Superb Soybeans

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Edamame or butter bean soybeans are varieties that are best used at the green stage, when the seeds have just plumped the pods. They are a taste sensation in July and August, and they freeze well for year round pleasure. Most of the varieties recommended here for dry beans also are good harvested at this earlier green stage. (See "Delicious Edamame" in the June/July 2002 issue for more details, including best edamame varieties for various regions.)

GROWING BASICS

A loose, well-drained loam is what soy-beans like best, but they do well in a wide range of soil conditions. Like most other vegetables, they prefer soil on the acidic side (pH from 5.8 to 7). These beans are a warm weather crop, and they should be planted at around the same time as corn. Soil and air temperatures of at least 55 to 60 degrees are needed for good germination.

Plant your seeds about 1 inch deep (or shallower if your soil tends to form a hard crust) in rows that are 1 to 2 feet apart. Seeds must be able to absorb enough moisture to germinate, so if soil is low in moisture or sandy, then plant twice as deep. Soybeans do well either in raised beds or in traditional rows. Although I space my soybeans 5 to 6 inches apart so there is enough distance to safely hoe between them, they are fine at even 2 inches apart. If you case a rototiller for weed control, it is most efficient to plant rows slightly snore than a rototiller's width apart.

As with other legumes, soybean roots host nodule-forming bacteria that can convert the nitrogen in the air to a plant-usable kind. If soybeans have not been grown in your soil before, it is a good idea to inoculate the seed with the proper strains of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, available at farm and garden stores or through seed catalogs.

It is important to weed in the early stage, as soybeans can be much slower to get going than the common weeds that love June weather. I usually hoe and hand weed two or three times before the soybean plants form a canopy that shades out competition. Reaching deep into the ground, soybeans have a fairly pronounced taproot that makes them quite drought-tolerant. The most important time to ensure adequate soil moisture is from flowering in early summer through pod formation. In the many years I've been growing soybeans, I've had no problems with pests or diseases. I do turn my crops under every year and wait several years before I grow them again in an area where they previously were planted.

HARVESTING

Soybeans are ready to harvest as dry beans when the leaves have fallen and the beans rattle in their pods. You can pick the pods individually, or they can be quickly stripped from the stalk with an up-ward motion of one hand. (Wear gloves, and hold the stalk lower down with your other hand.) I usually gather my harvest in large buckets.

Pods can be shelled one by one or rubbed apart by foot in a threshing box. To thresh by foot, the seeds must be dry enough that a fingernail can't make an indentation. Chaff can be removed with suitable screening or blown away with a fan or hair dryer. I use a small air compressor with a blow-nozzle attachment. I always leave my seeds on screens in the sunlight for an extra day or two to ensure maximum drying. Yields aren't as high as for other beans, but soybeans are a much more substantial food. A 100-foot row will fill a 1-gallon jar with about 8 pounds of soybeans. Intensive raised beds can yield almost 4 pounds per 36 feet. Soybean varieties don't cross readily, so saving your own seed for next year is easy—just don't eat all you harvest.

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