Beans and Babies

The babies are here! The eggs that were laid on the glass door by the Green Stink Bug hatched. The little specks just kind of hung out near the shells for a couple of days and then this morning they had all dispersed. This photo is from their underside. They are not green like mom, but were brownish-yellow and mottled on top and not yet with wings.

I planted beans on April 26th and collected my first harvest this morning. Ten weeks from planting to harvest. I think these are Blue Lake bush. I planted them next to the cucumbers and then some Tithonia popped up and later and on down the row some Sunflowers popped up so there are various things shading them. How will I prep them? Just give em a rinse. My favorite way to eat green beans is fresh and raw. If I had a second favorite it would be in Red Curry.

I don't know how long I can harvest these bush beans, but I do know that Yard-long or Asparagus beans will produce all summer for me. Even in drought. These are Vietnamese Red Noodle. I can start harvesting at this stage or wait until they are bigger and longer. No hurry. These will go in some kind of stir fry for sure.

See the Sunflowers down the path? Those showed up last year in some chicken poo I had spread from the coop. They were the first successful sunflowers I had in years. Something had been biting off the heads just before they would open. So, I get it nature- you're in control, not me. These are the progeny of last year's crop, likely dropped by the Goldfinches that adore them. I will continue to let them do their thing and not intervene as I have learned my lesson to not plant another Sunflower again. I like it better when nature does it anyway.

More deformity to come- still in the Cucurbits, but this time a Winter Squash. I think this is Sweet Dumpling- an acorn type. I noticed two fusing, just like the yellow squash before. Must be a propensity in the squashes for this to occur.

I know I ragged on Fireworks Gomphrena on another post, but I saw it in another light this morning. I suppose it could be good for taking up a bunch of room (a filler) if you need something like that in a flower border. It is blooming more now, which ups its score, but I'm still bothered by the fact that I never see a single bug on it. Here's a photo of the entire "bush".

I discovered something fun a few years ago. It isn't something that I want to eat everyday, but it is adorable and grows on a vine and the fruits look like miniature watermelon, but taste like barely sour pickles and they are easy to snack on whilst in the garden. These are Mexican Sour Gherkins. I'm experimenting with growing them in a pot this year. They haven't flowered/ fruited yet, but they are still a cute little plant and something for the balcony gardener.

If I can remember, something I've been thinking about doing is photographing the entire garden each month of the year. ha. So if I can remember I will start with July. This was taken the morning of July 4th just at the end of our 3.7 inches of rain.

To me this picture makes the garden look small. It is made up of 5 rows that are at least 4 ft wide and approximately 35 ft long. The last row is a little wider. I think I will have to devote an entire post to the making of this garden- the whys and hows.

And just because I can I will end this post with a cat. Toby basking in the window.