~ Edame SOYBEAN Seed ~

Soybeans are delicious when shelled out young and tender and boiled , served with a little butter and salt, or put in soups, stews etc. It is the bean seeds you eat - 'edame' - not the pods.

Growing is pretty easy. You can grow them under cover and they yield earlier, but we have had good results outdoors too. Pretend you are growing bush french beans & you won’t go far wrong:

We start ours in small pots or modules to avoid mice eating the seeds or birds pulling them up as they sprout. Once a few inches tall plant out 10 inches apart with about 18 inches between rows. Let the pods dry until brittle on the plants and it’s pretty easy to get the seeds out. In bad weather you’ll need to cut the plants and bring into a garage or greenhouse to dry.

Gaia Soybean

A new short-season edame soybean - gorgeous black seeds, which - dependent on weather - often form a a thin emerald stripe up the edge. A great dual purpose variety - as tender and tasty as any green edamame when cooked fresh, but also can be dried.

Bred from a single plant discovered by Owen Bridge of Annapolis Seeds in 2010, we grow just a few packets each year.

small pack (rare!) of 45 organic seeds £

~ TEPARY Bean Seed ~

Tepary Beans are an different bean species from western USA and Mexico dating to pre-Colombian times.
Grown for their dried beans rather than the pods, they are an ancient crop that can tolerate periods of drought.

Kate has been experimenting to find tepary beans that will grow in the UK, as part of our need to diversify our food supply in response to the climate crisis - already we are seeing summer heatwaves and droughts on our farm here in Wales, which can only get more frequent.

Small, flat golden brown beans for dry use, traditionally grown by Native Americans in the desert Southwest. Although this is very much an experimental crop, we think it is worth persuing for when it gets too hot for normal french beans. Grow as normal for a bean, let the pods dry out, and then thresh them out for the protein-rich beans, which are soaked and cooked like any dried bean.

Needs moisture to get going, but will withstand dry periods once established.

small packet to start you off , approx 40 seeds, organic £

~ Yard-Long Bean Seed ~

Yard-long Beans are an unusual bean species from the East that grows to a ridiculous length.
The pods are cooked and eaten just like French Beans.

This could well be the silliest plant in our catalogue - a dwarf bush yard-long bean. So you get short bushes with silly 12" - 15" pods growing from it.

An early-maturing variety more suitable for the UK. Best grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse unless you're in a warmer part of the country as they're heat loving plants. Harvest when the beans are still slender. You can leave them to get huge but they then won't be so tender.

We have seen that occasionally, a few of the plants can try to be tall; if that happens and you don’t want it, then just pinch out their growing tips to make them bush out.

ridiculous, approx 50 seeds £