Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating beans, peas, peanuts, clover and vetch.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old October 19, 2021   #1
rxkeith
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Back in da U.P.
Posts: 1,839
Default gigandes lima bean

at some time in the past, i received five seeds of gigandes lima bean. i never grew limas before,
so finally decided what the heck, give it a try. i planted four seeds in a cell pack, and had one sprout. i planted it out in the garden, and it grew fine. big seed pods had one
or two beans each. the one plant only produced 13 seeds. pole beans had a rough time of it this year in the garden. it was a warm dry summer. i don't know what normal
production is for this type of bean. maybe production would have been better with more than one plant growing. not having grown it before, i don't have anything to compare it to. i grew it mostly to see if i could.

any idea what normal production i can expect if i decide to grow gigandes again?




keith
__________________
don't abort. we'll adopt.
rxkeith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 20, 2021   #2
kurt
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl.
Posts: 2,488
Default Just started gigandi plants myself

Should get 8/10 beans per pod.30 / 40 pods per plant.Original seeds from Greece are hard to come by.Grew mine from store bought cooking beans and they actually sprouted.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 52A4B2C4-12D3-4AF9-9CDF-833E4ED6207B.jpg (170.7 KB, 61 views)
File Type: jpg 76A60BD4-023B-45AE-997E-64B1E2E9F104.jpg (239.8 KB, 61 views)
__________________
KURT
kurt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 20, 2021   #3
Tormato
Tomatovillian™
 
Tormato's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MA
Posts: 4,958
Default

Gigandes are a runner bean, not a lima. I've heard that the Greeks bread them and then bake them, sort of like chicken nuggets.
Tormato is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 20, 2021   #4
rxkeith
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Back in da U.P.
Posts: 1,839
Default

okay, good to know.


looks like i have room for improvement in the production department from my small
side dish for one.


for some reason, i had it stuck in my head that it was a lima bean like a butter bean.




keith
__________________
don't abort. we'll adopt.
rxkeith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 18, 2021   #5
Zeedman
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 313
Default

Sorry for the late response, I don't check in here often.

Agreed, that "Gigandes" is (or should be) a runner bean. There is also a very large lima called Gigantes... the names are sometimes used interchangeably, so in a swap, you can't always be sure what you are getting.

I grew Gigantes about 10 years ago; it was a pole lima that required a longer season than mine, and never matured a pod.

I also grow the "Gigandes" runner bean, in a multi-year rotation. It is similar to several other large-seeded white runner beans, such as Bianco de Spagna, and Piekny Jas (which I grew this year). Those are all so similar that they could be the same bean, claimed & renamed in different geological regions. Production for me is just mediocre, because the blossoms won't set in mid-summer. But if we get a 1-2 day cool spell, hundreds of pods may set (not all of which will mature). There are usually 3-4 beans per pod. We enjoy them steamed as huge shellies, harvested when the pods yellow.


All of the white-seeded runner beans I've grown seem to just barely tolerate my Midwest summers. I save seed each time, and it is my hope that over time, they may become better adapted to my climate.
Zeedman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:45 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★