Tromboncino Squash plant on trellis
See the little trom on the lower right, hope it was pollinated by the bees, this will be the 3rd one
One of the 2 tromboncino squashes I posted on 7/29/2013 grew by leaps and bounds. The second one, however, was not growing at all and started to shrivel up. Reason, did not get pollinated. Decided to harvest both on Thursday.
Tromboncino Squash
Squash at bottom was not pollinated and the bulbous part started to shrivel up
Meant to weigh both and measure the diameter, but forgot.
The unpollinated squash was edible. I did not detect any difference in taste and texture compared to the pollinated squash.
Cross section of tromboncino Squash
The seeds are in the bulbous part of the squash, the long skinny neck is one solid length
Stir fry summer squashes
I had a patty pan squash and a yellow crookneck squash in the fridge, so decided to do a simple stir-fry, combining all 3 squashes. Added minced garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper, stir-fry briefly until heated through, toss in a bit of Asian sesame oil. Was very good. Cook longer if you like your squashes less crunchy.
Red Noodles Beans & Green Chinese Yardlong Beans (asparagus beans) on trellis
Left photo: Red Noodles Beans
They grow in pairs
Right photo: Bean’s Flowers
There are 2 flowers on the same stem reason the beans grow in pairs.
Red Noodles Beans, Green Chinese Yardlong Beans & Black Soy Beans
Some of the black soybean pods had filled out nicely so decided to pick a handful. Was surprised to find the shelled young beans were green and not black. I guess they will turn black as they mature.
Cooked Black Soy Beans
Shelled cooked beans had a grayish color
Boiled the unshelled soybeans in salted water for about 5 minutes. They were tender and flavorful, liked them a lot. Will be saving seeds for next year’s planting (the seeds I had were heirloom).
Jamaican Callaloo (amaranth)
Got the seedlings from my sister, Joyce, who got the seeds from a Jamaican friend
Will need to save seeds for next year’s planting
Callaloo freezes well. Since I had plenty greens coming in from the garden, decided to blanch, cool and freeze the callaloo for later enjoyment.
Dried Sugar Snap Peas
Many of the sugar snap peas had passed the edible stage when I returned from vacation, early July, decided to let the pods turn brown on the vines and harvest the dried peas for planting.
My spring experiment with growing pea shoots in windowbox failed. Going to plant the above dried peas in windowbox. Maybe I will have a successful pea shoots harvest with a fall planting.
Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.
Visit Daphne’s Dandelions http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for more Harvest Mondays
Garden to Wok 
I think you could give me wonderful advice for my garden Norma, you always have so much on offer from your garden.
🙂 Mandy xo
Hello Mandy,
We learn from each other. I love my gardens and would be lost without them.
your red noodle beans are really pretty! i’ve never seen them before
Hello Lisa,
Red noodles beans are becoming more popular, they will probably be showing up in your part of the world soon.
I just love the way yard long beans grow in pairs! I grow them too, and picked the first pair yesterday. Your amaranth looks perfect! I can never grow amaranths. The flea beetles just ravage them to death! They do the same thing to my Swiss chards. I do better with kale and Senposai, the latter new to my garden & kitchen, but will stay from now on.
Hello NG,
The flea beetles went after my red amaranth but left the green ones alone, not sure of the reason. I never grew senposai going to look into for next year’s planting.
I can’t believe the size of the tomboncino squash…amazing.
Hello Karen,
I am going to let the next one stay on the vine longer to see how long it will grow. A very interesting squash indeed.
I thought callalo was always made with taro leaves. Interesting that it can be amaranth too. I envy you your beans. I so want my beans to start producing.
Hello Daphne,
The word callaloo can be confusing. It refers to the leafy vegetable plant (amaranth) and it also refers to a dish. The dish callaloo can be made with either amaranth or taro leaves, it all depends on the island.
Things are definitely hotting up in YOUR garden, Norma. That squash is just.. wow.
Hello Maureen,
Yes, crops are coming along nicely, given the unusual weather pattern so far, may be we will have a very late frost, that would make me a very happy gardener.
Really beautiful squash and beans. Flowers are very pretty too.
