Red Noodle Bean

The red seeded Chinese noodle beans are producing like crazy. Every other day our 6 ft row produces 3-4 pounds of beans. That''s today's picking, above. Most beans average about 16 inches long.

I sometimes get a bit aggravated at hearing the same question from visitors to the garden, "But what do you do with them?" I resist raising my voice and saying - They are BEANS, think about it, what do you normally do with BEANS? But I don't. I just explain, they are BEANS, you cook them any way you cook any other green bean. They snap, with no strings, the large ones can be shelled if you choose, you can eat them in any size from 5 inches long (that's one day old) to 16-18 inches (that's a 3 day old bean). Boil, saute, steam, stir-fry or freeze, they are simply BEANS, and my favorite of all the beans I grow. They will keep producing right on to frost if I keep the beans picked. (You can order them from Territorial Seed, as well as Baker Creek Seed and others).

Not only is this an outstanding  bean, the flowers are attractive, as well. They bloom in pairs, which means there are always two beans per stem, which is handy for picking. As the flower wilts by the end of the day, it becomes almost blue instead of lavender.

Another bean I'm growing again this yesr is this one, above, which I've written about a few times before. It's a Seneca Bear Bean, a Native American heirloom bean, traditionally used when cooking bear. Since I don't cook bear, I like them cooked most any other way. They're a shelling bean, ready in the fall after they have dried. (For photos of the beans, go here).

I grow the Seneca beans on an arbor between two raised beds. It makes the beans easy to pick, plus shows off the attractive crimson flowers, which are in bloom  all summer long.

And here, the blossoms of Missouri Wonder pole bean. It grows next to the red seeded long beans, same amount of space, but the long beans outperform the Missouri Wonder beans by 100 to 1. It's an old, reliable heirloom variety, good for shelling beans primarily, but not a heavy producer most years in my garden. The flavor is beefy, hearty and worth the effort of growing it, however. The beans, shown below, are an old favorite from long ago.

The garden today - bright sunlight makes it look dark. Click on the picture to enlarge it. You'll notice sheets and a picnic umbrella to the right - coverings for the tomatoes so they don't sunburn. Stay cool if you can.

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Butterflies

The night sounds in mid summer change noticably. Earlier, just about dark you could hear lots of frogs in the fish ponds. Now, it's the cicadas, tree frogs, occasional whip-poor-wills. Even if the sounds were recorded, one could tell by listening, just what the season is. You can also tell the season by what's in bloom and the butterflies that are visiting. Above, butterflies are enjoying their mid-morning nectar from the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).

The black swallowtail butterfly, also feeding on butterfly weed, is just one of dozens in my garden at present. Swallowtail larvae spend their time on parsley, dill and fennel, eating a leaf or two before pupating into the butterfly you see above. Can you believe it? Ignorant people actually spray these caterpillars to kill them!

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on butterfly weed, or nearby. This one is enjoying life on my rue plant right next to the butterfly weed. Little does the caterpillar realize he, or she, will have to eat voraciously for the rest of the summer to prepare its strength for the long flight to South America before frost, then make it back in the spring in time to lay more eggs. (To see one very tired, pale monarch that barely made the trip last year, see my photo here).

Speaking of butterflies, Ann McCormick qualifies for that description. No, not a caterpillar, a monarch butterfly. She's a fellow-self publisher, following her passion for herbs and cooking and writing prolifically. Her very popular e-newsletter goes out to herbal enthusiasts across the blogosphere, and her tips, recipes and herbal ponderings are popular with her readers. You can read and follow her Seasonal Living newsletters here. Ann also writes a bi-monthly column for The Herb Quarterly magazine.

Ann has a new book, the 10 Must-Have Herbs for Cooks. It's chock full of her great recipes and lots of good information for growing and  harvesting herbs. Ann bills herself as the Herb'n Cowgirl and is a life-long Texas gardener. She lives in  Ft. Worth, which isn't the easiest place in the world to garden. 10 Must-Have Herbs for Cooks is available from Amazon, and at the link above.

