The pole beans are up and I’m as pleased with them as though I’d given birth personally. Pole beans are such a pleasure, like a grown child who remembers your birthday. I put them in probably two and a half weeks ago and they’re up six inches, with big bold leaves. The rabbits are already taking notice, the voracious little rodents, and have nipped off the first four Lazy Housewife tops. But others, ying/yang, tiger’s eye and cranberry, are all so far doing well. One of the great pleasures of pole beans is their versatility in both garden and kitchen. They clamber, so you can grow them up whatever trellis or ladder takes your fancy for vertical interest and ease of picking, their blooms are beautiful -- varied in color and size with their variety -- and they can be picked every day for a bountiful crop both fresh and frozen or canned, or left to dry when they’ll be shelled out on a lovely December day. And they fix nitrogen to their roots, so they add good things to the soil. What more could you want? Except fewer rabbits.
The weeds in these pics are evidence of my own lazy housewife tendencies in the garden. It’s all I can do to grow the food, gather the food, cook the food (clean up after cooking the food) and preserve the food. (I know I’m complaining, but I feel the need to excuse my horticultural shortcomings.). I leave perfection, much as I admire and envy it, to others, like my fellow blogger, Janet, and her garden elf. I get to enjoy and rave over other more perfect gardens, a pleasure in itself. The Viceroy butterfly hung out almost the entire time I hauled buckets of water to the beans from the dwindling contents of the rain barrels. There are plenty of garden blessings even for lazy housewives.
No comments:
Post a Comment