Hello Jenny,
Thanks. Took a while for the squash and beans to take off, but they are off and running now, I am a happy gardener.
Ah that explains why I found two long Chinese beans together. My noodle beans put out two green ones, not red like I thought I purchased. Still waiting to see if more develop. I find I am liking trombocino and they are producing where my zucchini failed! Your harvests look great!
Hello Patsy,
Sometimes seeds do get a bit mixed up. Hopefully you will get some red noodle beans. Once they start of produce they will be coming in plentiful and more frequently you harvest the more they produce.
Nice harvest. Love the yard long beans. They are one of my families favorites. Easy to over cook so they work really well in stir fries for us.
Hello Barbie,
Thanks. Do you grow both the red and green ones?
A lovely update & a lovely produce too! Thanks for the updates! 😄
Hello Sophie,
Thanks and you are so welcomed.
Great to have an update on your tromboncino! We’re growing it for the first time this year, and are astounded at how quickly it grows, it’s taking over the garden!
Hello Leduesorelle,
That’s why I trellised mine.
Norma, you are truly a garden expert!
Hello Angie,
I would not say I am a garden expert, but I do enjoy gardening an spend a considerable amount of time among the crops and they reward me for keeping them company.
I am growing Red Noodles this year after learning about them from you and I love everything about them. Now I have learned that I can freeze amaranth, which I hope to go when all of the self-seeded ones popping up get big enough!
Hello GC,
Hope you are getting a bountiful red noodles harvest. They freeze well also.
Frozen and thawed amaranth is not quite the same as freshly harvested but not bad, do give me feedback.
Everything looks yummy. I am missing my fresh produce from Morse and also a great store like Adams is really need down here. I’m excited because my development which is surrounded by golf courses is talking about having a community garden next year! If I can’t buy fresh produce anywhere at least I’ll be able to grow it!
Happy Gardening Norma
Hello Kim,
Hope you get your community garden next year, that should be so exciting, you will definitely have a longer growing season than I do. Did you my 9/2 LG Heritage Vegetable Garden post?
That was a big Tromboncino! I didn’t grow them this year. I see you like all kinds of squashes too. I am growing amaranth this year for the first time, mostly for the seeds.
Hello Dave,
You must be growing a huge patch of amaranth to collect seeds. Which variety are you growing?
I’m growing several varieties to see what does best here. I don’t imagine I will get a whole lot of seed. We will see!
Hello Dave,
I am looking forward to reading about your results.
I tried growing those “yard-long beans” a couple of times, but the plants always died before producing any pods, which was a real disappointment! I guess the weather here was too cool for them. Your 3-squash stir-fry looks amazingly yummy, BTW.
Hello Mark,
Was wondering if you start your yard-long beans indoors and transplant to the garden when condition are favorable if that would make a difference.
My goodness, your garden is looking very fine, Norma! I’ve never seen a Tromboncino squash before. Do they taste the same as a yellow crookneck? I love squash and your stir-fry is making me crave some.
Hello Betsy,
Thanks. I find cooked al dente the taste are quite similar.
Beautiful garden and great looking vegetables.
Hello Lail,
Thanks and welcome. Thanks also for taking the time to leave a comment.
Beautiful and inspiring.
Hello Penso,
Thanks and welcome. Thanks also for taking the time to leave a comment.
squash from your own garden must taste special.
Hello Marta,
Yes, squash and all crops freshly harvested from the garden are the best tasting and special.
You are Anahita – the Persian Goddess of water, abundance, fertility and mercy 🙂
Taking a virtual walk in your green garden is such a pleasure!
Hello Nusrat,
Let’s not get carried away.
Glad you enjoyed visiting my garden, it is where I go to chill out.
I’m always so amazed by all the your produce…I’ve always been curious about black soy beans so thank you for shedding light on these =)
Hello SM,
I will be posting updates about black soy beans as I harvest at different stages. This is my first time growing them so I too am learning.
Beautiful harvest as usual, I love the variety of the squash…
Have a wonderful week ahead Norma 😀
Hello Juliana,
Thanks. I find combining different squashes in a dish make for a colorful combination.
