Thai Long Beans - Finally

Harvested Long Beans - shortly before dinner today

In the "Planting a Thai Memory" post back on the 4th of April I'd shared pictures of monks feeding the beans to fish at Nam Tok Phlio.  That day at the waterfall got me to wondering if I'd have any luck growing the sweet, crunchy vegetable here in California - assuming I could find the seeds to germinate and plant. I first saw them in Thailand, but they're also known as yard-long beans and Asian beans.  I'll probably always think of them as Thai long beans.

As luck would have it, I found them... and some of the results are up top today.  The newly sprouted seeds are below, and a shot of the plant out on the patio from the follow up post is below that.

Long Bean seedlings, as they looked the first week of April

One of the potted Long Beans on June 13th

The plants are now about five feet high and are espaliered along a trellis, and I expect them to continue to bear for another month or so.  The larger bunch I'd intended to take a picture of were cooked up and eaten last night.

So, for those of you who wondered if it can be done: it can be.  There are also guava and lilikoi (passion fruit) doing well here, too.  If you live in a temperate zone, give them a try.