Here's one of Ann's recipes for you to try. Dilly Potato Salad (in honor of dill, the Herb of the Year).

10 large red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 cups fresh snow pea pods
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 T. water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 T vegetable oil
1 T. dried dill weed
1 T. sugar

Combine potatoes in water, bring to a boil, simmer until tender. Blanch snow peas in boiling water for 15 seconds. Drain and rinse immediately in chilled water.

In a small bowl combine the water, white wine vinegar, vegetable oil, dill and sugar, mixing well. Pour over the other ingredients, mixing lightly.  Chill at least an hour before serving. Very tasty!

We're off to Austin, TX, a city not far from Ann's hometown, to see what wonderful gardens we can find - it's one of my favorite cities. Details to come.

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Is there a career change in the future?

Lately I find myself answering many gardening questions, most friends and family assume that that I am the ultimate authority on gardening (No pressure) The truths is that of all my years of trial and error in the garden, I have acquired some knowledge of what works what does not work in my zone, but I am far from been a guru on the subject, I consider myself more like a grasshopper learning something new everyday.

A co-worker asked me for help this week; she wants a nice garden in her front yard. The first thing she told me was “I am a killer of plants, I don’t know how to take care of them, I want garden that looks nice and is labor free” (is there such it thing?) she also told me that she is on a strict budget. This is quite a tall order but I couldn’t resist the challenge.

This is my canvas; the house has a western exposure.

The large coral rock will move to the inside courtyard to become the focal point.
(The house will get a new coat of paint) I am suggesting stone border around the walkway and replacing the gravel with mulch. Where the rock is today I would plant a juniper or sago palm. Under the arch I would put a couple of thriyallis with some silver dragon liriope around it.

The inside courtyard is the main focus of the job, here I am thinking of dwarf ixoras around the wall, the large coral rock in the center and maybe a couple of alocasias around it, different types of liriope grasses and some lantanas for color. On both sides of the walkway I would put Mexican heathers. If the budget permits some garden art would be nice.

On this side I would put Mexican petunias against the wall, and a collection of the same plants from the other side.

For this spot under the tree I am planning on putting several bromeliads from my garden at no cost to the budget.

I am open for suggestions, and remember the three main factors.
1 – Plants must be drought tolerant.
2 - Easy to take care (there will be no gardener on duty)
3 – Economical plants that will fit a tight budget.

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Around my neighborhood

The Royal Poinciana trees are in full bloom. This year the trees are putting on a show like never before, I’m told the colder winter has something to do with it.

This park is near my home and is where I bike after work everyday.

The man made lake has a seven mile running and bike trail, and there is a large collection of Royal Poinciana trees all around the lake. Biking this week has been pleasant to the eyes.

Today was a cloudy day, great for biking not so good for photo taking

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Lazy Wednesday

Yesterday on my afternoon bike ride, I fell off the bike and landed on my right shoulder. This morning I could hardly move my arm. Driving to work was out of the question, so I called in sick and now I have one of those rare days when I have nothing to do but stay inside (under heavy medication) and read blogs. I though of going to the garden and pull weeds with my left arm; but the weather outside is hot, muggy and rainy.
Before the rain, I managed to take some pictures.


Peacock Ginger are back for the summer


Rain Lilies before the rain

PS – If you are asking how did you fell off the bike? This is what happened, a FOOLISH 57-year-old man trying to recapture a long-long ago youth, biking in a place where he shouldn’t have. I have a mountain bike, and as you know there are no mountains nor hills in South Florida, but there are construction sites with very high piles of dirt. I tried to conquer one; I made it to the top but didn’t make it to the bottom, not on my bike anyway. So that’s the story, I feel very foolish and I thank god it wasn’t worst. Calling my wife to pick me, and my broken bike up, was as painful as the fall.

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What does bromeliads and weeds have in comments?

Both thrive in the summer hot, humid and rainy weather of South Florida. These are some of the bromeliads thriving in my garden this week; I will spare you pictures of the weeds.

