Growing Soybeans

Last spring, when I was browsing the plant selection at one of the local garden centers in town, I was trying to decide what to plant in the planter next to the garage.  I was discouraged, because not only were ornamental vines expensive, but they looked sickly too.  And then Amy emerged from the area where the vegetable starts were displayed and asked, Could we try growing soybeans this year?

What a great idea!  The soybean vines cost a fraction of the price of ornamental vines, were green and healthy, plus I found the idea of growing soybeans appealing, too.

The picture above shows our soybean vines.  They don’t look like much of a success story, do they?  They have, however, done exactly what we hoped they would do, and that is to have produced soybeans-just a handful-but still, actual, edible soybeans!  At first I was afraid that I had overwatered the vines and that’s why they turned yellow and lost their leaves, but I’m learning that soybean vines aren’t meant to last beyond the production of soybeans.

Soybean vines. (Photo sourced from the web.)

 

Amy found a recipe for making edamame-an easy and delicious way to fix soybeans.  She simply boiled the soybeans in their pods for about 6 minutes and then sprinkled a little salt on them. If you’ve never had edamame, it is really good, and if you want to try making your own, grocery stores sell soybean pods.  I highly recommend this recipe for edamame and plan to start making it on a regular basis.

And next year?  We’ll most certainly grow soybeans again!

Edamame  (Photo also sourced from the web because my food photography skills are sorely lacking!)

 

In other garden news, my hollyhocks are in full swing and looking so pretty!  What I find interesting about hollyhocks is that when I first planted seeds six years ago I had only red, yellow and pink flowers.  Now they seem to have hybridized and I have a whole array of varying reds and pinks, and even white hollyhocks-but no yellow!

Hey you lovely readers of mine-have a great week, ok?