I've been skimming the wealth of knowledge (and pseudofacts) on the internet regarding permaculture, sandy soil, tropical fruits and vegetables and how best to grow them, with one objective: To grow delicious fruits and vegetables here at P2 in central Florida. I've got bananas figured out, and I'm almost there with a replicable system for papaya, malabar spinach, katuk, and okinawa spinach. But I hadn't yet proven winged bean, which is touted as an amazingly healthy vegetable that loves tropical climates. The pictures here are proof that winged bean grows here! They were really no trouble, as long as they got regular water and sun. I tried planting a few in a place with no accessible water... not so good, they're struggling. One oddity is that they don't bloom unless the day length is 12 hours or less, which for Melbourne, Florida is mid October. Right when we hit mid October, I saw the first beautiful purple bloom. I took pictures today as Mark and I are going to eat our first harvest today.
Winged bean is happy to ramble up bamboo poles, or hang onto Pop, the male papaya.
I wanted a close up of the flowers next to the 6" bean... they're a lovely lavender color.
Next year we're growing a LOT more winged bean.
