How to grow your very own Magic Bean Plant
Step 1: Soak the bean in water and let it stand in water overnight.
Step 2: Place the tablet of compressed compost into a cup and fill one-third with warm water. When the tablet is fully saturated it will swell up and then it’s ready to crumble up and put into the pot until about two-thirds full.
Step 3: Push the seed into the compost and top up the pot with the remaining compost and cover with a clear plastic bag and keep in a warm, light place around 25 °C (77°F). The seed will grow in a few days.
Step 4: Check the seed every day to ensure the compost remains moist, but not wet. If the soil is dry, spray a small amount of water to keep moist but if you see the surface still wet, do not water or the bean may rot, or the surface of the bean may scar.
If growing in winter, germinate the seed in a warm room in the house and maintain the appropriate temperature.
Step 5: Remove the plastic bag from the pot when the seed has just started to sprout and place the pot on a sunny windowsill. As the plant grows, re-pot the seedling into a larger pot and watch the message grow.
Step 6: Plant outdoors after the frosts have gone, in a sunny position, in a good base mixture of topsoil and feed occasionally with a balanced fertilizer.
The message seed first appears with the outer seed coat covering the inner leaf, the seed coat will fall off in a day or two to reveal the inner leaf. At first, the inner leaf is yellow, but with the addition of sunlight it turns green. The message seed will begin to splay open, somewhat like a butterfly spreads its wings. The message will show for several weeks before it dries up and falls off. It is grown as an ornamental vine and it will climb and quickly cover a trellis, fence or a wall. The fruits of the message plant will grow to look like giant swords 12-18 inches long. The young green fruits and immature seeds are used as a cooked vegetable in certain parts of the world.