This last summer , I almost thought myChinese Red Noodle beans(Vigna unguiculata)were done before they even set out .
They were former to shoot , slow to grow , and the leaves turned an unappealing yellowness by the prison term the vine were 6 inches tall . I nearly scrapped them altogether , but other garden chores placed the edible bean on the back burner . interrogatively , the vine continued to grow , climb vigorously up my trellis and pullulate new leaves every week .
But all they stock were leaves — no flowers . And those undimmed unripe leaves , which get out so promising , would mysteriously take on a sensationalistic - speckled appearance , almost sickly . ( Too much nitrogen ? Invisible pests ? I was never really certain . ) The more matured lower leaves were almost deadened . The vine were scraggly and fragile . They were , quite candidly , the ugliest plants in my garden .
So the daylight I happened to walk by their plot with my glove on , ready to yank them from the ground , I spot the first flower . Big , beautiful blossoms resembling orchids . Three months after the first seeds were sow , they finally decided to come out and play !
Once those first blossoms appeared , others espouse lawsuit . Not long after , deep red pod started to uprise from them . And maturate . And turn . Within a couple weeks , I had vines dripping with splendid bordeaux - colour beans nearly 2 feet long .
Yardlongs really give you bang for your buck . You only require a bonce or two for a salad . A small handful works for a splash - Roger Fry . A megabucks makes a yummy casserole — and unlike many other non - green beans , Chinese Red Noodle bean keep their beautiful color after manipulate . I ’ve always eaten green yardlongs before , so this racy red variety feels a little more special .
The bold color and long distance are standouts on the Chinese Red Noodle , and yardlongs are one of nature ’s oddities that always fascinates me . They make for me back to the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when my parents would fry them whole in a wok , and ascertain me taste to nibble up the recollective fuel pod with chopsticks and pack the integral bean in my mouth . It ’s quite a exploit when you ’re only 10 twelvemonth old.(I’d care to say I ’m a bit more refined now as an grownup . Maybe . )
My yardlong beans are blame when the pod reach pencil thickness ( they ’re ordinarily 16 to 22 inches long at this degree ) . The stringless pod are tender and overweight with a complex flavor … a little nutty , a piffling mushroomy , but not as vulgar . They definitely do n’t taste like traditional pole bean — and I care that .
I project to grow these again next year , but will space the flora a little closer — about 3 to 4 inches aside — for a more dramatic mantle gist with these bass crimson noodle cloak down . I think they would also look beautiful climbing on an spindle . They can mount like nobody ’s business , easily surpass my 6 - foot treillage before showing any bloom of youth .
And with the decent amount of beans I harvested from my “ sick ” plants , I think healthy plants would be quite fertile . Fingers cross for next year !
