Beans and Peas

Green bean seedlings

We had a lot more rain and some serious thunder storms since my last blog entry; however, today felt like summer. I was eager to get all of my seedlings into the ground as soon as possible before they scorch in the heat. At the end of last month I started a new full time career, so my gardening time is now extremely limited. After I got home from work today, I quickly transplanted the green beans. I didn't plants as many as I did last year because I just couldn't eat all the beans last year.

Snow peas

I also planted 3 pumpkin seedlings. The snow peas have grown a lot but still no flowers yet. 

Green beans are now planted next to the trellis

A Home Grower's Dilemma

Every year I hope to have a good harvest. At the same time I have to try to be creative with all the fruits and vegetables I grow. Besides giving them away to neighbors, I make desserts and preserves with the fruits. I also dehydrate them to eat later. I just picked my first basket of apples. I will give Dusty a piece first and eat the first one and then bring a bag to a friend down the street.

Green Beans

The beans are finally ready! Similar to tomatoes, the beans are growing slower than previous years due to the unusual cool summer we are having.

The new arbor is perfect for the beans to climb. I grow many of the vegetables from seeds that I gather from previous year's crop. All the green beans are from the beans of last year.

Green beans are good regardless how you prepare them - steam, blanch, saute in olive oil, bake, pan fry, and deep fry, are some common ways to cook them.

Rain in June

It rained this morning. It rained so hard and loud that I had to look out of the window to make sure it was just the rain. However, the sun is out now at 2 P.M. I went out to check on the plants and see what I could pick for lunch.

All the tomatoes I planted are looking quite pathetic because of the unusual cool and wet weather except this one in the 5-gallon pot (pictured above). I planted a few in pots hoping to keep them alive during the winter months. This one is bigger and has more flowers than all the others even though I leave it outside just like the others. Perhaps it's the soil I put in the pot? I got it from my compost tumbler, the one without worms.

It looks like red white daikons and sweet peas are the fresh produce for today. I planted these daikons in March, and they are ready to become salad. I diced up the daikons and added them to my mayo-free tuna salad along with the peas. I don't have any tomatoes today.

The string beans I planted along the arbor a couple weeks ago are looking good. I hope they start growing fast. I am tired of peas and miss fresh green beans! This happens every year.

Green beans

Jack and the Bean Stalk

I tried something new this year with the beans. Instead of starting the seeds indoors in small six-packs, I just stuck a bunch of seeds in a wine barrel planter on the farm. I watched the beans grow taller and taller over the last 4 months. It's fascinating. Every time I water it, I think of Jack and the Bean Stalk. It's an English fairy tale, closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions. Benjamin Tabart's moralized version of 1807 is the first appearance in print, but "Felix Summerly" (Henry Cole) popularized it in The Home Treasury (1842), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890). Jacobs's version is most commonly reprinted today and is believed to more closely adhere to the oral versions than Tabart's, because it lacks the moralizing of that version. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

My bean stalk

I remember reading the story as a kid and thought it was too bad that Jack has to chop off the bean stalk in order to kill the giant. Why does Jack has to kill the giant? Oh yea, he has to kill the giant because he's been stealing from the giant and he gets caught at the end! Hummm...what a strange story to tell little kids?! What is the moral of the story? That's kinda scary.

My lunch

Green Beans

It's becoming a tradition for me to grow green beans in late spring when snow peas season is about over. Green beans are easy and fast to grow. Occasionally I had some problems with aphids but I would still get plenty of beans.

For the last two years, I started the seeds inside of the garage, my other makeshift green house. This year I just planted the seeds outside in a half wine barrel. I covered it with a protective net for the first month just to prevend birds or squirrels to get in there to eat the seeds.


Once the beans start growing, you just need to water them about every other day or even a little less. In less than 3 months, you will have fresh tender beans to pick right from your garden. I love green beans for their versatility. You can blanch or steam them and sprinkle a little sea salt as a meal. If you like butter, add some butter.

You can stir fry them with some garlic, chili, and soy sauce. If you are really craving for some fat, you can coat them in buttermilk batter and deep fry them. They are so good that you can eat a big plate as a meal.