D.O.P.-T.

[weofodthignen]

The tenting crew last year also eradicated the runner beans in the side yard. Then another crew inserted poison plugs in the ground around the house, including a couple there. And for good measure first carpenters and then painters worked on the outside of the house. One or more of those crews did a lot of scraping and blowing of soil, so the brick path is almost covered in the side yard, and nasturtiums and potatoes have been springing up on the wrong side. Also all our gardening supply stores have closed. So at the last minute I picked up a packet of pole beans at the supermarket, I think on our last pre-lockdown visit. They didn't have a picture of the flowers, which was a bad sign, but most of them came up. Sadly, they have remained tiny, and the few that extruded tendrils could not get the hang of winding around the poles. They have white flowers, and one has produced a tiny bean pod, right down in the dirt. Would not recommend. However, at the end closest to the gate, one plant has shot merrily up the pole and is casting around, obviously missing the hank of coaxial cable that used to come down from the gutter there ... and it has the oldfashioned red runnerbean flowers. Either a root survived, or a self-set bean survived, from the old plants.

Comments

[dubhain]

For future reference: "Purple Peacock" beans. Either pole or bush variety. Seriously. They're wonderful. They turn bright purple, when ready to harvest, and back to green when blanched. (Which is how you know they're done.) They freeze well, after blanching, and they taste good. I adore them.