Thank you for all the nice comments, I’m doing better from my injury, but my only activity in the garden these days is that of taking pictures.
My family and I are taking our yearly summer vacation to Sanibel Island in the west coast of Florida next week, so I will be away from my garden and blog for a few days

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This morning my wife and I woke up in paradise, the Island of Sanibel in the West Coast of Florida. For the last 20 years my family and I have been coming to this island for our summer vacation (a couple of weeks of well deserve R and R). Our two daughters will join us this weekend after their school year is over, both are teachers.

This year we are mindful of the terrible environmental disaster happening a few hundred miles west of us in the Gulf of Mexico, we are all hoping that this wonderful island is spared such calamity. The Coast Guard has told local officials that the chances of this area been affected by oil is less than 10%, but with so much of the oil spill on the news, the drop in tourism is noticeable on the island.
If anything positive can come out this disaster, is that drilling offshore is not the answer to our energy crisis, and we most demand from worthless politicians to find alternative ways. There is so much Mother Nature can do to keep fixing our mistakes.

Here is my wife practicing our favor Sanibel sport of Shelling, we spend hours walking the beach looking for shells, I don’t know why I do it, but once I get going I can’t stop. After gardening it is the most relaxing activity I can think of.

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Lazy days in Sanibel

The weather has been perfect all week, no rain, and the days are sunny with a nice breeze from the gulf. My typical day starts with bike ride around the island (I am been careful, the shoulder is not back 100 percent yet) follow by a day on the beach shelling, taking in the sun, swimming in the gulf, and ending the day with a walk on the beach at sunset. I do think about my garden sometimes, (a jungle by now) but like a parent of little kids is good to get away.

It took a few days, but I am beginning to unwind, I am checking my email from work less and less (thousands curses to the inventor of the Blackberry) I can see myself as a permanent Sanibel resident living the life of a beach bum, tending a small garden of course.

Yesterday was my birthday, the big 57 (1825 days to go before retirement, age 62 is the target). My family took me out to dinner to the Bubble Room in Captiva one of our favorite restaurants on the islands.

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Back to the Jungle

All it takes is two weeks for an unattended South Florida garden to become a Jungle during the summer.

I came back from my vacation yesterday and I found my garden in complete chaos, overgrown, full of weeds and a few casualties from the heat. Is going to take a couple of weeks before I can get the place back in shape. I started this morning with the front garden but the heat and mosquitoes were intense, all I could do was a couple of hours of work.

One nice surprised was my banana trees, all three adult plants had fruits, I hope they don’t ripen at the same time.

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Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone in the US has a happy and safe 4th of July holiday, for us in South Florida is going to be a rainy weekend. Every year is tradition for our family to go to a park near the bay for a picnic and to see fireworks put on by the city of Miami. We hope this year is no exception

This morning I went to Home Depot to buy light bulbs and look what I came home with. I told myself that I was not going to buy any more plants during the summer months, especially annuals. This is the perfect time of the year to take a break from the garden, working outside is hassle and planting new plants in this hot summer sun is not ideal.

Last month I lost must of my annuals during my two-week vacation, and some of the garden beds were looking a little poor, so I did what all gardeners do, I forgot all the difficulties and got new plants (Mexican Heather, Pentas, Dahlberg Daisy and Coleuses) all strong summer annuals for my 10B zone.

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Pictures from the garden

This morning we had the first sunny morning in over a week, a perfect time to take pictures in the garden.

Most of the flowers from the plumeria tree are on the ground, after three days of constant rain.

The combination of the purple allamanda and the white mandevilla gives color to this corner of the garden.

This female Monarch butterfly is taking a break after laying eggs allover my milkweed bushes.

Here is one of many Monarch caterpillars in the garden, devouring my milkweed bushes.

The Mexican flame vine has outgrown the trellis; I definite need a stronger structure to keep this aggressive vine happy (a project for cooler months).

Bougainvillea flowers at the right time of the morning when lighting is perfect for a picture.

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