Try putting black plastic over the garden row a month ahead of time to warm
the soil, and then plant two weeks earlier. I had the same problem here in
upstate NY (zone 5), so I'll be trying this trick next year.

"donald girod" wrote in message
...
Every year we plant lima beans (which we love) and rarely do we get more
than a couple of meals worth. We have a short growing season (most years
June 1 - October 1, but this year 5/15-10/15)) and it is often not too
warm and pretty wet in the summer (but this year hot and dry). Regardless,
the limas do poorly. This year the plants flourished and looked better
than they ever have, often the seeds don't even germinate, but they
blossomed late and did not set properly. Other beans in adjacent rows did
great. We have always planted Fordhook.

Does anybody have any advice? I would kill (well, no not really) to be
able to grow lima beans successfully.