i like limas

My friend Joy sent me some seeds. Madagascar Beans, she called them.

I planted three seeds along a fence and looked forward to seeing what would grow. i did not double dig, i did not amend, i did not water.

I would have, if they needed me to, but they didn't. Bean number one is growng to the left and right of the wooden post. Bean number two is hunkered down at the bottom of the metal post to the right after running afoul of the lawn mower. It later made a fine recovery. Bean number three is off to the right, past the reach of the camera, looking a lot like bean number one.  

It was four months before there were beans to pick but now they just keep coming, one to three beans to a pod. The grass is brown now but the limas stay green*. Lima beans are perennial in Hawaii, did you know?

 

Take some limas, two handfuls is nice. Swish under cold water and tumble into a bowl. Cover and microwave two or four minutes. Peel the pods from the beans, don't burn your fingers! Squeeze the beans from the skins and swirl in sizzling, curry scented olive oil. Gild with salt. Feel sorry for people who don't grow madagascar beans ; )

*These beans do show a susceptibility to rust. They are blissfully ignored by the Chinese Rose Beetle but favored by some kind of pod borer which makes harvesting dry seed hit or miss.