Edamame For Me

Prior to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle in February of this year, I'd never tasted edamame. I'd heard of it years ago, but didn't pay it much mind and filed it away in my brain as one of those things that health food fanatics ate. Anyone who knows me, knows that I just eat what I want, without much regard to whether it's really good for me or not.

I'm not opposed to eating healthy food and of course, I eat some of that, too. It's just that I make no special effort when it comes to my diet. I'm a picky eater, but I will try new things, such as the kohlrabi that I ate for the first time last year and much to my surprise, found that I liked it. So when Danielle (from Proven Winners) offered a taste of her edamame at The Cheesecake Factory, I took her up on it.

17 July 2012

Edamame is now one of my favorite snacks and I was inspired to grow it myself this year. Growing it couldn't be easier and in this horrid summer of heat and drought, it performed better than I expected. I've no prior growing experience to compare it to, but I'm happy with how it's done. I harvested the first picking earlier this week and promptly cooked it up and had it for supper.

I think it's safe to say that edamame will now be a staple in my summer garden, along with those other vegetables I grow every year - green beans, beets, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, and onions.

1 August 2012

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Edamame (Glycine max 'Sayamusume') has long been a favorite on dining tables in Japan. I bought my seed from Renee's Garden Seeds and they import theirs from there. Beans have a maturity date of approximately 85 days (although mine were ready much sooner) and are harvested when the soybeans are fully round and nearly touching in the pods. Pick them before the pods turn yellow or harden. Harvest time is relatively short - two, maybe three weeks long.

What do they taste like? I liken them to lima beans in flavor, except they're firmer, kind of nutty, and buttery. You can cook them and serve them in the pods, then tease the beans out with your mouth. Yes, they're finger food! Or you can shell them and serve them like other veggies, with butter and salt. They're especially good with sea salt, even when you serve them in the pods.

Edamame is high in protein, carbohydrates, fiber and many nutrients that include magnesium, folate, and vitamin K.

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*As a member of the Garden Writers Association (GWA), I received a selection of my choice of garden seeds from Renee's Garden Seeds, free of charge, which included these edamame seeds. I've purchased Renee's seeds on my own too, and have found them to be high quality seeds that give me good results in my Ohio garden.

Dead Shrub? Problem Solved!

Before I started doing projects for Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Club, I blogged about a problem that developed last year with one of our Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') shrubs. This one was more in the shape of a two-trunked tree and half of it died. Since we put it where we did to create interest in a large blank area of the east side of our house, this was unfortunate.

I collected ideas from other gardeners and friends as to what I should do there. Romie voted to remove the dead part and let the live part remain. I nixed that idea pretty much before he got it out his mouth. Some suggested I paint the dead part a bright color, just to be whimsical. I entertained that idea, but just couldn't visualize it as looking good.

About two months ago, I was tired of mulling over the idea and decided to go with an idea I'd seen in the Lowe's Creative Ideas Home & Garden magazine. I loved the trellis and thought it might look good in place of the half-shrub.  So out the shrub came.

We went to Lowe's and got the materials we needed and I supervised as Romie cut the pieces of wood needed to construct the trellis. He cut the hardware cloth while I stained the pieces of wood.

After those were dry, we put the pieces together, and the trellis was complete.

 

Holes were dug in the ground for placing the legs of the trellis.

 

We used pieces of black PVC tile down in the hole and used Portland cement poured into them as a means of not only anchoring the trellis, but protecting the wood from decomposing.

Once we had them leveled and let the cement set up, we backfilled the spaces in the hole with soil and then used gravel around the legs so that water would drain and not soak into the base of the trellis legs.

I planted a Mandevilla vine at the base, because it's fast-growing and will fill the trellis before summer's end. I might plant a perennial vine, such as a Clematis, this fall, so that I don't have to plant it anew each spring, but I love the annual vines for their constant color.

 

I think I like the trellis here even better than Harry!

For a complete list of materials needed and instructions on how to construct this freestanding trellis, see the Lowe's Creative Ideas site.

*Though I do receive gift cards with which to purchase materials for my participation as a member of the Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Club, I purchased the materials for this project myself.

Bumper Crop of Shriveled Blackberries

This year's blackberry crop was really looking good there for awhile. It appeared as though we would have a bumper crop. We planted six of them a couple of years ago - 3 'Chester' and 3 'Triple Crown'. We had a nice round of plump berries last year. In September and October.

Clearly, things are different this year.We started out with lots of blooms. Early. Then there were the berries. Early. We tried to keep things watered in this nasty droughtish summer with its extreme and prolonged heat. Berries like plenty of water during berry formation. But apparently, we just couldn't keep up. Boo.

All the wonderful, loaded thornless canes now look like this:

It's sad and such a waste of berry potential. There are a few berries that have managed to plump up and be juicy and we're racing the birds to pluck them. (Yes, we have nets, but there aren't enough berries to bother with them.) 

Better luck next year.