this past spring there was a question
if edamame soybeans were as productive as
regular soybeans.

i'd not grown edamame soybeans here
before so i could not say for sure. now
after the season is getting close to
being finished i can at least report
some of the results.

we had a pretty good bout of rain and
floods right when the soybeans were first
flowering. many of those pods shrivelled
up and fell off. we also had another severe
rain storm that interrupted flowering again.
still there is a nice crop of pods on the
plants. not exactly comparable to previous
soybean years for me, but i think the plants
would have a comparable yield if we had a
more normal season.

the plantings were in four patches. two
of the patches are sandy soil with gravel
underneath (excellent drainage). the other
two patches were clay or heavy soil (poor
drainage). in all cases they grew well
enough to produce. the smallest plants are
in the spot where the soil is compacted the
most and the lowest area that flooded.

so all told, after this kind of a
challenging season this is a crop that is
about as bullet proof as i can ask for. and
the nice thing is that Ma likes them too.

i'll be interested to see how they finish
up.


songbird