This is the first season ever that I let self sown Velvet Beans (Mucuna pruriens), a potent nitrogen fixer, grow all around my 13 year old avocado seedling.....and its growth suddenly has been very rapid! Until last season I grew veggies in 8 container gardens beneath it, but this year it grew SO much and put out so much shade nothing would grow in them! So I've begun sawing off the long horizontal side branches to re-admit sunlight so I can garden there again. Quite a thing to witness. John

Yesterday I harvested some pods, boiled them for twenty minutes, drained them, and today I am freezing a bunch of the ripe Velvet Beans (Mucuna pruriens) from my back yard. I will go back to what I've did for years.....each day eat the seeds from inside a pod for three weeks, then none for three weeks, then back again back and forth. The L-dopa content of the seeds enables the pituitary gland to make more HGH (Human Growth Hormone)....the double blind studies I read in 2005 says this can help middle aged men's hair stay dark....I guess that is why I am 62 and still have brown hair. I've shared them over the years with many gardeners and nice to see they are getting abundant harvests too. John