Geoff Lawton's "Community Garden" video now live!

See the full video HERE. You will need to login with your email address.

Here is the short version:

To answer Paul's question: Lablab = hyacinth bean vine. BEAUTIFUL vine. And it even grows here in the desert.

The confusion could come from the fact that "The plant is variable due to extensive breeding in cultivation"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lablab

It does look beautiful

Apparently, you can eat the leaves like spinach, but you need to boil and toss the water several times before you can eat the beans.

Julia Winter wrote:Apparently, you can eat the leaves like spinach, but you need to boil and toss the water several times before you can eat the beans.

I didn't know you could eat the leaves! I always eat the flowers - they taste like green beans and make an unusual garnish for almost anything. And yes, you do have to cook the beans carefully and even then some people are sensitive.

Better to just run cattle on it several times before it flowers.

Jennifer Wadsworth wrote:

Julia Winter wrote:Apparently, you can eat the leaves like spinach, but you need to boil and toss the water several times before you can eat the beans.

I didn't know you could eat the leaves! I always eat the flowers - they taste like green beans and make an unusual garnish for almost anything. And yes, you do have to cook the beans carefully and even then some people are sensitive.

I've never had trouble digesting the beans, that I can tell, and have always just shelled them and cooked them thoroughly, usually in stir fry or saute for say 10 minutes - not using multiple changes of water, etc.