I love seeing all of the fruits of your labor and then in a yummy dish too. My dad said he was having the same problem with his tomato plants. He had a company come out and spray for the bee problem and now he does not have any tomatoes as the tomato flowers did not get pollinated. Have a super week. Take care, BAM
Hello Bam,
I have tomatoes on the plant, they are just taking forever to get some color and I am getting quite impatient.
My how your garden grows, Norma! That was a tasty sounding squash dish that you prepared. I cannot believe how large tromboncino grow. They are remarkable, though I hope more flowers get pollinated for you. I’ve tried on a number of occasions to plant a Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ but they never survived the winter. Yours sure does look pretty. 🙂
Hello John,
I believe it would have grown much longer if I had left it on the plant.
Perhaps if you plant your Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ by the house foundation it would grow for you. It is a pretty plant but how did it get the name ‘Lucifer’?
A lesson learnt again: I make quite a few stir-fries every week – have never used thyme and sesame oil together, especially after omitting the uaual soy and oyster sauce varieties etc et al. Have to try. And, after seeing your and Celia’s marvellous successes as far as tromboncinos go, I would be hugely amiss not to plant in a few weeks time . . .
Hello Eha,
Don’t plant too many, I have 2 plants. They take up a great deal of garden real estate, I build a trellis for mine.
Thanks for the tips: since I live alone at the moment bar visiting friends, I may even just see how the first fares! But surely would love to see whether I can grow something as large as that 🙂 !
That’s a shame about the sugar snap peas. Good to see the tromboncinos but what a difference in size between the pollinated and the unpollinated. Interesting how they taste the same. xx
Hello Charlie,
It was not a total loss. I now have seeds for planting.
Love trombocino squash, one plant was more than enough for us, might grow it again next year if there’s space for it. Haven’t grown amaranth in years, your garden looks lush and healthy.
Hello Mac,
I am growing 2 plants on trellis, don’t think they will grow rampant as my garden is somewhat shady due to the neighbour’s trees.
Norma, our largest trombies grew to well over a metre in length each. They need to get really big before you get viable seed from them apparently, so we left the last two on the vine to grow for ages. I’m so glad you enjoyed yours – they’re most flavoursome at the size you harvested them at, and as I said, we had to hand pollinate almost all of ours. I saw mention of callaloo on a recent cooking show, but didn’t realise it was amaranth. We’ve just planted tricolour amaranth in the yard, but the green version grows as a weed, must pick some to try. And I LOVE your red snake beans! 🙂
Hello Celia,
I left my tricolor amaranth to self seed but it disappeared. Need to buy new seeds. Planning to add red noodle beans to your garden this coming season? I interplant mine with the green ones, they look good together.
Hi Norma,
I always enjoy your Monday harvest posts with the wholesome dishes you make from the results. What do you do with your amaranth? I have vague memories of my mom cooking the green variety ( pigweed?) in a clear soup with dried shrimp.
Hello Cathy,
I mostly stir-fry like I do spinach with minced shallots and garlic. I sometimes add it to a pork bone soup. Never tried with dried shrimp, going to think about doing so.
Sounds like a great harvest Norma! I adore summer squash.
Hello Anne,
It was a lovely harvest, if my tromboncino produces well, I will need to think of some creative ways to use it.
I bet the black soy beans were delicious. The kids love soy beans and eat them like snacks. 🙂
Hello Kristy,
They tasted so much better than that purchased from the food market. I was disappointed the shelled beans were not black.
Ms. Norma, I showed my mother this post and she got so excited about your squash. She loves them and wishes she could have her own garden as well. You’re truly an inspiration
Hello Kay,
Perhaps your mother could do a bit of container gardening.
Your soy beans look great!
Hello YC,
They taste great too, so much tastier than the ones from the food market.
Everything looks incredibly delicious!
Hello RRB,
Thanks. Am enjoying the bounty from my garden.
Great update, thanks for sharing! We grew red noodle beans last year and they grew so amazingly well that they were beyond the size of my arm, they grow great, don’t they? Our soy beans are close to pick in the next few weeks, can’t wait!
Hello Pamela,
You are welcome and thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. What kind of soy beans are you growing?