Two pounds of Fortex pole beans, one for the neighbors and one for us. These were produced by a double 8-foot row of seeds. I left as many small ones as the number I picked.

We'll also have some zucchini tonight from our HUGE Caserta squash plant, a zucchini that I planted as a trap crop for cucumber beetles. It's also very attractive to squash bugs, which I dispatch when I can catch them, but both insects are ignoring the patty pan squash planted a month later, which was my intention!

Annette

That kneeling stool was bright pink when I bought it and has weathered to a pristine white!

Yes, I can imagine you aren't digging into the beans yet so far north of us, and I felt bad because denninmi posted at the same time about not even having planted beans yet. But it sounds like your beans are doing what beans do and you'll have some in 3-4 weeks.

I've been very nervous about my two cucumber plants, hoping no critter will find them delicious.

We saw deer tracks last week out in the field beyond the raised beds, so it's time to set up my Scarecrow motion-activated sprinkler as soon as I get the battery later today. The link gives an excellent demo of how they work. I'm not going to put the decals on the sprinkler since they apparently scare small birds.

Larry

let the beans mature until the pods turn a yellowish color and the seed are full and plump. Harvest enough pods for the amount of seed you want and promptly shell them and lay them on a tray in a thin layer so they can dry. After 3 or 4 weeks, they should be dry enough to put in a ziploc bag and drop into the freezer.

DarJones