Bean counter

I've got something to add to my list of Spring SFG successes! I've finally succeeded in growing the elusive green bean! Hoo-ra! I've attempted green beans several times before and they always fizzle out and die before they really get going. I'm not sure what's different this time around. Maybe it's finally the right time of year, but whatever the reason is we made it to our normal "fizzle-out" time and motored right through it. They kept growing and growing and damned if there weren't real live green beans hanging from the vines right about the time the seed packets said it should happen. Astounding.


And not just a couple of beans either. Bunches and bunches of healthy, crunchy delicious green beans hanging all over this thing. It's amazing to me when something actually grows the way it should. I stand there and marvel at the awesomeness of it all.


The boys have had a great time picking the beans and cutting them off the vines with their rounded-tip Kindergarten scissors. They eat them by the handful whenever I prepare them for dinner, so it's been a wonderful experience. I've got three varieties growing - Kentucky Wonder and two British varieties that my aunt in the UK mailed over and that haven't grown well when I've planted them before, but are alive and kicking this time around. Again, no clue what's different this time. The planets aligned just perfectly so that the beans are prolific.


When I was harvesting beans for dinner the other night I saw this strange-looking bug clinging to one of the leaves. I looked around online and discovered that it's probably a stink bug. I wasn't sure if this little guy is the sign of something bad or just a fluke random bug.


I realize I should have killed it, but I'm not a bug-killer by nature, with the exception of ants and mosquitoes. I'm not sure why, but I just can't, so I tossed it into a container of bubble soap on the patio. I don't like bugs by any means - my anti-bug-killing philosophy isn't a stance on bugs, but more a squeamish barfy turn-off thing. Great issue for a gardener to have, right? And don't get me started on worms. Shudder. I'm keeping my eye open for any more creepy crawlies, but so far this little green beastie the only one of his kind I've found. I'll just cling to the hope that he was a loaner - a drifter - just passing through. Although now his body is stuffed inside a container of Amazing Bubbles. I must re-think my bug corpse disposal strategy pronto.