Planting Pole Beans
This is my first year growing a lot of things, like beans. I’m growing bush beans (2 kinds) and pole beans (2 kinds). My beets aren’t quite ready to harvest yet, although if whatever varmint keeps getting into them and eating them keeps it up, I’ll be pickling baby beets. My beet bed is where the bush beans will be going, but I really didn’t have a place for the pole beans. I have a trellis, but it’s currently covered in peas, clematis, hops and soon birdhouse gourds as well.
So I decided to grow my pole beans in a pot with a trellis, you can see the two pots there with the black trellises in them. They should be really beautiful in those pots filling them up quickly. I’m not sure where the pots will go yet, but they’ll look lovely wherever I put them. (this is my pot holding area, some of these will be moved to other locations throughout the gardens)
Several days ago I wrapped the seeds in a wet rag and let them sit overnight. By the next morning they had all started to germinate, so into the pots they went. I planted them the day before yesterday and this morning I noticed the first sprout starting to pop up. By the end of the day it was standing tall and starting to unfurl it’s first set of leaves.
I’m growing Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans and Dragon Tongue beans. Hopefully in a week or two I’ll be starting the bush beans in the raised bed. I’m hoping for a good bean crop this year for canning, we’ll see if the local wildlife finds them as tasty as the peas.
What kinds of beans do you grow?
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Harvesting Sugar Snap Peas
I’m currently harvest sugar snap peas, MMMMMMMM. They’re Oregon Sugar Pod II peas and they’re really tasty. Last year I grew Super Sugar Snap peas and they were good, but slightly bitter. These Oregon Sugar Pods are sweet, crisp and very tender. These kinds of peas are some of my favorites to eat, I like that they’re not as much work as podding peas, you seem to get more for your harvest since you eat the pods.
We’ve been steaming them for 4-5 minutes and then drizzling them with a little olive oil and sprinkling them with freshly ground pepper and salt. So far this season I’ve harvested 1 pound of these peas. I’m glad I planted some in pots on my back deck since the deer ate all the peas I had in the garden beds out back. At least we’re able to enjoy some peas!
What kinds of peas do you like? Sugar snap or podded peas?
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Wrens, the Tiny Workhorse in the Garden
I’ve read about how great of an asset wrens are in the garden. I hear that they were especially good at catching cabbage worms. So how do you go about attracting these tiny birds to your gardens? It’s as simple as putting up a wren house or two. In fact these little birds prefer man-made nesting boxes to their natural habitat. They also seem to be fairly “tame” not minding human presence, which makes them perfect garden birds.
Wrens are small cavity nesting birds, so they like small houses with a certain size entrance hole (1 1/8 inch). We have a few “wren” houses that have larger holes so other birds nest in them, like chickadees. In April you’ll start to hear the male wrens singing their beautiful songs as they look for a place to build a nest. He actually builds several nests, up to 12, and the female selects the one she likes and then finishes it. They lay 4-6 eggs, incubation time last 12-15 days and the young will leave the nest in 16-17 days.
There’s a funny story about this condemned house. While working at the edge of the woods one day we found this tiny house. It was so small and in such bad shape we figured it was once a decorative birdhouse, too small for anything to actually use. We kind of the liked the “rustic-ness” of it so we hung it up in a dogwood tree. Not too long later the wrens moved in. I kind of feel bad for them, having to live in a condemned house. When the little birds leave we’ll be taking it down and reattaching the bottom for them. I keep hoping it won’t fall out when the little ones were in there.
Wrens are really wonderful little birds to have around the gardens. They have beautiful songs and they’re constantly flitting and hopping about. They spend a lot of their time on the ground searching under plants for worms and other insects. They have kept my garden cabbage worm free, I occasionally see evidence of cabbage worms or maybe a worm or two, but then I’ll notice the wrens under the plant and the worms are gone.
I’ve really enjoyed watching the wrens this year. I’ve been watching the nest and listening to the babies. I waited a long time to get this shot of the mom feeding her babies. They’ll be leaving the nest soon, in fact one of the nests we have they’ve already left. Then they’ll start all over again since wrens will often attempt to raise another brood when the first one fledges.
What do you do to attract beneficial birds to your gardens?
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The Oxeye Daisy
Oxeye Daisies: Flowers are showy, making the plant a popular ornamental species. Leaves are sometimes used in salads (Howarth and Williams 1968). Tea made from the whole plant has diuretic and antispasmodic properties and is used to treat asthma and whooping cough (Holm et al. 1997).
They are classified as noxious weeds. Why? Here’s what the state of Washington say: Oxeye daisy aggressively invades fields, where it forms dense populations, thus decreasing plant species diversity. Oxeye daisy is a weed of 13 crops in 40 countries, causing particular problems in pastures. It invades crop land where it decreases crop yield.
I think they’re very pretty, they do have a tendency to take over if you don’t cut them down before they go to seed. One thing that’s nice about them is that they grow in areas where other things don’t. They’re very tolerant of poor soils and drought (they grow in my gravel driveway). I don’t pull them all out I leave some, the bugs seem to like them. I can see why they’re a noxious weed though, if you let them go to seed they’ll take over, which isn’t a bad thing if you don’t mind.
Do you have any noxious weeds you allow to grow in your gardens?
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I’m Flattered! Chiot’s Run Featured on Fennel & Fern Blog
When Isabel from Fennel & Fern contacted me about being one of their featured gardens on Fennel & Fern I was flattered! I’ve enjoyed reading Fennel & Fern since I found it, they have lovely articles and great photos!
Head on over to Fennel & Fern today and read the article about Chiot’s Run. I think if you do you’ll be adding a new blog to your reading list!
Any other great gardening blogs you’d recommend?
