They will come Randy. I have 30 plants of Henderson Bush Lima with 69 day maturity. Lots of blossoms that are only now producing beans. They are self-pollinating so the blossoms were a positive sign. With Earl about to drop some nice rain, and hopefully low winds, I shall have a harvest in 2-3 weeks.

At least my rain barrels will be refilled for any further drought.

My May planted limas produced a first crop earlier. They have been blooming and they are forming a second flush in the top.

Like Dan's, the pole limas I planted in June are starting to bear. They just take a while, but once they start to flower, the bean pods follow pretty quickly.

So Saturday morning when I went to the garden what did I find but bean pods on the vine. I guess I should have posted the message a couple of weeks earlier to get them to set.

As you can probably guess I have never grown lima beans before. So my next question is: When do I harvest them? How do I tell the are ready to be picked?

Thanks
Randy

I squeeze them between my fingers, and pull the ones that feel "fat" enough. You may have to try a couple times to get it right, then you can do it by feel. I try to pick them when still tender and green, but the larger whiter ones are good too. If I let some dry out, I save the seed for next year.

The pods should be 4-6" long, if I remember right, and "chubby" as veeta says. It's like harvesting peas. You can probably find some fresh limas for comparison at the farmers' market.

For green limas I don't like them to get large and starchy. Also whitish ones seem always very starchy.

My Lima's are doing GREAT! ( planted 4 year old seeds, just for kicks to see how long they stay "fertile". 47 out of 50 seeds sprouted & are flourishing.)

I can pick 'em with my eyes shut. :) I feel the pod & if it is "hairy" & has a "certain sound", I know it's ripe & ready to pick. (It takes practice to know which ones are as ripe as they're gonna get, but not OVERLY ripe.) All the pods have a certain feel to them. You can learn from them. In fact, you can even turn them toward the sun & see the beans inside.

I leave some of the pods to turn brown for seeds for next year. I keep the seeds for next year, laid out on a paper plate, in the house, for a couple of weeks to make sure they're dried & then I put them in a small paper sack...fold it over & put them in a cupboard.

Well you just answered my question! Now I know what to do with the lima bean pods that are older and dried. I didn't realize that they came in pole and bush. All I can find here are Fordhook and they're 2' bushes. One question tho. This is my first year growing them so I don't know what to expect from them. They have flowered well and then formed pods, now they are flowering again and forming new pods. Is that normal? I don't know how much longer we will have nice weather. If it gets really cold, I guess I could pick them and dry them for use in soups etc.? Thanks. Marg

They'll keep flowering until they get get frost bitten. It doesn't take much frost to do 'em in.

Yep, you can dry 'em & use 'em in whatever ya want. Heaven forbid...don't waste a LIMA bean. :)

I freeze most of mine, while they're still green. No, I don't blanch them, either. I lay them on a cookie sheet until they're frozen, then I put 'em in a freezer bag.

Have fun! :)

btw...I ordered my Lima poles from Henry Fields. From then on, I've always saved my own seeds and used them.

I planted the Christmas limas and a few are filling out, but most of the pods still seem very flat. This weekend temps are supposed to get down into the 30s. Can I pick limas after a frost or will the frost do enough damage that the limas will suffer in taste or texture?

We're to get to 33 degrees over the weekend.

I picked beans today & will, tomorrow, but...if it's a hard frost...ya might as well hang it up. The frost won't hurt, but it'll stop the growth for the most part.

You'll get lotsa baby lima's that way.

A double cover over them just may help, if you have one.