Today's Pickings

[Meadowlark]

Today was Bingo picking day. The bingo bean is a Borlotto-type pole bean with big, creamy green pods that are streaked in bright pinkish red, growing 5 inches long and ½ inch wide. Easy to shell, easy to grow they are a great tasting bean which I've been happily growing for several years. Should be far more widely used than it is here in the USA. A 16 ft long tressil produces plenty of beans.

 

[Tetters]

Crikey, everything you grow seems to look perfect. Seems like you might be able to feed a small army with no problem at all. Superb results, so I will just have to award this .....

 

[Meadowlark]

I'm honored, Tetters. Also, glad to know folks look at this thread.

 

[Tetters]

Yep, I certainly look at it, usually with total envy. I have never been clever at growing vegetables. Whenever I try, every bad insect in the vicinity gangs up and attacks my stuff just for a laugh
One of these days I will learn to leave the kitchen gardening to Zigs I should stick with my flower beds - I have more luck with those.

 

[headfullofbees]

Well-deserved rosette, Meadowlark.
Terrific growing.

 

[Meadowlark]

Today's picking in my garden is BEANS...again. This time they are what I call "Navy beans" but in fact are Cannellini beans which are part of the Phaseolus vulgaris classification of beans which also includes navy beans and a long list of others.

They are slightly larger than the traditional Navy Beans and like the Navy they are white when shelled out. They are a wonderful treat in wintertime in a big pot of soup....and I look forward to having a big bowl soon.

The 10-gallon harvest is just right for us to carry over to the next year. We freeze some and can many.

Presenting my Navy Bean:

 

[Tetters]

Aw crikey, I'll never catch up

 

[Meadowlark]

LOL...I've got one more shelling bean variety yet to harvest/post the "Missouri Bill"

 

[Tetters]

Well, the only ruddy beans I've got at the moment, are a couple of cans from the grocery shop - so I'm going to have a well earned sulk!!

 

[Meadowlark]

Yuk! Grocery store is No comparison to home grown. We pick our shelling beans just a little on the "green" side and let the sun cure them. They store well, cook much faster than dried beans, and taste much better than store bought (not to mention being much easier on the digestive tract )

I wish I could share some with you folks across the pond.

 

[Tetters]

Don't worry, Zigs is on to it. This year seems to be the year of the slug for starters though, and in the East of the UK at the moment we seem to have a continuous cold north, north easterly wind blowing, and it has halted the growth of most things for the time being.
Your sharing thought is very kind, thank you - you'll just have to move your family over here to a place near us

 

[Meadowlark]

Green beans for the table are best, IMO, when young and still immature. I could have waited a week, and these would be much larger but lose a lot of taste in the process...and taste is what it's all about for me. These are Blue Lake bush beans, and they are just waiting to be thrown into a pot with new potatoes and boiled for lunch today.

 

[Tetters]

Awwww stoppit! We still have a cold wind and no rain. I have just planted some more beans today. There are as many slugs entering the garden as we have migrants turning up on Dover beach. They are all economic slugs of course. I shall have to replenish the salt pot to kill 'em off.... no, not the migrants - the slugs.

 

[Meadowlark]

I'm not sure when the Super Sweet 100 tomato (the cherry tomato shown below) came on the scene (the original Sweet 100 was circa 1978), but if you haven't tried it, you are missing out on a taste treat. It is wonderful. Not only tasty, but prolific and long lasting indeterminate with disease resistance. My regular tomatoes are already beginning to fade some under the Texas sun, but not the Super Sweet 100s. They just keep on going...the best producing tomato in hot weather I've ever seen.

I know there are a lot of great tomato growers on this forum but if you haven't tried this one. trust me you should.

 

[headfullofbees]

I grew Supersweet 100s as espaliers a few years ago, & prolific isn't the word for them; hundreds of cherry tomatoes per plant.
They were just a tad sweet for me, but the neighbours' kids loved them.
Just popped them straight in! (Supervised by at least one parent of course,)
The little lad was about three, his sister seven, & they loved the little cukes & cherry toms.