Hymn to beans

This blog is a song of praise to green beans! I was in the garden this morning and completed my third picking of the best bush beans I have ever grown. After sharing a few with a couple of neighbors and family, I still had enough to freeze five quarts, and this from my small plot. The ones I am harvesting now are Jade bush beans, which have a limited season, so in a couple of weeks after the harvest is finished I will be able to plant something else in that space, maybe some fall spinach. Beans add nitrogen to the soil, not deplete it, so the area is primed for a new crop. And still to come, in the same space, are Purple Podded pole beans and the biggest crop ever of Wisley Scarlet Runners, whose seeds came from England last September. Often the birds pick off the red blossoms and just drop them on the ground, but this year the "bean tower" (demoted, or maybe it should be promoted) from the rose bed, is simply loaded with the colorful blooms, indicating a good crop to come. I can hardly wait.