I have beans

The beans the kids planted are in full gear (planted late June ready early august)... beans can really surprise you as their fruit is hidden under the bean leaves. This is one of the reasons they make a good crop of course... once again a security issue... what people don't see they might not take. A nice ripe tomato is like a neon sign, but a succulent bean is hidden. Most likely a good way to protect the bean from the drying sun as it gets a chance to mature and become seed, which it will if one forgets to harvest it. Mine are a purple striated form of bush beans and they steam up in a most delectable fashion. Young beans are the tastiest and still have a delicate pod... i believe i have heard that beans are a vegetable you should eat cooked for proper digestion and nutrient harvesting... strong fibers. I prefer to steam beans and make sure to shut them down before them become over done.

Harvesting beans is another one where you have to be careful not to damage the plant... just pulling at the beans like a child might do can stress the plant by damaging the roots in the tug of war that will ensue if you choose the rouge harvesting technique. Scissors work well, but hands keep one "in touch" with the garden.

Speaking about in touch with the garden it seems that every bodies lettuce has gone bitter and some of the people with bitter lettuce polluting their plots are not aware of the problem that is plaguing them. I happened to be keenly observing the garden at 1:30 am this morning, in part due to my "Robertson vs. Slug" battle in the strawberry patch (remember big efforts are everything) when i noticed that the gardener down the street has a plot full of bitter lettuce... i was pretty sure this was a key issue the needed to be dealt with ASAP so i went and woke them up to have a little discussion. I brought a liter of stout as a friendship token but apparently this disgruntled gardener doesn't drink much and never at 1:30 am after rising from bed for what she calls an "unimportant issue". When i asked her if she sugared her lettuce she just looked at me... i like to think of it as a moment of enlightenment, and i explained to her the possibilities and the next thing you know she figured it was time for a glass of stout... although i failed in my quest for a late night re-plant we did share some philosophies and i was enlightened to the point where i realized that not everybody thinks the way i do.

Not all are like my apprentice... the new fellow who took over that plot that i had taken over... to keep names non public lets call him "old Tim old sport". This guy is going to make a good gardener, he has the heart of a farmer... when he is standing there munching some fresh produce picked seconds before he is in awe of the flavour and power of life. That is the fire one needs... it's cool to say you have a garden in our new corn fed horse shit society, but it is completely another animal to have your fire stoked by your love of delicious cheap food. You can see it in the garden all the time... people come out like gangbusters in the spring and by fall (harvest time) they have forgotten and the food goes back into the ground, which is natural but wrong in this situation.

When to harvest Corn?

it might be time soon.. i have never grown corn before as i have heard it takes a few rows side by side for proper pollination... time is the hunter on that. Will my corn have just a few kernels here and there, or will i be gloating like a rooster at the crack of dawn with a gut full of corn. The problem is i don't have that much... i don't want to harvest too early... i am a corn rookie, but i won't forget what happens.