By Holly Fesperman LeeSalisbury Post
String beans long enough to hold your pants up.
They might just be the next big fashion trend, and Melvin Rush has plenty to pick from at his home on Monroe Street in Salisbury.
Rush discovered the beans about three years ago when he bought some bean seeds marked “Yard Long” at Big Lots.
Although the 27-inch beans that resulted are long enough for a belt or a sash, Rush is doing the traditional thing and eating his.
“They’re very very tasty,” he said.
Rush said he wanted to try the beans because “frankly, it was the novelty at first. I didn’t know what they were going to be like. But then they were extremely tasty and easy to harvest.”
Since the beans grow up high, it saves a lot of work on your back, Rush said.
Rush saved some of the seeds after the first year, but they didn’t produce any beans last year.
He was so determined to have his favorite beans this summer that he and a friend purchased some online.
He got the seeds in the mail earlier in the year, and now he’s got a row and half of the long beans.
Rush says his secret is mulch from the Salisbury City Landfill. He also talks to his plants and gives them plenty of love.
Rush has grown other beans ó butter beans, regular string beans and corn field beans, but “none of those to me are as tasty as these particular beans,” he said.
Even though he loves them, he’s got more than he can eat. So he gives them away to neighbors.
“They always come back asking for more,” he said.
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Contact Holly Lee at 704-797-7683 or hlee@salisburypost.com.