Beans and Nasturtiums

The darn deer have been back.. and just as I was about to whack the Scarecrow sprinkler with a baseball bat, I discovered that the battery had died.. so, I assume that the deer invasion wasn't the fault of the sprinkler and instead of turning it into a pile of expensive rubble, I inserted another 9 volt. Fingers crossed that it continues to do its job.. so far, so good - at least when the battery is good.. plus, Marjorie Willison was on the radio show today and she offered an interesting solution to deer - one that has worked for the Urban Farm in Spryfield.. They put up a fence - 4 to 5 feet tall - but of course, that wasn't tall enough to keep out the deer. So, they set up a centre pole, cut a bunch of strips of surveyor's tape, tied one end of each length of tape to the pole and the other end to the fence - like a maypole. The deer have been too timid to jump over the fence with all that tape moving in the breeze.. and the farm is almost 10 years old.. hmmmm.. maybe once Joe has finished this round of photos for the book, I'll tie some tape to the pole bean teepee and stretch it out to the deer netting in all directions.. something to think about!

On a happier note, the beans still continue to produce copious amounts of super long, extremely thin and meltingly tender pods! Every day, I pick several thick handfuls of yellow and green filet types. I've been growing 'Emerite' for years, but I have to say that 'Fortex' is fast becoming a favourite.. check out this photo with the ruler.. The yellow one is 'French Gold' (7 inches), the center one is 'Fortex' (9 inches when stretched out!) and the smaller green one is also 'Fortex' (5 inches). The younger sample of 'Fortex' is ideally how you would pick your filet beans - so thin and very tender.. but, with 'Fortex' if you forget to pick for a day or two, the pods may be longer, but they'll still be tender and extremely thin - even at 9 inches in length!

The nasturtiums are also looking good - finally! They've been a bit slow this year.. I've learned that heat and humidity isn't really all that good for a garden! But, there is such a variety of bloom colours, that I wanted to share.. the first photo of the deep burgundy nasturtium is the 'black nasturtium' from www.kitchengardenseeds.com.. gorgeous! Much deeper in colour in real life, rather than in photos.. nice when paired with a light coloured variety..

Happy Gardening!