butter beans should do good if you have a night time temperature of 65 and day time of 85. The soil temperature should be around 65 before planting. In the spring I never plant my seed as deep as recommended. I only plant mine about a half an inch deep. It depents on your soil type.

Ted, sounds like you are going to have a meal fit for a king. We are haveing the blackeyed peas, mustard & turnip greens mixed, Ham, corn bread and ice tea. That is the southern traditional meal where I was raised. But Ted, my greens won't be as good as yours. It takes a white frost on the greens before they taste good.

Good eating everyone, no matter what your traditional New Years day dinner is. Also enjoy the ball games and don't fall asleep with that full stomach while watching the game.

Luther

Yes, mine have had a couple of good frosts. I mixed in mustard greens too, I forgot to put that in the other post. Plus cornbread and iced tea. Like my girlfriend say's " the house smells like poor people live here". The greens are stinking so good! LOL

I'm not eating till after the Carolina football game. If I eat before I won't make it through the first quarter!

Traditional around here is collards cooked with fat back, black eyes cooked with fat back, smoked hog jowls and/or ham hocks fried crispy, cornbread (no sugar just meal, butter milk, grease from the fried pork, and eggs) fresh chopped onions, and ice tea. Health food!

I was thinking I might not plant as many because by July we hit the
90's, and it hardly cools down at night, well above 65. I don't want
to waste space on a bean that will not produce much in my climate.
Cowpeas do really well here, but I don't like them.

roper2008, I agree with you. In July the nights are around 78 and the days are in the ninties. About the only thing that will make is cowpeas in the bean family. So I plant the limas and butter beans in the spring. After the summer heat I plant them in the fall. I also try different things at different times to experiment.

Luther